The Flight to Egypt Forbidden
1 Now all the captains of the forces,Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near
2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet,“Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, andpray for us to theLordyour God, for all this remnant (since we are leftbuta few of many, as you can see),
3 that theLordyour God may show usthe way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to theLordyour God according to your words, and it shall be,thatwhatever theLordanswers you, I will declareitto you. I willkeep nothing back from you.”
5 So they said to Jeremiah,“Let theLordbe a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which theLordyour God sends us by you.
6 Whetheritispleasing or displeasing, we willobey the voice of theLordour God to whom we send you,that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of theLordour God.”
7 And it happened after ten days that the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah.
8 Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces whichwerewith him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9 and said to them, “Thus says theLord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him:
10 ‘If you will still remain in this land, thenI will build you and not pullyoudown, and I will plant you and not pluckyouup. For Irelent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you.
11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him,’ says theLord,‘for Iamwith you, to save you and deliver you from his hand.
12 AndI will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.’
13 “But ifyou say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ disobeying the voice of theLordyour God,
14 saying, ‘No, but we will go to the land ofEgypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’—
15 Then hear now the word of theLord, O remnant of Judah! Thus says theLordof hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If youwholly setyour faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there,
16 then it shall bethatthesword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you thereinEgypt; and there you shall die.
17 So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. Andnone of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.’
18 “For thus says theLordof hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As My anger and My fury have beenpoured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. Andyou shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.’
19 “TheLordhas said concerning you, O remnant of Judah,‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have admonished you this day.
20 For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to theLordyour God, saying, ‘Pray for us to theLordour God, and according to all that theLordyour God says, so declare to us and we will doit.’
21 And I have this day declareditto you, but you havenot obeyed the voice of theLordyour God, or anything which He has sent you by me.
22 Now therefore, know certainly that youshall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to dwell.”