Warning against Going to Egypt
1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near. 2 They said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our supplication be presented before you and pray for us to the Lord your God, for all of this remnant, for from many, we are left but a few, as you can see. 3 Pray that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the things that we should do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and it will happen that in whatever way the Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness among us, if we do not do according to every word which the Lord your God sends you to tell us. 6 Whether it is pleasing to us, or whether it is displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
7 After ten days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest. 9 He said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him, says, 10 ‘If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down. I will plant you and not pluck you up, for I am relenting in the disaster that I have brought on you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ‘for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.’
13 But if you declare, We will not dwell in this land,’ not obeying the voice of the Lord your God, 14 saying, ‘No, we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or hear the sound of the trumpet, or hunger for bread, and there will we dwell,’ 15 then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. The Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt and go to live there, 16 then it will happen that the sword, which you fear, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, about which you are afraid, will follow close behind you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17 So will it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live there. They will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. None of them will remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring on them.’
18 For the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says, ‘As my anger and my wrath has been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you, when you enter into Egypt, and you will be an object of horror, an appalling curse and disgrace, and you will see this place no more.’
19 The Lord has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go into Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have testified to you today. 20 For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls, for you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord our God says, so declare to us, and we will do it.’
21 I have declared it to you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything for which he has sent me to you. 22 Now therefore, know certainly that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go live.”