1 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniahson of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached
2 Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “Please hear our petition and pray to theLordyour God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left.
3 Pray that theLordyour God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”
4 “I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will certainly pray to theLordyour God as you have requested; I will tell you everything theLordsays and will keep nothing back from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May theLordbe a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything theLordyour God sends you to tell us.
6 Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey theLordour God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey theLordour God.”
7 Ten days later the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah.
8 So he called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest.
9 He said to them, “This is what theLord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says:
10 ‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you.
11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares theLord, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands.
12 I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’
13 “However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey theLordyour God,
14 and if you say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,’
15 then hear the word of theLord, you remnant of Judah. This is what theLordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there,
16 then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die.
17 Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’
18 This is what theLordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be a curseand an object of horror, a curseand an object of reproach; you will never see this place again.’
19 “Remnant of Judah, theLordhas told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today
20 that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to theLordyour God and said, ‘Pray to theLordour God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’
21 I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed theLordyour God in all he sent me to tell you.
22 So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.”
—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/3/32k/JER/42-8cd52424f00828bc1f74ddba19e0a350.mp3?version_id=111—