Study Desk

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

Then the people said to Jeremiah, "If we don't do everything the Lord your God tells us, then we hope the Lord will be a true and faithful witness against us. We know he will send you to tell us what to do.

It doesn't matter if we like the message or if we don't like the message. We will obey the Lord our God. We are sending you to the Lord for a message from him. We will obey what he says. Then good things will happen to us. Yes, we will obey the Lord our God."

Then Jeremiah said to them, "You sent me to the Lord , the God of Israel, and I asked him what you wanted me to ask. This is what he says:

But you might say, ‘We will not stay in Judah.' If you say that, you will disobey the Lord your God.

If you say that, listen to this message from the Lord , you survivors from Judah. This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: ‘If you decide to go and live in Egypt, this will happen:

"This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: ‘I showed my anger against Jerusalem. I punished the people who lived there. In the same way I will show my anger against everyone who goes to Egypt. People will use you as an example when they ask for bad things to happen to other people. You will become like a curse word. People will be ashamed of you, and they will insult you. And you will never see Judah again.'

you are making a mistake that will cause your deaths. You sent me to the Lord your God. You said to me, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything the Lord our God says to do. We will obey him.'

So today I have told you the message from the Lord. But you have not obeyed the Lord your God. You have not done all that he sent me to tell you to do.

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.

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.'

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 above these stones.

He will destroy the memorial stones that are in the temple of the Sun God in Egypt, and he will burn down the temples of the false gods of Egypt.'"

"This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘You people saw the disasters that I brought on the city of Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. The towns are empty piles of stones today.

"So this is what the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘Why are you hurting yourselves by continuing to worship idols? You are separating the men and women, the children and babies from the family of Judah. And so you leave yourselves without anyone left from the family of Judah.

"So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have decided to make terrible things happen to you. I will destroy the whole family of Judah.

This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: ‘You women did what you said you would do. You said, "We will keep the promises we made. We promised to make sacrifices and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven." So go ahead. Do what you promised you would do. Keep your promises.'

But listen to this message from the Lord , all you people of Judah who are living in Egypt: ‘I, the Lord , use my own great name to make this promise: None of the people of Judah who are now living in Egypt will ever again use my name to make promises. They will never again say, "As surely as the Lord God lives …."

"This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says to you:

"But on that day, the Lord God All-Powerful will win. He will give his enemies the punishment they deserve. His sword will kill until it is finished, until it has satisfied its thirst for blood. Yes, the Lord God All-Powerful will kill them as a sacrifice in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.