This is what Yahweh says about David’s descendant, King Zedekiah, and all the people living in this city, your relatives who were not taken away as prisoners with you:
“ ‘As for the bad figs that were too rotten to eat, they represent King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and all the others left in Jerusalem who were not taken away to Babylon, whether they stayed here in Judah or went to live in Egypt.
Jeremiah entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter read as follows: