'They will be brought [to] Babylon, and there they will stay until the day of my attending to them,' {declares} Yahweh. 'Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.'"

While he still had not turned back, [Nebuzaradan] added, "Return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed [in an official position] over the towns of Judah, and stay with him in the midst of the people. Or to [wherever it is] right in your eyes to go, [then] go [there]." Then [the] captain of [the] guard gave him an allowance of provisions and a present, and let him go.

And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, {saying}, "You must not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.

'If only you will stay in this land, then I will build you and I will not tear [you] down, and I will plant you and I will not pluck [you] up, for I relent of the disaster that I have brought to you.

But if you [are] saying, "We will not stay in this land," [so as to] not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God,

saying, "No, for we will go [to] the land of Egypt where we will not see war, and we will not hear [the] sound of a horn, and we will not be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,"

So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies, and all the people did not listen to the voice of Yahweh to stay in the land of Judah.