God

Whether it be good or bad, we will listen to what ADONAI our God says. We are dispatching you to him so that things will go well with us, as we heed what ADONAI our God says."

Ten days later the word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu.

and said to them, "You sent me to present your request to ADONAI the God of Isra'el. This is what he says:

'If you will stay in this land, then I will build you up, not pull you down; I will plant you and not uproot you; for I am relenting from the calamity I inflicted on you.

Don't be afraid of the king of Bavel - of whom you are afraid. Don't be afraid of him,' says ADONAI, 'for I am with you to save you and to rescue you from his power.

I will take pity on you, so that he will take pity on you and cause you to return to your own land.

"But if you say, 'We will not stay in this land,' thereby not heeding what ADONAI your God is saying,

then hear what ADONAI says, remnant of Y'hudah - this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'If you are determined to go to Egypt and stay there,

This is how it will be for all the people determined to go to Egypt and stay there - they will die by sword, famine and plague; none of them will remain or escape the disaster that I will bring upon them.'

For here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, so likewise my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt; so that you will become an object of condemnation, astonishment, cursing and reproach; and you will see this place no more.'

"ADONAI has spoken concerning you, remnant of Y'hudah! Don't go to Egypt! You know for a fact that I have given you fair warning today.

For you have been behaving deceitfully, against your own interests. You sent me to ADONAI your God, saying, 'Pray for us to ADONAI our God; tell us everything ADONAI our God says, and we will do it.'

Today I have told it to you, but you haven't heeded any part of what ADONAI your God gave me to tell you.

When Yirmeyahu had finished telling all the people everything ADONAI their God had said, which ADONAI their God had sent him to tell them, the entire speech cited above,

then 'Azaryah the son of Hosha'yah, Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the men with him had the effrontery to say to Yirmeyahu, "You are lying! ADONAI our God did not send you to say, 'Don't go to Egypt and live there'!

So Yochanan the son of Kareach, all the military commanders and all the people did not heed what ADONAI said, to live in the land of Y'hudah.

and went to the land of Egypt; for they did not heed what ADONAI had said; and they arrived in Tachpanches.

Then this word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu in Tachpanches:

Tell them: 'This is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: "I will summon N'vukhadretzar the king of Bavel, my servant, take him and set his throne on these stones I laid here; he will come and spread his royal canopy over them.

"Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'You have seen all the disaster I inflicted on Yerushalayim and all the cities of Y'hudah; there they are today, ruined, with no one living in them.

It came about because of the wicked things they did to make me angry - sacrificing to and serving other gods, whom they did not know, neither they, nor you nor your ancestors.

I had sent you all my servants the prophets, sent them frequently, with the message, "Don't do this horrible thing which I hate!"

Hence my fury and anger were poured out and ignited in the cities of Y'hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim; so that they became waste and desolate, as they are today.'

"Therefore now, ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says this: 'Why are you committing this great sin against yourselves? The result can only be to cut you off from Y'hudah - men, women, children and babies - so that none of you remain.

For you continue provoking me with the products of your own hands, offering to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live as aliens. It will lead only to your destruction and becoming an object of curses and reproaches among all the nations of the earth.