11Johanan son of Kareah, and all the army officers with him, heard of all the crimes committed by Ishmael son of Nethaniah. 12They took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah; and they encountered him by the great pool in Gibeon. 13When all the people held by Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, they were glad; 14all the people whom Ishmael had carried off from Mizpah turned back and went over to Johanan son of Kareah. 15But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
16Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him took all the rest of the people whom b-he had rescued from Ishmael son of Nethaniah-b from Mizpah after he had murdered Gedaliah son of Ahikam—the men, soldiers, women, children, and cunuchs whom [Johanan] had brought back from Gibeon. 17They set out, and they stopped at Geruthc Chimham, near Bethlehem, on their way to go to Egypt 18because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had put in charge of the land.
42Then all the army officers, with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the rest of the people, great and small, approached 2the prophet Jeremiah and said, “Grant our plea, and pray for us to the LORD your God, for all this remnant! For we remain but a few out of many, as you can see. 3Let the LORD your God tell us where we should go and what we should do.”
4The prophet Jeremiah answered them, “Agreed: I will pray to the LORD your God as you request, and I will tell you whatever response the LORD gives for you. I will withhold nothing from you.”
5Thereupon they said to Jeremiah, “Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us! We swear that we will do exactly as the LORD your God instructs us through you—6Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the LORD our God to whom we send you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the LORD our God.”
7After ten days, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8He called Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers, and the rest of the people, great and small, 9and said to them, “Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him: 10If you remain in this land, I will build you and not overthrow, I will plant you and not uproot; for I regret the punishment I have brought upon you. 11Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you fear; do not be afraid of him—declares the LORD—for I am with you to save you and to rescue you from his hands. 12I will dispose him to be merciful to you: he shall show you mercy and a-bring you back to-a your own land.
13“But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land’—thus disobeying the LORD your God— 14if you say, ‘No! We will go to the land of Egypt, so that we may not see war or hear the sound of the horn, and so that we may not hunger for bread; there we will stay,’ 15then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you turn your faces toward Egypt, and you go and sojourn there, 16the sword that you fear shall overtake you there, in the land of Egypt, and the famine you worry over shall follow at your heels in Egypt too; and there you shall die. 17All the men who turn their faces toward Egypt, in order to sojourn there, shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have no surviving remnant of the disaster that I will bring upon them. 18For thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: As My anger and wrath were poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You shall become b-an execration of woe, a curse-b and a mockery; and you shall never again see this place. 19The LORD has spoken against you, O remnant of Judah! Do not go to Egypt! Know well, then—for I warn you this day 20that you were deceitful at heart when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God; and whatever the LORD our God may say, just tell us and we will do it.’ 21I told you today, and you have not obeyed the LORD your God in respect to all that He sent me to tell you—22know well, then, that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you want to go and sojourn.”
43When Jeremiah had finished speaking all these words to all the people—all the words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent him to them—2Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Don’t go to Egypt and sojourn there’! 3It is Baruch son of Neriah who is inciting you against us, so that we will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans to be killed or to be exiled to Babylon!”
4So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and the rest of the people did not obey the LORD’s command to remain in the land of Judah. 5Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers took the entire remnant of Judah—those who had returned from all the countries to which they had been scattered and had sojourned in the land of Judah, 6men, women, and children; and the daughters of the king and all the people whom Nebuzaradan the chief of the guards had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, as well as the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch son of Neriah—7and they went to Egypt. They did not obey the LORD.
They arrived at Tahpanhes, 8and the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: 9Get yourself large stones, and embed them in mortar in the brick structure at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, with some Judeans looking on. 10And say to them: “Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am sending for My servant King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and Ia will set his throne over these stones which I have embedded. He will spread out his pavilionb over them. 11He will come and attack the land of Egypt, delivering
Those destined for the plague, to the plague,
Those destined for captivity, to captivity,
And those destined for the sword, to the sword.
12And Ia will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn them down and carry themc off. He shall wrap himself up in the land of Egypt, as a shepherd wraps himself up in his garment. And he shall depart from there in safety. 13He shall smash the obelisks of the Temple of the Sun which is in the land of Egypt, and he shall burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.
44 The word which came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Noph, and in the land of Pathros:
2Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. They are a ruin today, and no one inhabits them, 3on account of the wicked things they did to vex Me, going to make offerings in worship of other gods which they had not known—neither they nor you nor your fathers. 4Yet I persistently sent to you all My servants the prophets, to say, “I beg you not to do this abominable thing which I hate.” 5But they would not listen or give ear, to turn back from their wickedness and not make offerings to other gods; 6so My fierce anger was poured out, and it blazed against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. And they became a desolate ruin, as they still are today.
7And now, thus said the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, so that every man and woman, child and infant of yours shall be cut off from the midst of Judah, and no remnant shall be left of you? 8For you vex me by your deeds, making offering to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to sojourn, so that you shall be cut off and become a cursea and a mockery among all the nations of earth. 9Have you forgotten
