1When Jeremiah had finished reporting to the people all that the LORD their God had sent him to say,
2Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and their party had the effrontery to say to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to forbid us to go and make our home in Egypt;
3it is Baruch son of Neriah who is inciting you against us in order to put us in the power of the Chaldaeans, to be killed or deported to Babylon.”
4Johanan son of Kareah and the captains of the armed bands and all the people refused to obey the LORD's command to stay in Judah.
5Johanan and the captains collected the remnant of Judah, all who had returned from the countries among which they had been scattered to make their home in Judah --
6men, women, and children, including the king's daughters, everyone whom Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as well as the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch son of Neriah;
7and in defiance of the LORD's command they all went to Egypt and arrived at Tahpanhes.
8The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:
9Take some large stones and set them in cement in the pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes. Let the Judaeans see you do it,
10and say to them: These are the words of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: I shall send for my servant King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he will place his throne on these stones that I have set here, and spread his canopy over them.
11He will come and vanquish Egypt: Those who are for the plague shall go to the plague, those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword.
12He will set fire to the temples of the Egyptian gods, burning the buildings and carrying the gods into captivity. He will scour the land of Egypt as a shepherd scours his clothes to rid them of lice. He will come out of Egypt unscathed.
13He will smash the sacred pillars of Beth-shemesh in Egypt and burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.