1 Then all the princes of the armies, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, 2 and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us) 3 that the LORD thy God may show us the way in which we walk, and that which we should do. 4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you. 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us. 6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will hear the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that, obeying the voice of the LORD our God, it may be well with us.
7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah. 8 Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the princes of the armies which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9 and said unto them, Thus hath the LORD, the God of Israel said, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him, 10 If ye will still abide in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I repent of the evil that I have done unto you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; do not be afraid of him, said the LORD: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will show mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you and cause you to dwell in your own land. 13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, not listening to the voice of the LORD your God, 14 saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the shofar, nor have hunger of bread; and there we will dwell: 15 and now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said: If ye altogether set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; 16 then it shall come to pass that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, of which ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die. 17 So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
18 For thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said: As my anger and my fury have been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my fury be poured forth upon you when ye shall enter into Egypt, and ye shall be an execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more. 19 The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah. Do not go into Egypt; know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 20 Why did ye cause your souls to err? For ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. 21 And now I have this day declared it to you, but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for which he has sent me unto you. 22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where ye desire to go and to sojourn.