The Hebrew Prophets

They said to Yirmeyahu, "May ADONAI be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do any part of what ADONAI your God gives you to tell us.

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.

So he called Yochanan the son of Kareach, all the military commanders with him and all the people, from the least to the greatest,

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,

and instead say, 'No, we will go to the land of Egypt; because there we will not see war or hear the shofar sounding its alarm or be short of food; so we'll stay there';

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,

the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, of which you are afraid, will pursue you relentlessly there in Egypt; and there you will die.

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.

Therefore, know for a fact that you will die by sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go and live."

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'!

Rather, Barukh the son of Neriyah is inciting you against us, so that we can be handed over to the Kasdim to be put to death or carried off as captives to Bavel."

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.

Instead, Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders took all the remnant of Y'hudah who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven to live in the land of Y'hudah -

the men, the women, the children, the king's daughters, everyone N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard had committed to G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, and Yirmeyahu the prophet and Barukh the son of Neriyah -

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