24Then Zedekiah warned Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you will die.
25If the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’
26then tell them, ‘I was presenting to the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”
27When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he relayed to them the exact words the king had commanded him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had overheard the conversation.
— Jeremiah 38:24-27