Jeremiah 43:1-13

Jeremiah finished telling the crowd what the Lord had commanded him. Then Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and other arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying. YAHWEH our God did not tell you to say to us, ‘Do not go live in Egypt.’ It was Baruch son of Neriah who stirred you up against us to hand us over to the Babylonians to be either killed or deported to Babylon.” So Johanan, all the army officers, and all the people refused to obey YAHWEH’s command to stay in Judah. Instead, Johanan and his military leaders gathered up everyone left in Judah who had come back from all the nations where they had been scattered. They also led off the men, women, children, and the king’s daughters, too, and every single person that Nebuzaradan the field general had left under the charge of Gedaliah son of Ahikam. This included the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch son of Neriah. In total disobedience to the voice of YAHWEH, they entered the land of Egypt and arrived at Tahpanhes. At Tahpanhes, YAHWEH spoke to Jeremiah and said, “Take some large stones to the entrance of Pharaoh’s royal building in Tahpanhes. Bury the stones underneath the clay pavement and make sure the people of Judah are watching. Then say to them, ‘YAHWEH, God of Israel, says this: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He will set up his throne on the exact spot where I buried these stones and spread his royal tent over them. When he comes to invade, he will defeat Egypt: “ ‘Those destined for the plague will die by the plague; those destined for captivity will go into captivity; those destined for the sword will die by the sword. “ ‘He will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt and burn up their gods or take them prisoner. He will fold up the land of Egypt as a shepherd folds his cloak over himself. Then he will leave victorious without anyone standing in his way. He will break the obelisks of the temple of the sun in Egypt and will burn to the ground the temples of the gods of Egypt.’ ”