The Survivors Ask the Lord for Advice but Refuse to Follow It
1Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah and all the people of every class, went to the prophet Jeremiah.
2They said to him, “Please grant our request and pray to the
3Pray that the
4The prophet Jeremiah answered them, “Agreed! I will indeed pray to the
5They answered Jeremiah, “May the
6We will obey what the
7Ten days later the
8So Jeremiah summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people of every class.
9Then Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to the
10‘If you will just stay in this land, I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will firmly plant you. I will not uproot you. For I am filled with sorrow because of the disaster that I have brought on you.
11Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him because I will be with you to save you and to rescue you from his power. I, the
12I will have compassion on you so that he in turn will have mercy on you and allow you to return to your land.’
13“You must not disobey the
14You must not say, ‘No, we will not stay. Instead we will go and live in the land of Egypt where we will not face war, or hear the enemy’s trumpet calls, or starve for lack of food.’
15If you people who remain in Judah do that, then listen to what the
16the wars you fear will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt. The starvation you are worried about will follow you there to Egypt. You will die there.
17All the people who are determined to go and settle in Egypt will die from war, starvation, or disease. No one will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’
18For the
19“The
20You are making a fatal mistake. For you sent me to the
21This day I have told you what he said. But you do not want to obey the
22So now be very sure of this: You will die from war, starvation, or disease in the place where you want to go and live.”