Bible Strands
Jeremiah 38:18
But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses King Zedekiah with a conditional warning, stating that refusal to surrender to the Babylonian commanders will result in the city being handed over, burned, and the king captured.
The words — The Hebrew אִם (im, "if") and תֵצֵא (teTze, "you will go out") establish the conditional refusal, while נִתְּנָה (nitnah, "it will be given") denotes the passive action of the city being delivered to the Chaldeans.
The thread — This warning of surrender and subsequent burning corresponds to the events in 2 Kings 25:4 and reinforces the judgment pronounced against Zedekiah in Jeremiah 24:8 and Jeremiah 32:3.
Why it lands — The text presents a binary outcome where political hesitation guarantees destruction, requiring a direct decision between immediate compliance and certain ruin.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 25:4 Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
- Jeremiah 24:8 But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.
- Jeremiah 32:3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying like this? You claim that the LORD says, ‘Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.
- Jeremiah 38:3 This is what the LORD says: This city will surely be delivered into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.”
- 2 Kings 24:12 Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials all surrendered to the king of Babylon. So in the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon took him captive.
- 2 Kings 25:27 On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison.
- Jeremiah 34:2 The LORD, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.
- Jeremiah 34:19 The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf,
- Jeremiah 37:8 Then the Chaldeans will return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it down.
- Jeremiah 38:23 All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”