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So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.

So King Zedekiah gave orders, and Jeremiah was placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the baker's street, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

So the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, "Take thirty men from here with you and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."

Ebed-melech the Cushite cried out to Jeremiah, "Put these worn-out rags and clothes under your arms to pad the ropes." Jeremiah did so,

"They will not hand you over," Jeremiah replied. "Obey the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you, so it may go well with you and you may live.

When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he reported to them the exact words the king had commanded. So they said no more to him, for no one had overheard the conversation.

So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the captains of the king of Babylon

had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guard, and they turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he remained among his own people.

For I will surely rescue you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will escape with your life like a spoil of war, declares the LORD."

So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.

Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah at Mizpah. "Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah," he said. "No one will know it. Why should he take your life and scatter all the Jews who have gathered to you, so that the remnant of Judah would perish?"

But ten of the men among them said to Ishmael, "Do not kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field-wheat, barley, oil, and honey!" So he refrained from killing them with the others.

Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us, for we will obey the voice of the LORD our God!"

But if you say, 'We will not stay in this land,' and so disobey the voice of the LORD your God,

So all who resolve to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the sword, famine, and plague. Not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring upon them.

For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.'

Rather, Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans, so that they may put us to death or exile us to Babylon!"

So Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces disobeyed the command of the LORD to stay in the land of Judah.

So they entered the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the LORD, and they went as far as Tahpanhes.