Jeremiah 43

43I finished telling the people everything the Lord their God had said. I told them everything he had sent me to tell them. ²After that, Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, spoke to me. And all of the proud men joined them. They said, “You are lying! The Lord our God hasn’t sent you to speak to us. He hasn’t told you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt and settle down there.’ ³But Baruch, the son of Neriah, is turning you against us. He wants us to be handed over to the Babylonians. Then they can kill us. Or they can take us away to Babylon.”

⁴So Johanan, the son of Kareah, disobeyed the Lord’s command. So did all of the other army officers and all of the people. They didn’t stay in the land of Judah.

⁵Instead Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all of the other army officers led away all of the people who were left in Judah. Those people had returned to Judah from all of the nations where they had been scattered. ⁶Johanan and the other officers also led away many people Nebuzaradan had left in Mizpah. They included men, women and children. They also included women who were members of the royal court. Nebuzaradan had left them with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. He had also left them with the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch, the son of Neriah. Nebuzaradan was commander of the royal guard. Ahikam was the son of Shaphan.

⁷So the Jewish leaders disobeyed the Lord. They took everyone to Egypt. They went all the way to Tahpanhes.

⁸In Tahpanhes a message came to me from the Lord. He said, ⁹“Make sure the Jews are watching you. Then get some large stones. Go to the entrance to Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes. Bury the stones in the clay under the brick walkway there.

¹⁰“Then tell the Jews, ‘The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia. And I will set his throne over these stones that are buried here. He will set up his royal tent over them. ¹¹He will come and attack Egypt. He will bring death to those I have appointed to die. He will take away as prisoners those I have appointed to be taken away. And he will kill with swords those I have appointed to be killed.

¹²“ ‘ “He will set the temples of the gods of Egypt on fire. He will burn their temples down. He will take the statues of their gods away. Nebuchadnezzar will be like a shepherd who wraps his coat around himself. He will wrap Egypt around himself. And he will leave there unharmed. ¹³At Heliopolis in Egypt he will smash the sacred pillars to pieces. And he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.” ’ ”