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Jeremiah

Rejection of Jeremiah's Counsel and Flight to Egypt

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Chapter 41
16 And Johanan son of Kareah and all the chiefs of the forces who were with him took all the remnant of the people whom he had brought back from Ishmael son of Nethaniah from Mizpah after he had struck Gedaliah son of Ahikam—men, men of war, and women and children and eunuchs whom he had brought back from Gibeon. 17 And they went and stayed in the lodging places of Chimham, which were beside Bethlehem, to go to come to Egypt. 18 because of the Chaldeans, for they feared them, for Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babel had appointed in the land.
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Chapter 42
1 And they approached—all the rulers of the powers, Johanan son of Korah, Jazaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from small to great. 2 And they said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please pray now for our supplication before you, and pray intercession for us to the LORD your God for all this remnant—for we have remained few from many, just as your eyes see us." 3 And may the LORD our God make known to us the way in which we will walk and the word which we will do. 4 And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words, and every word that the LORD answers you, I will tell you. I will not withhold a word from you." 5 And they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us—if we do not do according to every word that the LORD our God sends you to us." 6 Whether good or evil, in the voice of the LORD our God which we are sending you to him, we will hear-obey, so that it may go well for us, for we hear-obey in the voice of the LORD our God. 7 And at the end of ten days, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8 And he called to Johanan son of Kareah and to all the captains of the forces who were with him and to all the people from small to great. 9 And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, to whom you sent me to cast your prayer/supplication before him." 10 If you return and dwell in this land, then I will build you and not demolish you, and I will plant you and not uproot you, for I regret the evil that I have done to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, whom you fear. Do not fear him—oracle of the LORD—for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will give you mercy, and he will have compassion on you, and he will return you to your ground. 13 And if you say, "We will not dwell in this land, so as not to obey the voice of the LORD your God," 14 saying, "No, for we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war and will not hear the sound of the ram's horn, and we will not hunger for bread, and there we will dwell." 15 And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, remnant of Judah. In this way says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: If you are setting your faces to come to Egypt and you come to sojourn there... 16 And the sword that you are fearing from it will overtake you in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you are anxious from it will cling after you in Egypt, and there you will die. 17 And all the men who set their faces to come to Egypt to sojourn there—they will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, and there will not be for them a survivor or escapee from before the evil that I am bringing upon them. 18 For thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel: 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 come to Egypt, and you will be an oath and a name and a curse and a reproach, and you will not see this place again. 19 The word of the LORD to you, remnant of Judah: Do not go to Egypt. You shall know, knowing, for I have testified against you today. 20 For you have gone astray in your souls, because you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, "Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says, tell us, and we will do it." 21 And I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God or anything that he sent me to you. 22 And now you will know that by sword, by famine, and by pestilence you will die in the place where you desired to go to sojourn.
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Chapter 43
1 And it was when Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God, which the LORD their God had sent him—all these words. 2 And Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Korah and all the presumptuous men said to Jeremiah, "You are speaking falsehood; the LORD our God did not send you saying, 'Do not go to Egypt to sojourn there.'" 3 for Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us, in order that the Chaldeans may give us into their hand to kill us and to exile us to Babylon. 4 And Johanan son of Korah did not listen, and all the rulers of the forces and all the people, to the voice of the LORD to remain in the land of Judah. 5 And Johanan son of Kareah and all the chiefs of the armies took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven to sojourn in the land of Judah. 6 the men and the women and the little ones and the king's daughters and every soul that Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. 7 And they came to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD, and they came as far as Tahpanhes. 8 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah at Tahpanhes, saying. 9 Take large stones in your hand, and bury them in mortar in the brick pavement that is at the entrance of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, before the eyes of the Judean men. 10 And you shall say to them, "The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Look, I am sending and taking Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel my servant, and I will set his throne from above upon these stones that I have hidden, and he will stretch out his canopy over them." 11 And he comes and strikes the land of Egypt: those for death, to death; those for captivity, to captivity; and those for the sword, to the sword. 12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt and burn them and carry them off and wrap the land of Egypt just as the shepherd wraps his garment and go out from there in peace. 13 He will break the sacred pillars of the House of the Sun that are in the land of Egypt, and he will burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire.