¹And all the captains of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the smallest to the greatest, came near.

²And they said to Jeremiah the prophet, May our plea fall, please before your face, and pray on our behalf to Yahweh your God, on behalf of all this remnant; for we are left a few out of many, as your eyes are seeing us.

³And may Yahweh your God tell us the way in which we should walk and the word that we should do.

⁴And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard. Here I am, praying to Yahweh your God according to your words; and it will be that every word that Yahweh answers you, I will tell you; I will hold back no word from you.

⁵And they said to Jeremiah, May Yahweh be a true and reliable witness against us, if we do not act just so, according to every word that Yahweh your God sends you to us.

⁶Whether 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; for we will listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.

⁷And it happened at the end of ten days that the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.

⁸And he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people, from the smallest to the greatest.

⁹And he said to them, Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to make your plea fall before his face:

¹⁰If you will really dwell in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up; for I am sorry about the harm that I have done to you.

¹¹Do not be afraid of the face of the king of Babylon, you who are afraid of his face. Do not be afraid of him—the utterance of Yahweh—for I am with you, to save you and to snatch you from his hand.

¹²And I will grant you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and bring you back to your ground.

¹³But if you say, We will not dwell in this land, so as not to listen to the voice of Yahweh your God,

¹⁴saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, and we will not hear the sound of the horn, and we will not be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell.

¹⁵And now therefore hear the word of Yahweh, remnant of Judah: Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: If you really set your faces to go to Egypt, and you go in to sojourn there,

¹⁶And it will be that the sword that you are afraid of it will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you are anxious about it will cling there behind you in Egypt, and there you will die.

¹⁷And all the people who have set their faces to go to Egypt to sojourn there will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; and none will belong to them as a survivor or an escapee from the calamity that I am bringing on them.

¹⁸For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Just as my anger and my rage were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my rage will be poured out on you when you come into Egypt; and you will become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a reproach, and you will not see this place again.

¹⁹Yahweh has spoken concerning you, O remnant of Judah: Do not go into Egypt. Know for certain that I have warned you today.

²⁰For you led astray your living selves, when you sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God says, so tell us, and we will do it.

²¹And I have told you today, but you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, nor to all that he sent me to you for.

²²And now, know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the place where you desired to go and sojourn there.