Study Desk

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "This is what the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be saved. Jerusalem will not be burned down, and you and your family will live.

"Jeremiah, go and tell Ebed-Melech the Cushite this message: ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Very soon I will make my words about Jerusalem come true through disaster, not through good times. You will see everything come true with your own eyes.

When commander Nebuzaradan found Jeremiah, Nebuzaradan said to him, "The Lord your God announced this disaster would come to this place.

They said to him, "Jeremiah, please listen to what we ask. Pray to the Lord your God for all the people left alive from the family of Judah. At one time there were many of us, but you can see that there are few of us now.

So pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do."

Then Jeremiah the prophet answered, "I understand what you want me to do. I will pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. I will tell you everything he says and not hide anything from you."

Then the people said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord be a true and loyal witness against us if we don't do everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us.

It does not matter if we like the message or not. We will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you. We will obey what he says so good things will happen to us."

Jeremiah said to them, "You sent me to ask the Lord for what you wanted. This is what the God of Israel says:

"But if you say, ‘We will not stay in Judah,' you will disobey the Lord your God.

If you say that, listen to the message of the Lord , you who are left alive from Judah. This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you make up your mind to go and live in Egypt, these things will happen:

"This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘I showed my anger against the people of Jerusalem. In the same way I will show my anger against you when you go to Egypt. Other nations will speak evil of you. People will be shocked by what will happen to you. You will become a curse word, and people will insult you. And you will never see Judah again.'

that you are making a mistake that will cause your deaths. You sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we will do it.'

So today I have told you, but you have not obeyed the Lord your God in all that he sent me to tell you.

So Jeremiah finished telling the people the message from the Lord their God; he told them everything the Lord their God had sent him to tell them.

Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and some other men were too proud. They said to Jeremiah, "You are lying! The Lord our God did not send you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to live there.'

Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: I will soon send for my servant, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones I have buried, and he will spread his covering for shade above them.

He will destroy the stone pillars in the temple of the sun god in Egypt, and he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.'"

"The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: You saw all the terrible things I brought on Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, which are ruins today with no one living in them.

"Now the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves? You are cutting off the men and women, children and babies from the family of Judah, leaving yourselves without anyone from the family of Judah.