Jeremiah 49

1 Then all the commanders of the forces, with Johanan and Azariah son of Maaseiah and all the people from the least to the greatest, came [a] 2 to Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “Please let our plea for mercy fall before you: pray to the Lord your God for these who remain, for we are left few out of many, as your own eyes see.” 3 “Let the Lord your God tell us the way we should go and the thing we should do.” 4 Jeremiah said to them, “I have heard you. Look, I will pray to the Lord our God as you have asked, and whatever word the Lord answers, I will tell you; I will not hide a thing from you.” 5 And they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a righteous and faithful witness between us if we do not act according to every word the Lord sends you to us with.” 6 “Whether it is good or whether it is bad, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well for us — because we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God.”

7 Ten days later the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 He called Johanan and the commanders of the forces and all the people from the least to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “This is what the Lord says:” 10 “If you will indeed stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented from the disasters I brought on you.” 11 “Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you fear. Do not be afraid of him, says the Lord, for I am with you to rescue you and keep you safe from his hand.” 12 “I will grant you mercy and have mercy on you, and I will return you to your land.” 13 “But if you say, We will not stay in this land — so as not to listen to the voice of the Lord —” 14 “because we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war and hear no trumpet sound and not go hungry for bread, and there we will live,” 15 “then hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: If you set your faces toward Egypt and go in to live there,” 16 “then the sword you are afraid of will find you in the land of Egypt, and the famine you worry about will overtake you from behind in Egypt, and there you will die.” 17 “All the men and all the foreigners who set their faces toward the land of Egypt to live there will perish by the sword and by the famine; not one of them will be rescued from the disasters I am bringing on them.” [b] 18 “For this is what the Lord says: As my wrath dripped down on those who lived in Jerusalem, so my wrath will drip down on you when you enter Egypt. You will become an uninhabited wasteland, subjects of others, a curse, and a reproach, and you will never see this place again.” [c]

19 “This is what the Lord has spoken about you, the remaining people of Judah: do not go into Egypt. Now know this for certain:” 20 “you acted wickedly against your own souls when you sent me, saying, Pray for us to the Lord, and we will do everything the Lord tells you.” 21 “Yet you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, with which he sent me to you.” 22 “So now you will perish by the sword and by the famine in the place you want to go and live.” [d]