6. We will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, whether it’s good or bad. Yes, we will obey the Lord our God so that everything will go well for us.”
7. After ten days the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah.
8. So Jeremiah called Kareah’s son Johanan, all the army commanders who were with him, and all the people from the least important to the most important.
9. Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to plead your case humbly to the Lord. This is what the Lord God of Israel says:
10. Suppose you stay in this land. Then I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you. I will change my plans about the disaster I’ve brought on you.
11. Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Don’t be afraid of him, declares the Lord. I’m with you. I will save you and rescue you from his power.
12. I will have compassion on you. I will make him have compassion on you and return you to your land.
13. “But suppose you say, ‘We won’t stay in this land,’ and you disobey the Lord your God.
14. Then you say, ‘We’ll go to Egypt, where we won’t have to see war, hear the sound of a ram’s horn, or be hungry. We’ll stay there.’
15. “Now, listen to the word of the Lord, you people who are left in Judah. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Suppose you’re determined to go to Egypt, and you go and live there.
16. Then the wars you fear will catch up with you in Egypt. The famines you dread will follow you to Egypt, and you will die there.
17. So all the people who decide to go and live in Egypt will die in wars, famines, and plagues. No one will survive or escape the disasters I will bring on them.
18. “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: As my anger and my fury were poured out on those who live in Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become a curse word. You will become something ridiculed, cursed, and disgraced. You won’t see this place again.