Jeremiah’s Advice to Stay

⁷ At the end of ten days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, ⁸ and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the armies who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.

⁹ He said to them, “This is what the Lord says, the God of Israel to whom you sent me to bring your petition before him: ¹⁰ ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will rebuild and not demolish you,^(A) and I will plant and not uproot you, because I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought on you.^{(B) 11} Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon^(C) whom you now fear; don’t be afraid of him’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘because I am with you to save you^(D) and rescue you from him. ¹² I will grant you compassion,^(E) and he^[a] will have compassion on you and allow you to return to your own soil.’

¹³ “But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’^(F) in order to disobey the Lord your God, ¹⁴ and if you say, ‘No, instead we’ll go to the land of Egypt^(G) where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn^(H) or hunger for food, and we’ll live there,’ ¹⁵ then hear the word of the Lord, remnant of Judah! This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel,^(I) says: ‘If you are firmly resolved to go to Egypt^(J) and stay there for a while, ¹⁶ then the sword^(K) you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you are worried about will follow on your heels^[b] there to Egypt, and you will die there. ¹⁷ All who resolve to go to Egypt to stay there for a while will die by the sword, famine, and plague. They will have no survivor or fugitive from the disaster I will bring on them.’

¹⁸ “For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on Jerusalem’s residents,^(L) so will my fury pour out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an example for cursing, scorn,^(M) execration, and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’