Exhortation to Repent

22 Thus says the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,^(A)

² and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah sitting on the throne of David—you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates.^(A)

²⁹ The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come, set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and libations have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger.^(A)

Zedekiah’s Vain Hope

37 Zedekiah son of Josiah, whom King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, succeeded Coniah son of Jehoiakim.^{(A) 2} But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.^(B)

³ King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Please pray for us to the Lord our God.”^{(C) 4} Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.