“Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not make any appeal or request for them. Do not beg me. I will not listen to you.

Jeremiah Prays to the Lord

Lord, I know that a person doesn’t control their own life. They don’t direct their own steps.

“Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not make any appeal or request for them. They will call out to me when they are in trouble. But I will not listen to them.

The Lord continued, “Do not pray that things will go well with them.

The Lord said, “Jeremiah, I will keep you safe for a good purpose. I will make your enemies ask you to pray for them. They will make their appeal to you when they are in great trouble.

If they are prophets and have received a message from me, let them pray to me. I am the Lord who rules over all. Those prophets should pray that what is still in Jerusalem will remain here. They should pray that the objects in my house and the king’s palace will not be taken to Babylon.

Also work for the success of the city I have sent you to. Pray to the Lord for that city. If it succeeds, you too will enjoy success.”

Then you will call out to me. You will come and pray to me. And I will listen to you.

Their eyes will be filled with tears as they come. They will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water. I will lead them on a level path where they will not trip or fall. I am Israel’s father. And Ephraim is my oldest son.

“I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah. Then I prayed to the Lord. I said,

They will hear what the Lord will do to them when his burning anger blazes out against them. Then perhaps they will pray to him. And maybe each of them will turn from their evil ways.”

But King Zedekiah sent Jehukal to Jeremiah the prophet. Zedekiah sent Zephaniah the priest along with him. Jehukal was the son of Shelemiah. Zephaniah was the son of Maaseiah. Jehukal and Zephaniah brought the king’s message to Jeremiah. It said, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”

All of them said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please listen to our appeal. Pray to the Lord your God. Pray for all of us who are left here. Once there were many of us. But as you can see, only a few of us are left now.

So pray to the Lord your God. Pray that he’ll tell us where we should go. Pray that he’ll tell us what we should do.”

“I’ve heard you,” Jeremiah the prophet replied. “I’ll certainly pray to the Lord your God. I’ll do what you have asked me to do. In fact, I’ll tell you everything the Lord says. I won’t keep anything back from you.”

It doesn’t matter whether what you say is in our favor or not. We’re asking you to pray to the Lord our God. And we’ll obey him. Things will go well with us. That’s because we will obey the Lord our God.”

You made a big mistake when you asked me to pray to the Lord your God. You said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything he says. We’ll do it.’

But listen to the Lord’s message. Listen, all you Jews living in Egypt. ‘I make a promise by my own great name,’ says the Lord. ‘Here is what I promise. “No one from Judah who lives anywhere in Egypt will ever again pray in my name. None of them will ever make this promise. They will never say, ‘You can be sure that the Lord and King is alive.’ ”