1 Then all the commanders of the army, and Yoḥanan son of Qarĕaḥ, and Yezanyah son of Hoshayah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near
2 and said to Yirmeyahu the naḇi, “We beg you, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim, for all this remnant, for we are few left of many, as your eyes see us.
3 “And let 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim show us the way in which we should walk and the word we should do.”
4 And Yirmeyahu the naḇi said to them, “I have heard. See, I am praying to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim according to your words, and it shall be that I declare to you all the word 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 answers you. I withhold not a word from you.”
5 And they said to Yirmeyahu, “Let 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 be a true and steadfast witness between us, if we do not do according to all the word which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim sends us by you.
6 “Whether good or evil, let us obey the voice of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 our Elohim to whom we send you, in order that it might be well with us when we obey the voice of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 our Elohim.”
7 And after ten days it came to be that the word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 came to Yirmeyahu.
8 So he called Yoḥanan son of Qarĕaḥ, and all the commanders of the army which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9 and said to them, “Thus said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him,
10 ‘If you would indeed stay in this land, then I shall build you and not pull you down, and I shall plant you and not pluck you up. For I have relented of the evil I have done to you.
11 ‘Do not be afraid of the sovereign of Baḇel, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him,’ declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, ‘for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand.
12 ‘And I shall show you compassion, so that he has compassion on you and let you return to your own land.’
13 “But if you say, ‘We are not staying in this land,’ and so disobey the voice of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim,
14 saying, ‘No, but we are going to the land of Mitsrayim so that we see no fighting, nor hear the sound of the ram’s horn, nor hunger for bread, and there we shall stay,’
15 then hear the word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, O remnant of Yahuḏah! Thus said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘If you indeed turn your faces to enter Mitsrayim, and shall go to sojourn there,
16 then it shall be that the sword which you feared overtakes you there in the land of Mitsrayim, and the scarcity of food of which you were afraid clings to you there in Mitsrayim, and you die there.
17 ‘And so it shall be with all the men who turned their faces to go to Mitsrayim to sojourn there: they shall die by the sword, by scarcity of food, and by pestilence, and not one of them shall survive or escape from the evil I am bringing upon them.’
18 “For thus said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘As My displeasure and My wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, so shall My wrath be poured out on you when you enter Mitsrayim. And you shall be an oath, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach, and you shall see this place no more.’
19 “𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has spoken about you, O remnant of Yahuḏah, ‘Do not go to Mitsrayim!’ Know for certain that I have warned you this day.
20 “For you deceived yourselves when you sent me to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim, saying, ‘Pray for us to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 our Elohim, and according to all that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim says, so declare to us and we shall do it.’
21 “So I have declared it to you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim in all which He has sent me to you.
22 “And now, know for certain that you shall die by the sword, by scarcity of food, and by pestilence in the place where you have desired to go to sojourn.”