Jeremiah 38:18
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. 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.
The warning was conditional and personal: if Zedekiah would not go out and surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, Jerusalem would be given into the hand of the Chaldeans to be burned with fire, and he himself would not escape out of their hand. It was delivered privately after Zedekiah summoned Jeremiah and swore by the living Lord, the Creator of the soul, that he would neither put the prophet to death nor hand him over to those seeking his life, to which Jeremiah answered in the name of the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel. Jeremiah pressed the message with tears and anguish of spirit, entreating the king to save himself and his people by yielding, and warning that refusal meant loss of life and possessions to the king of Babylon.
Even at that late hour the warning revealed long-suffering mercy and a still-open way to avoid calamity under divine protection. Submission would have brought well-being and life to Zedekiah's soul and to his house, spared the lives of the people, and saved the city from burning and from utter ruin by fire and carnage and famine. The city and its people could still be spared if he submitted to God's requirement.
Zedekiah refused because he felt he had gone too far to retract and would not retrace his steps from the wrong track. Though convicted of the truth, he chose the counsel of false prophets and of men he despised, rather than standing boldly for the right. From fear and weakness he would not openly trust the prophet, obey, and place himself under divine protection, but yielded his manhood to cringing slavery to fear of man and public opinion. He dreaded ridicule and the humiliation of confessing the word of the Lord through Jeremiah, and especially feared that the Jews who had fallen to the Chaldeans would deliver him to be mocked and harmed. By refusing that counsel he brought upon himself the announced judgment: the predicted destruction of the city by fire came, he did not escape capture, and he was taken captive and blinded.