Warning against Going to Egypt

1Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near. 2And said to Jeremiah the prophet, We beseech thee, let our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us to the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thy eyes do behold us:) 3That the LORD thy God may show us the way in which we may walk, and the thing that we may do. 4Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray to 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 to you; I will keep nothing back from you. 5Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us. 6Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

7And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9And said to them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him; 10If ye will still abide in this land, then will I 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 to you. 11Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD; for I am with you, to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. 12And I will show mercies to you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land. 13But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God, 14Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor hunger for bread; and there will we dwell: 15And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; 16Then 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. 17So 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.

18For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As my anger and my fury hath 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. 19The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 20For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me to the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us to the LORD our God; and according to all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it. 21And 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 hath sent me to you. 22Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.