 1 Then came near all the commanders 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. 2 They said to Jeremiah the prophet, Please let our cry be pleasing to 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 behold us, 3 that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we may walk, and the thing that we may do. 4 Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words. All the Word that the Lord answers, I will declare to you. I will keep nothing back from you. 5 They said to Jeremiah, Let the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us if we do not do even according to all things for which the Lord your God shall send you to us. 6 Whether it is good, or whether it is evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send you. So that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God. 7 After ten days, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 He called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest. 9 He said to them, Thus says the Lord: the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your cry before Him: 10 If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and will not pull you down. And I will plant you and will not pluck you up. For I repent of the evil that I have done to you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him says the Lord. For I am with you to save you and to deliver you from him. 12 I will show mercies to you so that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land. 13 But if you say, We will not live in this land nor obey the voice of the Lord your God, 14 saying, No. We will go into the land of Egypt where we will see no war nor hear the sound of the trumpet nor have hunger for bread and live there, 15 then hear the Word of the Lord O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel. If you are determined+ to go into Egypt and live there, 16 then the sword that you feared will overtake you there in the land of Egypt. The famine that you were anxious about will cling to you there in Egypt and you will die there. 17 So it will be to all those who are determined+ to go into Egypt to live there. They will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. None of them will remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. 18 For thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: As my anger and my fury has been poured forth on the people of Jerusalem, so also will my fury be poured forth on you when you enter into Egypt. You will be a curse and a wonder, a shame and a reproach. You will see this place no more. 19 The Lord has said concerning you O remnant of Judah, Do not go into Egypt. Know certainly that I have warned you this day. 20 For you used deceit against your souls when 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 shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it. 21 I have declared it to you today. But you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor anything for which He has sent me to you. 22 Therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, in the place where you desire to go to live.
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