Jeremiah 38:20

20 "That won't happen," Jeremiah replied, “if you obey the LORD, whose message I bring. You will survive, and all will go well for you.

Jeremiah 38:20 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 38:20

But Jeremiah said, they shall not deliver [thee]
To take off the above excuse, or remove that objection, the prophet assures the king that the Chaldeans would never deliver him into the hands of the Jews; he might depend upon it, it would never be done: obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee;
the counsel he had given him, to surrender to the Chaldeans, was not from himself, but from the Lord: and though he had no express order to give it at that time, yet it was what was agreeable to the will of God, and what he had exhorted the people to in the beginning of this chapter; and therefore, since it came from the Lord, as it ought to be attended to, so he might be assured of the divine protection, should he act according to it: so it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live;
that is, it would not only be much better with him than he feared, but than it would be with him should he obstinately stand out to the last; he should have more respect and honour from the king of Babylon; and not only have his life spared, but enjoy more of the comforts of life; particularly the sight of his eyes, which he lost when taken.

Jeremiah 38:20 In-Context

18 If you don't surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will burn it down, and you won't escape from them."
19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I'm afraid that I will fall into the hands of the Judeans who have defected to the Babylonians, and they will torture me."
20 "That won't happen," Jeremiah replied, “if you obey the LORD, whose message I bring. You will survive, and all will go well for you.
21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has shown me:
22 All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be led out to the officers of the king of Babylon. And they will say: ‘Your trusted friends have betrayed you; they have deceived you; now that your feet are stuck in the mud, they are nowhere to be found.'
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