¹Then all the captains of the forces , and Johanan the son of Kareah , and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah , and all the people from the least even to the greatest , came near ,

²and said to Jeremiah the prophet , “Please let our supplication be presented before you , and pray for us to the LORD your God , even for all this remnant , for we are left but a few of many , as your eyes see us ,

³that the LORD your God may show us the way in which we should walk , and the things that we should do .”

⁴Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them , “I have heard you . Behold , I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words ; and it will happen that whatever thing the LORD answers you , I will declare it to you . I will keep nothing back from you .”

⁵Then they said to Jeremiah , “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness amongst us , if we don’t do according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to tell us .

⁶Whether it is good , or whether it is bad , we will obey the voice of the LORD our God , to whom we send you ; that it may be well with us , when we obey the voice of the LORD our God .”

⁷After ten days , the LORD ’s word came to Jeremiah .

⁸Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah , and all the captains of the forces who were with him , and all the people from the least even to the greatest ,

⁹and said to them , “The LORD , the God of Israel , to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him , says :

¹⁰‘If you will still live in this land, then I will build you , and not pull you down , and I will plant you , and not pluck you up ; for I grieve over the distress that I have brought on you .

¹¹Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid . Don’t be afraid of him ,’ says the LORD , ‘for I am with you to save you , and to deliver you from his hand .

¹²I will grant you mercy , that he may have mercy on you , and cause you to return to your own land.

¹³“‘But if you say , “We will not dwell in this land,” so that you don’t obey the LORD your God ’s voice ,

¹⁴saying , “No , but we will go into the land of Egypt , where we will see no war , nor hear the sound of the trumpet , nor have hunger of bread ; and there we will dwell ;”’

¹⁵now therefore hear the LORD ’s word , O remnant of Judah ! The LORD of Armies , the God of Israel , says , ‘If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt , and go to live there ,

¹⁶then it will happen that the sword , which you fear , will overtake you there in the land of Egypt ; and the famine , about which you are afraid , will follow close behind you there in Egypt ; and you will die there .

¹⁷So will it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live there . They will die by the sword , by the famine , and by the pestilence . None of them will remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them .’

¹⁸For the LORD of Armies , the God of Israel , says : ‘As my anger and my wrath has been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem , so my wrath will be poured out on you , when you enter into Egypt ; and you will be an object of horror , an astonishment , a curse , and a reproach ; and you will see this place no more .’

¹⁹“The LORD has spoken concerning you , remnant of Judah , ‘Don’t go into Egypt !’ Know certainly that I have testified to you today .

²⁰For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls ; for you sent me to the LORD your God , saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God ; and according to all that the LORD our God says, so declare to us , and we will do it .’

²¹I have declared it to you today ; but you have not obeyed the LORD your God ’s voice in anything for which he has sent me to you .

²²Now therefore know certainly that you will die by the sword , by the famine , and by the pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live .”