Jeremiah

all the evil things Ishmael had done. 12So
Johanan and the army officers with him took
their men and went to fight Ishmael son of
Nethaniah. They caught Ishmael near the big
pool of water that is at the town of Gibeon.
13When the captives that Ishmael had taken
saw Johanan and the army officers, they were
very happy. 14Then all the captives who Ishmael
had taken from the town of Mizpah ran
to Johanan son of Kareah. 15But
JEREMIAH 41:12
Ishmael and
eight of his men escaped from Johanan and
ran away to the Ammonites.
16So Johanan son of Kareah and all his army
officers rescued the captives. Ishmael had
murdered Gedaliah and then he had taken
those people from Mizpah. Among the survivors
were soldiers, women, children, and
court officials. Johanan brought them back
from the town of Gibeon.
The Escape to Egypt
17‑18Johanan and the other army officers
were afraid of the Chaldeans.* The king of
Babylon had chosen Gedaliah to be governor
of Judah. But Ishmael murdered Gedaliah,
and Johanan was afraid that the Chaldeans
would be angry. So they decided to run
away to Egypt. On the way to Egypt, they
stayed at Geruth Kimham, near the town of
Bethlehem.
42 1While they were at Geruth Kimham,
Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah
son of Hoshaiah went to Jeremiah the
prophet.* All the army officers went with
Johanan and Jezaniah. All the people, from
the least important to the most important,
went to Jeremiah. 2They said to him, “Jeremiah,
please listen to what we ask. Pray to
the Lord your God for all those who are survivors*
from the family of Judah. Jeremiah, you
can see that there are not many of us left. At
one time there were many of us. 3Jeremiah,
pray that the Lord your God will tell us where
we should go and what we should do.”
4Then Jeremiah the prophet answered, “I
understand what you want me to do. I will
pray to the Lord your God, as you asked me
to do. I will tell you everything he says. I will
not hide anything from you.”
5Then the people said to Jeremiah, “If we
don’t do everything the Lord your God tells
us, then we hope the Lord will be a true and
faithful witness against us. We know he will
send you to tell us what to do. 6It doesn’t matter
if we like the message or if we don’t like
the message. We will obey the Lord our God.
We are sending you to the Lord for a message
from him. We will obey what he says. Then
good things will happen to us. Yes, we will
obey the Lord our God.”
7At the end of ten days, the message from
the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8Then Jeremiah
called together Johanan son of Kareah and the
army officers who were with him. He also
called all the other people together, from the
642
least important to the most important. 9Then
Jeremiah said to them, “This is what the
Lord, the God of the people of Israel, says.
You sent me to him. I asked the Lord what
you wanted me to ask. This is what he says:
10‘If you will stay in Judah, I will make you
strong—I will not destroy you. I will plant
you, and I will not pull you up. I will do this
because I am sad about the terrible things that
I made happen to you. 11Now you are afraid
of the king of Babylon. But don’t be afraid of
him. Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon,’
says the Lord, ‘because I am with you. I will
save you. I will rescue you. He will not get his
hands on you. 12I will be kind to you, and the
king of Babylon will also treat you with mercy.
He will bring you back to your land.’ 13But
you might say, ‘We will not stay in Judah.’ If
you say that, you will disobey the Lord your
God. 14And you might say, ‘No, we will go and
live in Egypt. We will not be bothered with
war there. We will not hear the trumpets of
war, and in Egypt we will not be hungry.’ 15If
you say that, listen to this message from the
Lord, you survivors from Judah. This is what
the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people
of Israel, says: ‘If you decide to go and live in
Egypt, this will happen: 16You are afraid of the
sword of war, but it will defeat you there. And
you are worried about hunger, but you will be
hungry in Egypt. You will die there. 17Everyone
who decides to go live in Egypt will die
by war, hunger, or disease. Not one person
who goes to Egypt will survive. Not one of
them will escape the terrible things that I will
bring to them.’
18“This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the
God of the people of Israel, says: ‘I showed
my anger against Jerusalem. I punished the
people who lived there. In the same way I
will show my anger against everyone who
goes to Egypt. People will use you as an
example when they ask for bad things to happen
to other people. You will become like a
curse word. People will be ashamed of you,
and they will insult you. And you will never
see Judah again.’
19“Survivors of Judah, the Lord told you:
‘Don’t go to Egypt.’ I warn you right now,
20you are making a mistake that will cause
your deaths. You sent me to the Lord your
God. You said to me, ‘Pray to the Lord our
God for us. Tell us everything the Lord our
God says to do. We will obey him.’ 21So today,
I have told you the message from the Lord. But
you have not obeyed the Lord your God. You
have not done all that he sent me to tell you
to do. 22So now be sure you understand this:
You want to go live in Egypt. But these things
will happen to you in Egypt: You will die by a
sword, or hunger, or terrible sickness.”
43 1So Jeremiah finished telling the people
the message from the Lord their
God. He told them everything that the Lord
their God had sent him to tell them.