Jeremiah 41:16-Jeremiah 43:13 - Flight To Egypt

¹⁶ Kareah's son Jonathan and all the military leaders who were with him took all the rest of the people from Mizpah whom he had rescued from Nethaniah's son Ishmael after he had killed Ahikam's son Gedaliah, including the young men, the soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs whom he had rescued from Gibeon. ¹⁷ They traveled and then stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt

¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans. They were afraid of the Chaldeans because Nethaniah's son Ishmael had killed Ahikam's son Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

¹ Then all the military leaders, Kareah's son Jonathan, Hoshaiah's son Jezaniah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah. ² They told Jeremiah the prophet, "Please listen to what we have to ask of you. Pray to the LORD your God for us and for all these survivors. Indeed, only a few of us remain out of many, as you can see. ³ Pray that the LORD your God may inform us as to how we should live and what we should do."

⁴ Jeremiah the prophet told them, "I've heard, and I'm going to pray to the LORD your God just as you have requested. Whatever the LORD answers, I'll tell you. I won't withhold anything from you."

⁵ Then they told Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we don't do everything that the LORD your God tells us through you. ⁶ Whether it seems good or bad, we will obey the LORD our God to whom we send you, so it may go well for us. Indeed, we will obey the LORD our God."

⁷ At the end of ten days a message from the LORD came to Jeremiah. ⁸ So he called Kareah's son Jonathan, all the military leaders who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.

⁹ He told them, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says, to whom you sent me to take your request: ¹⁰ "If you will just remain in this land, I'll build you up and not pull you down. I'll plant you and not uproot you, for I'm sorry about the disaster I've brought on you. ¹¹ Don't be afraid of the king of Babylon as you have been. Don't fear him,' declares the LORD, "because I am with you to save you and deliver you from his control. ¹² I'll show you compassion, so he will have compassion on you and return you to your land. ¹³ But if you disobey the LORD your God by saying, "We won't stay in this land," ¹⁴ and you also say, "No, but we will go to the land of Egypt where we won't see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or hunger for bread, and there we will stay," ¹⁵ then hear this message from the LORD, remnant of Judah: "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "If you are really determined to go into Egypt, and you go there to settle, ¹⁶ the sword that you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt. The famine that you dread will pursue you into Egypt, and there you will die. ¹⁷ All the people who are determined to go into Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, by famine, and by the plague. No one will survive the disaster that I'll bring on them."

¹⁸ For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of horror, ridicule, and scorn, and you will never again see this place.' ¹⁹ The LORD has told you, remnant of Judah, "Don't go to Egypt!' So be fully aware that I've warned you, today, ²⁰ that you have deceived yourselves. Indeed, you yourselves sent me to the LORD your God, saying, "Pray to the LORD your God for us, and whatever the LORD our God tells us we will do.' ²¹ I've told you today, but you haven't obeyed the LORD your God in all that he sent me to tell you. ²² Now, be fully aware that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by plague in the place where you want to settle."

¹ When Jeremiah had finished telling all the people all the words that the LORD their God had sent him to tell them that is, all these words ² Hoshaiah's son Azariah, Kareah's son Johanan, and all the arrogant men told Jeremiah, "You're lying! The LORD our God didn't send you to say, "Don't go to Egypt to settle there.' ³ Indeed, Neriah's son Baruch is inciting you against us in order to give us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to kill us, or to take us into exile to Babylon."

⁴ So Kareah's son Johanan, all the military leaders, and all the people did not obey the instructions given by the LORD to remain in the land of Judah. ⁵ Kareah's son Johanan and all the military leaders took the entire remnant of Judah that had returned from all the nations where they had been scattered to settle in the land of Judah ⁶ the young men, the women, the children, the daughters of the king, and everyone whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Ahikam's son Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, along with Jeremiah the prophet and Neriah's son Baruch. ⁷ So they went into the land of Egypt, because they did not obey the LORD, and they travelled as far as Tahpanhes.

⁸ Then this message from the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: ⁹ "Take large stones in your hands, and, in the sight of the men of Judah, bury them in the mortar of the brickwork at the entrance of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes. ¹⁰ Then say to them, "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I'm going to send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I'll take him and set his throne over these stones that I've buried, and he will spread his canopy over them. ¹¹ He will come and attack the land of Egypt those meant for death will be put to death, those meant for captivity will be taken captive, and those meant for the sword will be put to the sword. ¹² He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn their idols and take them captive. He will wrap himself with the land of Egypt like a shepherd wraps himself with a garment, and then he will leave from there in peace. ¹³ He will shatter the pillars of Heliopolis in the land of Egypt and will burn the temples of the gods of Egypt with fire."'"