Warning against Going to Egypt
1 Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah (Azariah) the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached
2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our petition be presented before you, and pray to the Lordyour God for us,that is,for all this remnant [of the people of Judah]; for we were once many, but now [only] a few of us are left, as you see with your own eyes, [so please pray]
3 that the Lordyour God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Now hear me, I will pray to the Lordyour God in accordance with your words; and I will declare to you whatever message the Lordanswers; I will keep nothing back from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lordbe a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to act in accordance with all the things that the Lordyour God sends you to tell us.
6 Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen toandhonor the voice of the Lordour God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the Lordour God.”
7 Now after ten days [of prayer] had passed the word of the Lordcame to Jeremiah.
8 Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest,
9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him:
10 ‘If you will indeed remain in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I will relentandbe satisfied concerning the disaster that I have inflicted on you [as discipline, and I will replace judgment with compassion].
11 ~‘Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear [as if he were deity]; do not be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ‘for [he is a mere man, but I am the living, omniscient God and] I am with you [always] to protect you and to deliver you from his hand.
12 ~‘And I will show you compassion, so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own land.
13 ~‘But if you are going to say, “We will not stay in this land,” and [in so doing] do not listen to the voice of the Lordyour God,
14 saying, “No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the [warrior’s] trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there,”
15 then in that case listen to the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lordof hosts, the God of Israel, “If you are really determined to go to Egypt and to reside there [temporarily],
16 then the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine of which you are afraid will follow closely after you in Egypt, and you will die there.
17 So all the men who set their mind to go to Egypt to reside there [temporarily] will die by the sword, by famine and by virulent disease; none of them will remain or survive the disaster that I am going to bring on them.”’”
18 For thus says the Lordof hosts, the God of Israel, “As My anger and My wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will become detested, an object of horror, a curse and a people scorned; and you will no longer see this place.”
19 The Lordhas spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not go into Egypt!” Know with certainty that I [Jeremiah] have warned youandtestified to you this day
20 that you have deceived yourselves; for you sent me to the Lordyour God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lordour God; and whatever the Lordour God says, declare it to us and we will do it.”
21 And so I have told you today, but you have not listened to the voice of the Lordyour God, in anything that He has sent me to tell you.
22 Now therefore know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by virulent disease in the land [of Egypt] where you wish to reside [temporarily].