Jeremiah 38:22
And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back.
This verse belongs to Jeremiah's tearful plea to King Zedekiah to obey God and surrender, as the only way to save himself, his people, and the city from destruction. It assured him that he could not escape with his life by resistance and that all his possessions would fall to the king of Babylon, yet he could still save the city by surrender. It showed that his advisers and false prophets had set him against the course that could have protected him and had prevailed against him.
It predicted that the women left in the king's house would be brought out to the Babylonian princes and would taunt him as a captive for being misled and sunk in trouble while his misleaders turned back. Zedekiah had started on the wrong track and would not retrace his steps, choosing instead to follow the counsel of false prophets and of men he despised, yielding his manhood to become a slave to public opinion from fear of letting his courtiers and people know he had conferred with Jeremiah. Though convicted of the truth and without a fixed purpose of evil, he lacked moral stamina to obey, continuing in the wrong direction instead of standing boldly for the right and declaring belief in the prophet's half-fulfilled word.
If he had obeyed, the people would have respected his courage, the wavering would have stood for the right, he would have had ample support, and Israel would have been spared fire and carnage and famine. But because he would not submit to God's counsel his calamities came upon him and he was blinded and led in chains to Babylon. The verse thus warns that hardening oneself against reproof and refusing to repent can lead to ruin.