And now all the army chieftains, Johanan son of Caree and Jezonias son of Osaias and their followers, high and low, came

to consult Jeremias. Look kindly, they said, on our request; we would have thee intercede with the Lord thy God for this poor remnant, left so few in number, as thou seest.

Whither go we? What shift make we? Please it the Lord thy God to make all this known to us.

And the prophet Jeremias said, Your request shall be granted. Pray I will, as you bid me pray, to the Lord your God, and his answer you shall hear in full, no word kept hidden from you.

And this promise they made on their part: The Lord himself bear witness against us, unerring and unfailing, if we are not true to every word of that message the Lord sends us through thy means.

Be it for weal or woe, it is the voice of the Lord our God; to him lies thy errand, and him we will obey; heed we the commands of the Lord our God, nothing can go amiss.

Ten days passed, and then the Lord’s word came to Jeremias.

Johanan son of Caree he summoned to him, and all the army chieftains, and their followers, high and low;

and thus spoke to them: A message to you from the Lord, the God of Israel! To him I went on your errand, and laid your prayers before him.

Wait on quietly, he says, in this land of yours, and all shall be building now, not destroying, all shall be planting now, not uprooting; amends enough is the calamity I have brought on you.

What, does the king of Babylon daunt you with his terrors? Of him have no fear; danger from him is none, the Lord says, when I am at your side to protect you, and deliver you from his power.

I will take pity on you now; only pity shall you find, and on your native soil an abiding home.

But if you refuse to make it your home, if you disobey the divine command;

if you are heard crying, No! To Egypt! There we will dwell, where are no sights of bloodshed, no sound of trumpet-call, no famine to be endured!

then, last of the Jews, listen to this, the Lord’s message. This he tells you, he, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel! If you turn your faces towards Egypt, and thither repair to find a refuge,

the sword you dread shall overtake you, there in Egypt, the famine that haunts you shall be with you still, there in Egypt, and in Egypt you shall die.

None that turns his face towards Egypt for refuge but sword or famine or pestilence shall be the undoing of him; such calamity I mean to bring on it as none shall survive, none shall escape.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go you to Egypt, my angry vengeance shall blaze out against you no less than when you dwelt once at Jerusalem; yours shall be a name of execration and horror, a name to curse by and to revile, and this land you shall never see more.

Last of the Jews, this is the Lord’s message: Go to Egypt you must not. Bear me witness, all of you, that I have given you solemn warning this day.

But no, you did but hoodwink yourselves; you would have me do your errand to the Lord our God, and so you promised, Pray to the Lord our God for us, make known to us whatever is his divine will, and it shall be done;

but now I have told it you, and where is your obedience to that divine will, to the message he bade me deliver to you?

Here then is full warning that the land where you mean to take refuge shall be the undoing of you, by war and famine and pestilence.