43 Jeremiah finished telling the people the Lord 's message to them. He told them everything that the Lord their God had sent him to tell them. 2 Then Hoshaiah's son Azariah and Kareah's son Johanan and some other proud men said to Jeremiah, ‘You are speaking lies! The Lord our God has not sent you to say to us, “You must not go to Egypt to live there.” 3 You are telling us what Neriah's son Baruch wants you to say. He wants to hurt us. He wants the soldiers from Babylon to kill us, or to take us as prisoners to Babylon.’
4 So Kareah's son Johanan, all the other army officers and all the other people did not obey the Lord 's command. They refused to stay in Judah. 5 Instead, Johanan and all the officers led the people away. Those were the people who had returned from all the nations where their enemies had taken them as prisoners. They had returned to their homes in Judah. 6 Now the army officers led them away. They also took the men, women and children that Captain Nebuzaradan had allowed to remain with Gedaliah. They included the king's daughters. (Gedaliah was Ahikam's son and Shaphan's grandson.) They took the prophet Jeremiah and Neriah's son Baruch with them.
7 The people went to Egypt because they did not obey the Lord . They went as far as the city of Tahpanhes.
8 When they arrived in Tahpanhes, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. 9 He said, ‘Choose some large stones and take them to Pharaoh's palace that is here in Tahpanhes. Bury the stones under the path at the entrance of the palace. Do it while the people of Judah are watching you. 10 Then say to the people, “The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says this: I will call for my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to come here. He will put his throne on the path over these stones that I have hidden. They will put up a royal tent for him to sit under. 11 He will come here and he will attack Egypt.
Those who should become ill and die will die.
Those who should go away as prisoners
will go away as prisoners.
Those who should die in war will die in war.
12 He will burn the temples of Egypt's gods with fire. He will burn their gods or he will carry them away. He will take everything that he wants from Egypt. He will return home in good health. 13 He will knock down the pillars of the temple where people worship their sun god. He will destroy all the temples of Egypt's gods.” ’
43 So 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.
2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and some other men were proud and stubborn. They became angry with Jeremiah. They said to him, “Jeremiah, you are lying! The Lord our God didn’t send you to say to us, ‘You must not go to Egypt to live there.’ 3 Jeremiah, we think that Baruch son of Neriah is encouraging you to be against us. He wants you to give us to the Babylonians. He wants you to do this so they can kill us. Or he wants you to do this so that they can make us captives and take us to Babylon.”
4 So Johanan, the army officers, and all the people disobeyed the Lord ’s command. The Lord had commanded them to stay in Judah. 5 But Johanan, son of Kareah, and the army officers did not obey this command. Instead, they took the survivors from Judah to Egypt. In the past the enemy had taken the survivors to other countries, but they had come back to Judah. 6 Now Johanan and all the army officers took all the men, women, and children and led them to Egypt. Among those people were the king’s daughters. (Nebuzaradan had put Gedaliah in charge of those people. Nebuzaradan was the commander of the king of Babylon’s special guards.) Johanan also took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. 7 These people didn’t listen to the Lord . So they all went to Egypt to the town of Tahpanhes. [ a ]
8 In the town of Tahpanhes, Jeremiah received this message from the Lord : 9 “Jeremiah, get some large stones. Take them and bury them in the clay and brick sidewalk in front of Pharaoh’s official building in Tahpanhes. Do this while the people of Judah are watching you. 10 Then say to those who are watching you: ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: I will send for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to come here. He is my servant, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here. Nebuchadnezzar will spread his canopy [ b ] above these stones. 11 He will come here and attack Egypt. He will bring death to those who are to die. He will bring captivity to those who are to be taken captive. And he will bring the sword to those who are to be killed with a sword. 12 Nebuchadnezzar will start a fire in the temples of the false gods of Egypt. He will burn the temples and he will take the idols away. Shepherds pick the bugs and thorns off their clothes to make them clean. In the same way Nebuchadnezzar will pick Egypt clean. Then he will safely leave Egypt. 13 He will destroy the memorial stones that are in the temple of the Sun God [ c ] in Egypt, and he will burn down the temples of the false gods of Egypt.’”
43 And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, even all these words,
2 Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:
3 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.
4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord , to dwell in the land of Judah.
5 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;
6 Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.
7 So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord : thus came they even to Tahpanhes.
8 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
9 Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
10 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.
11 And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.
12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.
13 He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.
43 But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the Lord their God had sent to them, had ( A ) finished telling all the people all the words of the Lord their God—that is, all these words— 2 Azariah the ( B ) son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are ( C ) telling a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’; 3 but ( D ) Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us in order to hand us over to the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon!” 4 So ( E ) Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, ( F ) did not obey the voice of the Lord to ( G ) stay in the land of Judah. 5 Instead, Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took the ( H ) entire remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been scattered, in order to reside in the land of Judah— 6 the men, the women, the [ a ] children, the ( I ) king’s daughters, and ( J ) every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [ b ] and grandson of Shaphan, together with ( K ) Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah— 7 and they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not obey the voice of the Lord ) and went in as far as ( L ) Tahpanhes.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in ( M ) Tahpanhes, saying, 9 “Take some large stones in your [ c ] hands and hide them in the [ d ] mortar in the brick terrace which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s [ e ] palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of [ f ] some of the Jews; 10 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to send men and get ( N ) My servant ( O ) Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and I am going to set his throne over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his [ g ] ( P ) canopy over them. 11 He will also come and ( Q ) strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and ( R ) those for the sword to the sword. 12 And [ h ] I shall set fire to the temples of the ( S ) gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. So he will [ i ] ( T ) wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd [ j ] wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. 13 He will also smash to pieces the [ k ] obelisks of [ l ] Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.”’”
43 When Jeremiah had finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God—everything the Lord had sent him to tell them ( A ) — 2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah ( B ) and Johanan ( C ) son of Kareah and all the arrogant ( D ) men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! ( E ) The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’ ( F ) 3 But Baruch ( G ) son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, [ a ] so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.” ( H )
4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people ( I ) disobeyed the Lord ’s command ( J ) to stay in the land of Judah. ( K ) 5 Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. ( L ) 6 They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan—the men, the women, ( M ) the children and the king’s daughters. And they took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch ( N ) son of Neriah along with them. 7 So they entered Egypt ( O ) in disobedience to the Lord and went as far as Tahpanhes. ( P )
8 In Tahpanhes ( Q ) the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 9 “While the Jews are watching, take some large stones ( R ) with you and bury them in clay in the brick ( S ) pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace ( T ) in Tahpanhes. 10 Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant ( U ) Nebuchadnezzar ( V ) king of Babylon, and I will set his throne ( W ) over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy ( X ) above them. 11 He will come and attack Egypt, ( Y ) bringing death ( Z ) to those destined ( AA ) for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, ( AB ) and the sword to those destined for the sword. ( AC ) 12 He will set fire ( AD ) to the temples ( AE ) of the gods ( AF ) of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. ( AG ) As a shepherd picks ( AH ) his garment clean of lice, so he will pick Egypt clean and depart. 13 There in the temple of the sun [ b ] ( AI ) in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars ( AJ ) and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’”
