Off to Egypt with Jeremiah and Baruch

¹When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God—he didn’t omit anything the LORD sent him to convey—

²Azariah, Hoshaiah’s son, and Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You’re lying to us! The LORD our God didn’t send you to tell us not to go to Egypt to live.

³It’s Baruch, Neriah’s son, who put you up to it so that we end up in the hands of the Babylonians, who will either kill us or deport us to Babylon.”

⁴So Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers and the rest of the people disobeyed the LORD ’s command to stay in the land of Judah.

⁵Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers took the remaining Judeans who had returned to the land of Judah after being scattered among the nations—

⁶men, women, children, the king’s daughters, everyone Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard had left with Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son and Shaphan’s grandson, including Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch, Neriah’s son.

⁷They went to the land of Egypt, as far as Tahpanhes, for they wouldn’t obey the LORD .

⁸The LORD ’s word came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:

⁹Take some large stones and set them in the clay pavement in front of Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes while the people of Judah are watching.[#43.9 Heb uncertain]

¹⁰After that, say to the people: The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I’m sending for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who will set his throne over these stones and will spread his canopy over them.[#43.10 LXX; MT I]

¹¹He will come and ravage the land of Egypt:

those marked for disaster, to disaster,

and those marked for exile, to exile.

¹²He will set on fire the temples of the Egyptian gods. He will burn them down and carry off their gods. He will wrap the land of Egypt around himself, just as a shepherd wraps his garment around himself, and he will move on unharmed.[#43.12 LXX, Syr; MT I will set on fire; #43.12 Or picks clean; #43.12 Heb uncertain]

¹³He will shatter the sacred pillars in the temple of the sun in Egypt and burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.