Jeremiah 38:23
So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire. So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
The warning was delivered to King Zedekiah that if he persisted in refusing to obey God, the outcome would be his own captivity and the burning of Jerusalem with fire. His calamities came because he would not place himself under God's protection through obedience. That captivity meant he himself would not escape from the Babylonians but would be seized and taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. At the same time all his wives and his children, with his possessions, would be brought out to the Chaldeans and fall into their hands.
Even then the city could still have been saved if he had heeded God's counsel and surrendered. By such obedience he would have placed himself under God's protection. Because he refused, Jerusalem was left to be burned. That refusal brought fire and carnage and famine upon its people.