1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malchijah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest to him, saying,2Inquire of the LORD on our behalf, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is waging war against us. Perhaps the LORD will act toward us according to all his wonderful acts and will cause him to withdraw from us.3Then Jeremiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to Zedekiah:"4Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the midst of this city.5And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm and with anger and with fury and with great wrath.6And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast, with a great pestilence, and they will die.7Afterward, declares the LORD, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people and those who remain in this city into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not pity them or spare them or have compassion on them.8And to this people you shall say, "Thus says the LORD: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death."9He who stays in this city shall die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live, and his life shall be as spoil to him.10For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the LORD; it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.11And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of the LORD.12O house of David, thus says the LORD: Administer justice in the morning and deliver the one who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire and burn, with no one to quench it, because of the evil of their deeds, your deeds.13Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, declares the LORD, you who say, "Who will come down against us, or who will enter our dwellings?"14And I will reckon with you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares the LORD, and I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it will consume all that is around it.