And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, "I [am] afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand and they abuse me."

And Jeremiah said, "They will not give [you over]. Please obey the voice of Yahweh with regard to what I [am] saying to you, and it will go well with you, and {you} will live.

But if you [are] refusing to surrender, this [is] the thing that Yahweh has shown me.

Now look, all the women who remain in the house of the king of Judah [are] being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon. And look, [they are] saying, '{Your trusted friends} have misled you, and they have prevailed against you. Your feet are stuck in the mud, [so] they turned backward.'

And all your wives and your children [will be] led out to the Chaldeans, and you will not escape from their hand, but by the hand of the king of Babylon you will be seized, and this city will burn with fire."

And Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "No man must know about these words so that you will not die.

And if the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come to you and say to you, 'Please tell us what you said to the king. You must not conceal [it] from us so that we will not kill you. And what did the king say to you?'

Then you shall say to them, 'I [was] presenting my plea {before} the king, to not cause me to return [to] the house of Jonathan to die there.'"

And all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, and he informed them like all these words that the king commanded. So they fell silent, for the {conversation} was not heard.

And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard until [the] day that Jerusalem was captured. And it happened that Jerusalem was captured.

In the ninth year of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on [the] ninth [day] of the month, the city was taken by assault.

But the army of [the] Chaldeans pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon [at] Riblah in the land of Hamath. And he pronounced {sentence} on him.

Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and tied him up with bronze fetters to bring him [to] Babylon.

Then the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those deserting who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, deported [to] Babylon.

And some of the poor people, {who had nothing}, Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, left in the land of Judah. And he gave them vineyards and fields on that day.

"Take him and set your eyes on him. And you must not do something bad to him, {but only} that which he speaks to you, so do with him."

And they sent and took Jeremiah from the courtyard of the guard and gave him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him to the house, so he stayed in the midst of the people.

And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah at his confinement in the courtyard of the guard, {saying},

"Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Look, I [am] about to bring my words to pass against this city for evil and not for good. And they will be {before you} on that day.

But I will rescue you on that day," {declares} Yahweh, "and you will not be given into the hand of the men {of whom you are frightened}.

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, had let him go from Ramah, {where he had been taken} bound in chains in the midst of all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being deported [to] Babylon.

And [the] captain of [the] guard took Jeremiah and said to him, "Yahweh your God threatened this disaster to this place,

and [now] he has brought [it about], and Yahweh has done {just as} he threatened. Because you sinned against Yahweh and did not listen to his voice, so this thing [has] happened to you.

And so then look, I have released you {today} from the chains that [were] on your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me [to] Babylon, [then] come, and {I will take care of you}. But if it is bad in your eyes to come with me [to] Babylon, [then] refrain. Look, the whole land [is] {before you}. To [wherever it is] good and right in your eyes to go, [then] go there."

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.

So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, [at] Mizpah and stayed with him in the midst of the people who were left in the land.

When all the commanders of the armies who [were] in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [in an official position] in the land, and that {he had put him in charge of} men, and women, and little children, and of the poor of the land, of [all those] who had not been deported [to] Babylon,

then they went to Gedaliah [at] Mizpah--Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, and Jehonathan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

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.

{As for me}, look, I [am] staying at Mizpah to represent [you] {before} the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and put [them] in your vessels, and live in your towns that you have seized."

And also all the Judeans who [were] in Moab, and among the {Ammonites}, and in Edom, and who [were] in all the lands, [when] they heard that the king of Babylon had given a remnant to Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, [in an official position] over them,

then all the Judeans returned from all the places [to] which they were scattered. And they came [to] the land of Judah, to Gedaliah [at] Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruit that yielded {in great abundance}.

And Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who [were] in the open country came to Gedaliah [at] Mizpah

and said to him, "{Are you at all aware} that Baalis, the king of the {Ammonites}, has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, to kill you?" But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah said to Gedaliah in secrecy at Mizpah, {saying}, "Please let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and {nobody} will know. Why should he kill you, so that all of Judah who are gathered to you will be scattered, and the remnant of Judah will perish?"

But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "You must not do this thing, for you [are] telling a lie about Ishmael."

{And then} in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, from the offspring of the kingship, and [one of] the chief officers of the king, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [at] Mizpah, {along with} ten men. And they ate bread together there at Mizpah.

{And then} on the second day of the killing of Gedaliah--and {no one} knew--

then men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men [with] shaven beards and torn garments, [who had] cut themselves with blades, {having} grain offerings and frankincense in their hands to bring [to] the {temple} of Yahweh.

And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out to meet them from Mizpah, {weeping as he came}. {And then} as [he was] meeting them, he said to them, "Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam."

{And then}, the moment of their coming to the middle of the city, then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, {along with} the men who [were] with him, slaughtered them [and threw them] to the middle of the pit.

But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, "You must not kill us, for {we have} hidden treasures in the field, wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. So he refrained and he did not kill them in the midst of their fellow countrymen.

Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who [were] in Mizpah, the daughters of the king and all the people who were left at Mizpah, [over] whom Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael took them captive and set out to cross over to the {Ammonites}.

then they took all the men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. And they met him at [the] great pool that [is] in Gibeon.

So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and returned and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.

But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped with eight men {from} Johanan, and they went to the {Ammonites}.

And they set out and stayed at the lodging place of Chimham that [is] near Bethlehem, {intending} to go [to] Egypt

Then all the commanders of the armies, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from [the] smallest to [the] greatest, approached

and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "May our plea please fall {before you}, and pray for us to Yahweh your God, for all this remnant, for we are left [but] a few of many, as your eyes [are] seeing us.

And let Yahweh your God inform us the way in which we should go and the thing that we should do."

And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard. Look, I [am] going to pray to Yahweh your God according to your words, {and then} all the words that Yahweh answers you I will tell you; I will not withhold from you a word."

Then they said to Jeremiah, "May Yahweh be against us as {a true and faithful witness} if we do not do according to all the words that Yahweh sends you for us.

Whether good or bad, we will listen to the voice of Yahweh our God, [to] whom we [are] sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God."

{And then} at [the] end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.

And he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the armies who [were] with him, and all the people from [the] smallest to [the] greatest,

and said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to cause your plea to fall {before him}:

'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.

You must not be afraid {of} the king of Babylon whom you [are] {afraid of}. You must not be afraid of him,' {declares} Yahweh, 'for I [am] with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.

And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and will restore you to your soil.

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,"

then {therefore} hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "{If you are determined} to go [to] Egypt, and you go to dwell as aliens there,

then it will be [that] the sword that you [are] in fear of will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you [are] anxious of will pursue after you there [into] Egypt, and there you will die.

So all the people who {are determined} to go [to] Egypt to dwell as aliens there will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, and there will not be for them an escapee or a survivor from the disaster that I [am] bringing upon them."

For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will pour out on you at your going [to] Egypt, and you will become a curse, and a horror, and a curse [formula], and a disgrace, and you will no longer see this place." '

Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, 'You must not go [to] Egypt.' You must certainly know that I have warned you {today}

that {you have made a fatal mistake}, for you sent me to Yahweh your God, {saying}, 'Pray for us to Yahweh our God, and all that Yahweh our God says, so tell us and we will do [it].'

So I have told you {today}, and you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, or of {anything} that he sent me for you.

Now then, certainly you must know that by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague you will die in the place where you desire to go, to dwell as aliens there."

{And then}, when Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, for which Yahweh their God had sent him to them with all these words,

Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the insolent men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, "You [are] telling a lie! Yahweh our God did not send you, {saying}, 'You must not go [to] Egypt to dwell as aliens there.'

But Baruch the son of Neriah [is] inciting you against us in order to give us into the hand of the Chaldeans, to kill us and to deport us [to] Babylon."

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.

But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations [to] which they had been scattered to dwell as aliens in the land of Judah--

and they came [into] the land of Egypt, for they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh. And they came up to Tahpanhes.

And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, {saying},

and say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Look, I [am] going to send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread out his canopy over them.

And he will come and ravage the land of Egypt, [and deliver those] who [are appointed] for the plague, to the plague, and [those] who [are appointed] for the captivity, to the captivity, and [those] who [are appointed] for the sword, to the sword.

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, who were living at Migdol, and Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, {saying},

"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the towns of Judah. And look, they [are] a site of ruins this day, and there is not in them an inhabitant,

{because of} their wickedness that they committed to provoke me to anger by going to make smoke offerings, serving other gods whom they had not known, [neither] they, you, or your ancestors.

And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, {sending over and over again}, {saying}, "Please, you must not do this detestable thing that I hate."

But they did not listen and they did not incline their ears to turn back from their wickedness, to not make smoke offerings to other gods.

So my wrath and my anger were poured out and burned in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became as a site of ruins, as a desolation, as [they are] this day.'

So then, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Why [are] you doing great harm to {yourselves}, to cut off for yourselves man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah, to not leave over for yourselves a remnant,

provoking me to anger with the works of your hands, to make smoke offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you [have] come to dwell as aliens, so as to cut off yourselves, and so that you are becoming as a curse, and as a disgrace among all the nations of the earth?

They have not shown contrition up to this day, and they have not shown reverence, and they have not walked in my law and in my statutes that I set {before you} and {before} your ancestors.'

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Look, {I am determined to bring disaster on you}, even to exterminate all Judah.

And I will take [away] the remnant of Judah {who are determined} to come [to] the land of Egypt to dwell as aliens there, and everyone will perish. They will fall in the land of Egypt by the sword; they will perish by the famine, from [the] smallest to [the] greatest. By the sword and by the famine they will die and become as a curse, as a horror, and as a curse, and as a disgrace.

And there will not be a survivor or an escapee of the remnant of Judah, those who have come to dwell as an alien there in the land of Egypt, to return [to] the land of Judah where they [are] {longing} to return to dwell there, for they will not turn back, {but only} [some] survivors.'"

Then all the men who knew that their wives [were] making smoke offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood [by], a great assembly, and all the people who lived in the land of Egypt in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, {saying},

"[Concerning] the word that you have spoken to us in the name of Yahweh, we [are] not going to listen to you!

But certainly we will do {everything} that went out from our mouths, to make smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out to her libations just as we did, we, and our ancestors, our kings, and our officials, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, [for] then {we had enough to eat}, and we were well-off, and we did not see disaster.

But {since} we stopped making smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything, and by the sword and by the famine we have perished.

And indeed, [when] we [were] making smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and {pouring out} to her libations, [was it not] {with the consent of} our husbands [that] we made for her sacrificial cakes {marked with her image}, and we poured out to her libations?"

Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women, and to all the people who answered him a word, {saying},

"The offering that you made, smoke offerings in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your ancestors, your kings, and your officials, and the people of the land, [did] not Yahweh remember them, and [did] it [not] come to his {mind}?

And Yahweh was no longer able to bear [it], {because of} the evil of your deeds, {because of} the detestable things that you committed. Thus your land became as a site of ruins, and as a horror, and as a curse, {without} inhabitants, as [it is] this day.

{Because of} [the fact] that you made smoke offerings, and that you sinned against Yahweh, and you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you have not walked in his law, and in his statute, and in his legal provisions, {therefore} this disaster has happened to you, as [it is] this day."