1. Then came all the leaders of the host, and Joanan, and Azarias the son of Maasaeas, and all the people great and small,
2. to Jeremias the prophet, and said to him, Let now our supplication come before thy face, and pray thou to the Lord thy God for this remnant; for we are left few out of many, as thine eyes see.
3. And let the Lord thy God declare to us the way wherein we should walk, and the thing which we should do.
4. And Jeremias said to them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray for you to the Lord our God, according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever word the Lord God shall answer, I will declare it to you; I will not hide [Gr. a word] anything from you.
5. And they said to Jeremias, Let the Lord be between us for a just and faithful witness, if we do not according to every word which the Lord shall send to us.
6. And whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will hearken to the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, because we shall hearken to the voice of the Lord our God.
7. And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the Lord came to Jeremias.
8. And he called Joanan, and the leaders of the host, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9. and he said to them, Thus saith the Lord;
10. If ye will indeed dwell in this land, I will build you, and will not pull you down, but will plant you, and in no wise pluck you up: for I have [Gr. rested upon, but Alex. reads apo, «from’] ceased from the calamities which I brought upon you.
11. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for I am with you, to deliver you, and save you out of their hand.
12. And I will grant you mercy, and pity you, and will restore you to your land.
13. But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, that we may not hearken to the voice of the Lord;
14. for we will go into the land of Egypt, and we shall see no war, and shall not hear the sound of a trumpet, and we shall not hunger for bread; and there we will dwell:
15. then hear the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord;
16. If ye set your face toward Egypt, and go in there to dwell; then it shall be, that the sword which ye fear shall find you in the land of Egypt, and the famine to which ye have regard, shall overtake you, coming after you in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
17. And all the men, and all the [Lit. aliens by birth] strangers who have set their face toward the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall be consumed by the sword, and by the famine: and there shall not one of them escape from the evils which I bring upon them.
18. For thus saith the Lord; As my wrath has dropped upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath drop upon you, when ye have entered into Egypt: and ye shall be a desolation, and under the power of others, and a curse and a reproach: and ye shall no more see this place.
19. These are the words which the Lord has spoken concerning you the remnant of Juda; Enter ye not into Egypt: and now know ye for a certainty,
20. that ye have wrought wickedness [Or, against your souls] in your hearts, when ye sent me, saying, Pray thou for us to the Lord; and according to all that the Lord shall speak to thee we will do.
21. And ye have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, with which he sent me to you.
22. Now therefore ye shall perish by sword and by famine, in the place which ye desire to go into to dwell there.