Jeremiah 38:15

THE MESSAGE

Jeremiah said, "If I told you the whole truth, you'd kill me. And no matter what I said, you wouldn't pay any attention anyway."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Jeremiah replied to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, you will kill me, won’t you? Besides, if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”

Hebrew Names Version
Then Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? and if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.

King James Version
Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?

English Standard Version
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me."

New American Standard Bible
And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me."

New Century Version
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I give you an answer, you will surely kill me. And even if I give you advice, you will not listen to me."

Amplified Bible
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Even if I do give you advice, you will not listen to me."

World English Bible
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? and if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Ieremiah sayd to Zedekiah, If I declare it vnto thee, wilt not thou slay me? and if I giue thee counsell, thou wilt not heare me.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me."

Berean Standard Bible
"If I tell you," Jeremiah replied, "will you not surely put me to death? And even if I did give you advice, you would not listen to me."

Contemporary English Version
"Why?" I replied. "You won't listen, and you might even have me killed!"

Complete Jewish Bible
Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, "If I do say it to you, won't you have me put to death? And if I give you counsel, you won't listen to me."

Darby Translation
And Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare [it] unto thee, wilt thou not certainly put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me.

Easy-to-Read Version
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I give you an answer, you will probably kill me. And even if I give you advice, you will not listen to me."

George Lamsa Translation
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I tell you, behold, you will surely put me to death; and if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.

Good News Translation
I answered, "If I tell you the truth, you will put me to death, and if I give you advice, you won't pay any attention."

Lexham English Bible
And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not surely kill me? Besides, if I advise you, you will not listen to me.

Literal Translation
And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, dying will you not cause me to die? And if I counsel you, you will not listen to me.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The Ieremy answerde Sedechias: Yf I be playne vnto the, thou wilt cause me suffre death: yf I geue the coucell, thou wilt not folowe me.

American Standard Version
Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me.

Bible in Basic English
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I give you the answer to your question, will you not certainly put me to death? and if I make a suggestion to you, you will not give it a hearing.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah: 'If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me.'

King James Version (1611)
Then Ieremiah said vnto Zedekiah, If I declare it vnto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I giue thee counsell, wilt thou not hearken vnto me?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then Ieremie aunswered Zedekia, If I be playne vnto thee, thou wylt cause me to suffer death: yf I geue thee counsayle, thou wylt not folowe me.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
A voice was heard in Rama, of lamentation, and of weeping, and wailing; Rachel would not cease weeping for her children, because they are not.

English Revised Version
Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe Jeremye seide to Sedechie, If Y telle to thee, whether thou schalt not sle me? And if Y yyue councel to thee, thou schalt not here me.

Update Bible Version
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? and if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare [it] to thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken to me?

New English Translation
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I answer you, you will certainly kill me. If I give you advice, you will not listen to me."

New King James Version
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me."

New Living Translation
Jeremiah said, "If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won't listen to me anyway."

New Life Bible
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not kill me? Even if I speak wise words to you, you will not listen to me."

New Revised Standard
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, you will put me to death, will you not? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, When I tell thee, wilt thou not, surely put me to death? And when I counsel thee, thou wilt not hearken unto me.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Then Jeremias said to Sedecias: If I shall declare it to thee, wilt thou not put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken to me.

Revised Standard Version
Jeremiah said to Zedeki'ah, "If I tell you, will you not be sure to put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me."

Young's Literal Translation
And Jeremiah saith unto Zedekiah, `When I declare to thee, dost thou not surely put me to death? and when I counsel thee, thou dost not hearken unto me.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me."

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance of the Temple of God . The king said to Jeremiah, "I'm going to ask you something. Don't hold anything back from me." ¹⁵ Jeremiah said, "If I told you the whole truth, you'd kill me. And no matter what I said, you wouldn't pay any attention anyway." ¹⁶ Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah right there, but in secret, "As sure as God lives, who gives us life, I won't kill you, nor will I turn you over to the men who are trying to kill you." ¹⁷So Jeremiah told Zedekiah, "This is the Message from God, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘If you will turn yourself over to the generals of the king of Babylon, you will live, this city won't be burned down, and your family will live. But if you don't turn yourself over to the generals of the king of Babylon, this city will go into the hands of the Chaldeans and they'll burn it down. And don't for a minute think there's any escape for you.'" ¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "But I'm afraid of the Judeans who have already deserted to the Chaldeans. If they get hold of me, they'll rough me up good." ²⁰Jeremiah assured him, "They won't get hold of you. Listen, please. Listen to God 's voice. I'm telling you this for your own good so that you'll live. But if you refuse to turn yourself over, this is what God has shown me will happen: Picture this in your mind—all the women still left in the palace of the king of Judah, led out to the officers of the king of Babylon, and as they're led out they are saying: "‘They lied to you and did you in, those so-called friends of yours; And now you're stuck, about knee-deep in mud, and your "friends," where are they now?' ²³ "They'll take all your wives and children and give them to the Chaldeans. And you, don't think you'll get out of this—the king of Babylon will seize you and then burn this city to the ground." ²⁴Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Don't let anyone know of this conversation, if you know what's good for you. If the government officials get wind that I've been talking with you, they may come and say, ‘Tell us what went on between you and the king, what you said and what he said. Hold nothing back and we won't kill you.' If this happens, tell them, ‘I presented my case to the king so that he wouldn't send me back to the dungeon of Jonathan to die there.'" ²⁷ And sure enough, all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him. He responded as the king had instructed. So they quit asking. No one had overheard the conversation. ²⁸ Jeremiah lived in the courtyard of the palace guards until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Luke 22:67, Luke 22:68

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 1:12 - let me Proverbs 12:15 - but John 11:53 - put Hebrews 1:8 - a sceptre

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah,.... Here follows the prophets answer, in which he tacitly desires to be excused saying any thing upon this head, since it might be attended with danger to himself, and be of no service to the king; and therefore prudently thought fit to come into some agreement with the king, to secure himself, if he insisted upon it:

if I declare [it] unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? this he might fear, from past experience of the king's conduct; for, though he might not slay him with his own hands, or give orders to others to do it; yet he might deliver him up to the will and mercy of his princes, as he had done before; not that the prophet was afraid to die, or was deterred through fear of death from delivering the word of the Lord, and doing his work; but he thought it proper to make use of prudent means to preserve his life; besides, he had no express order from the Lord to say anything concerning this matter at this time:

and if give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken to me? or, "thou wilt not hearken to me" z; so the Targum, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions; and therefore it was to no purpose to give him any advice; from all this the king might easily understand the prophet had nothing to say that would be agreeable to him; however, he was very desirous to know what it was, and therefore promises indemnity and security, as follows:

z לא תשמע אלי "non audies me", V. L. Schmidt; "non audies ad me", Montanus; "non auscultabis mihi", Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wilt thou not hearken ...! - Rather, Thou wilt not hearken.