Then all the ¹commanders of the military forces, ^aJohanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people ^bboth small and great approached 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our ^asupplication ¹come before you, and ^bpray for us to Yahweh your God, that is for all this remnant, because we remain but a ^cfew out of many, as your own eyes now see us, 3 that Yahweh your God may tell us the ^away in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.” 4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to ^apray to Yahweh your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole ¹message which ^bYahweh will answer you. I will ^cnot keep back a word from you.” 5 And they said to Jeremiah, “May ^aYahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole ¹message with which Yahweh your God will send you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will ^alisten to the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we are sending you, so that good ^bmay come to us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.”

7 Now it happened that at the ^aend of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ¹commanders of the military forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great, 9 and said to them, “Thus ^asays Yahweh the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him: 10 ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will ^abuild you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I have ^1brelented of the calamity that I have done against you. 11 ^aDo not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for ^bI am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand. 12 I will also show you compassion, so that ^ahe will have compassion on you and return you to your own soil. 13 But if you are going to say, “We will ^anot stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, 14 saying, “No, but we will ^ago to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or ^bhear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there,” 15 then now, listen to the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “If you really set your face to enter ^aEgypt, and you will enter to sojourn there, 16 then the ^asword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will ¹follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17 So all the men who set their face to go to Egypt to sojourn there will die by the ^asword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and they will ^bhave no survivors or any who escaped from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.”’”

18 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “As My ^aanger and wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a ^bcurse, an object of horror, an imprecation, and a reproach; and ^cyou will see this place no more.” 19 Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not ^ago into Egypt!” You should clearly ^bknow that today I have ^ctestified against you. 20 For you have only ^1aled yourselves astray; for it is you who sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, “Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.” 21 So I have ^atold you today, but you have ^bnot listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, even according to all that He has sent me to tell you. 22 So now, you should clearly know that you will ^adie by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the ^bplace where you desire to go to sojourn.