43 And then,^[a] when Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, for which Yahweh their God had sent him to them with all these words, ² Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the insolent men spoke,^[b] saying to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie! Yahweh our God did not send you, saying,^[c] ‘You must not go to Egypt to dwell as aliens there.’ ³ But Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us in order to give us into the hand of the Chaldeans, to kill us and to deport us to Babylon.”

⁴ So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies, and all the people did not listen^[d] to the voice of Yahweh to stay in the land of Judah. ⁵ But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took^[e] all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been scattered to dwell as aliens in the land of Judah— ⁶ the men, and the women, and the little children, and the daughters of the king, and everyone^[f] whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard^[g] had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah— ⁷ and they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh. And they came up to Tahpanhes.

The Throne of Nebuchadnezzar Will be Set Up at Tahpanhes

⁸ And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, ⁹ “Take in your hands^[h] large stones and bury them in the mortar in the clay floor that is at the entrance of the palace^[i] of Pharaoh in Tahpanhes before the eyes of the people^[j] of the Judeans, ¹⁰ and say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Look, I am going to send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread out his canopy over them. ¹¹ And he will come and ravage the land of Egypt, and deliver those who are appointed for the plague, to the plague, and those who are appointed for the captivity, to the captivity, and those who are appointed for the sword, to the sword. ¹² Then he will kindle a fire in the temples^[k] of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. And he will wrap up the land of Egypt just as the shepherd wraps up his cloak. And he will go forth from there in peace. ¹³ And he will break the stone pillars of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt. And he will burn the temples^[l] of the gods of Egypt with fire.”’”