“He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.”
The explicit promise that whoever goes out to the Babylonians will live shows that surrender, though counterintuitive and shameful, is the pathway to survival. The repetition of the promise—"his life shall be given him as a prize"—emphasizes that survival itself is the reward for surrender. This verse directly contradicts the expected behavior of a king and people; normally, surrender is regarded as the ultimate shame. Yet here, it is presented as wisdom and the condition for survival.
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