Then all the people, including those who were insignificant and those who were important, fled with the captains of the armed forces to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Chaldeans. Verse ConceptsTravelGreat And SmallFear Of Enemies

All the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and went back to Kareah's son Jonathan. But Nethaniah's son Ishmael and eight other men escaped from Jonathan and went to the Ammonites. 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. read more.
They traveled and then stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt 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.

But if you disobey the LORD your God by saying, "We won't stay in this land," 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," 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, read more.
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. 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." 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.'