The vision of not surrendering (Jer 38:21-38:23)

“But if you are determined

Not to surrender,

This is what Yahweh

Has shown me.

This is the vision.

All the women

Remaining in the house

Of the king of Judah

Were being led out

To the officials

Of the king of Babylon

Saying.

‘Your trusted friends

Have seduced you.

They have overcome you.

Now that your feet

Are stuck in the mud,

They desert you.’

All your wives,

All your children,

Shall be led out

To the Chaldeans.

You yourself shall not escape

From their hand.

But you shall be seized

By the king of Babylon.

This city shall be burned

With fire.”

Jeremiah told King Zedekiah that Yahweh had sent him a vision of what was going to happen, if he did not surrender to the Babylonians. In this vision, all the women of the household of the king were being brought out to the officials of the Babylonians. These women were saying that their trusted friends had deceived, seduced, and overcome them. Now that their feet were stuck in the mud, as Jeremiah had been in the well, their trusted friends had deserted them. Thus all the Judean wives and children would be were led out to the Chaldeans. The Judean king himself would not escape from the king of Babylon. The city of Jerusalem would be burned with a great fire. This was a grim vision of defeat.