Jeremiah Back to Egypt

Lesson #12 for December 19, 2015

Scriptures: [Jeremiah 40:7-16; 41-44; Exodus 16:3; Numbers 16:13][i].

1.    With this lesson we come to the end of Jeremiah’s prophecies and his life. What a saga it was. It was not a “happily ever after” kind of a story. Why do you think those people were so determined to rebel against God in virtually everything He said through Jeremiah? One thing seems clear: There was not much left that God could do for them. Only a very tiny faithful remnant who were scorned and rebuffed by the rest of the people of Judah seemed to care about God’s messages.

2.    So, what finally happened to Jeremiah? The “weeping prophet” had even more to weep about. It seemed that every time he warned about something, they were determined to do exactly what Jeremiah had warned against.

3.    Could any of us be caught in that kind of scenario? God’s grace is incredibly generous; but, it is never forced on anyone. God is incredibly gracious and forgiving; but, that does not give us permission to go on sinning! Those Jews seemed to think that if they had enough lambs to sacrifice, they could just keep on doing what they were doing, and God would keep on forgiving them. Does that sound like indulgences?

4.    We pick up our story this week after the final destruction of Jerusalem when Jeremiah was taken along with others to the camp of Nebuchadnezzar for determination of what would happen to each of them. We do not know exactly how Nebuchadnezzar found out about Jeremiah and his work; but, he commanded Nebuzaradan, his commanding officer, to release Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 39:11-1ii4)

5.    Do you think that many of the remnant left in Judah had any information or knowledge of Jeremiah’s prophecies? If so, don’t you think the fact that everything he had predicted had come true would carry some weight?

6.    Read Jeremiah 40:7-16iii. Some of the people from Judah had fled to surrounding countries. When they heard that Gedaliah had been chosen by Nebuchadnezzar to be in charge of the people who were left behind, many of them returned to Judah. Gedaliah was very generous in welcoming them. He invited them to settle in the land, to help themselves to whatever was available, and he said he would deal with the Babylonians when they came. As they spread out through Judah, they gathered large amounts of wine and fruit. (Jeremiah 40:12)

7.    Read Jeremiah 41iv. Unfortunately, not everyone who returned was friendly. Ishmael and some of his friends under his control had come from Ammon, and they murdered Gedaliah and those associated with him. Johanan and another group went after Ishmael, but he escaped with a small group back to Ammon.

8.    Since some Babylonian soldiers had been killed along with Gedaliah and his group, Johanan apparently thought that it was necessary for those that were left to flee to Egypt. They wanted to take Jeremiah with them. They hoped that by fleeing to Egypt, they would be beyond the reach of Babylon and would not be killed.

9.    Unfortunately, what started out to be a fairly satisfactory solution to the terrible situation in Jerusalem turned worse with the bad behavior of Ishmael. Even the faithful were afraid to remain in Judah.

10.    How often do the righteous suffer because of the sins of others? Think about the experiences we have been studying in the life of Jeremiah. And what about Daniel? Job? Ezekiel? Joseph? Even Jesus? What about the faithful during the seven last plagues?

11.    Read Jeremiah 42[v]. How can you explain that kind of behavior? These verses seem to describe a genuine desire to know God’s will and to follow it. And so, they went to Jeremiah and asked him to pray to God on their behalf. Read especially Jeremiah 42:5-6vi. They promised to follow God’s directions even if it was not what they wanted to do.

12.    Ten days later, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. Jeremiah encouraged the people to remain in the land of Judah. They were told not to continue to be afraid of the king of Babylon. Then, Jeremiah gave a very serious warning against going to Egypt. Look at Jeremiah 42:18vii (GNB). What does this tell us about God’s wrath/anger/fury? God just let them go ahead and do what they were determined to do! Jeremiah said:

“The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will be a horrifying sight; people will treat you with scorn and use your name as a curse. You will never see this place again.’”

13.    Apparently, Jeremiah realized that they were determined to go to Egypt. Why would they want to go to Egypt? Did they think Nebuchadnezzar would never reach Egypt? Or, having lived through the siege, were they so afraid and terrorized by the Babylonians that they did not want to have anything to do with them in the future? Were they asking Jeremiah to bless them on their trip to Egypt?

14.    Have any of us had the experience of receiving advice from God and directly defying it?

15.    Do you think the people realized that Jeremiah was a true prophet of Yahweh? Did they have any reason to doubt Yahweh’s directions? Or, did they just not want to accept God’s/Jeremiah’s advice?

16.    As we know, the people of Judah and even their kings almost universally decided against following the advice given them by Jeremiah. Why do you think they chose at different times to rely on foreign powers instead of relying on God? Did they have any evidence from their previous experiences back to the time of the exodus that God’s advice was unreliable? Did they doubt that God was either willing or able to help them? How many prayers do you think had apparently gone unanswered during the siege of Jerusalem? (Jeremiah 7:4viii)

17.    The children of Israel had been praying for hundreds of years to the God who had brought them out of Egypt. They regularly celebrated that release from slavery. Did they really want to go back to that?

18.    Have we received any commands from God’s modern prophet which might qualify to be like that one from Jeremiah? Do we make any real life-or-death choices on a regular basis? How could we know if a particular choice is a life-or-death choice? Does Satan want us to recognize that some of our choices are life-or-death choices?

19.    Read Jeremiah 43:1-7ix. Imagine saying to a prophet of God, “You are lying!” To Christians in 2015, it seems almost unbelievable that they could have been so brazenly opposed to God’s directions which had been given to them through Jeremiah. They even accused Baruch, Jeremiah’s associate and secretary, of influencing Jeremiah to lie to them!

20.    What factors influenced them to go back to Egypt? Was it just that Egypt was farther from Babylon and they thought that Nebuchadnezzar wouldn’t get that far? What would you have done if you had been Jeremiah? For years, Jeremiah had been advocating for people to surrender to the Babylonians. So, why didn’t he agree to go with the Babylonians? Did God tell him to stay with the “remnant” in Judah? Why did they insist on taking Jeremiah with them? Jeremiah was about 60 at that time?

21.    How do we respond when God’s Word or His commands seem to cut across our own desires or inclinations? Often, human beings faced with such a dilemma have expressed doubts about the divine origin of the messages. The Jews tried to show their doubt for Jeremiah; but, it seems clear that their minds had not really changed, only the circumstances had changed. Read Exodus 16:3[x] and Numbers 16:13xi. Even back in the wilderness, some of the children of Israel wanted to go back to Egypt! They thought the food back there was better! They were determined to do what they wanted to do!

22.    How often do we make decisions based on emotional or passionate factors? Do we allow a “thus saith the Lord” to guide us in all our judgments? Do we make every thought captive in obedience to Christ? (2 Corinthians 10:5xii)

23.    Read Jeremiah 43:8-13xiii. Jeremiah was given a very strange command from God. He was told to get some large stones and bury them in the mortar of the pavement in front of the entrance to the government building in the city of Tahpenhas in Egypt. Then, he turned to his Israelite opponents and told them that Nebuchadnezzar, “God’s servant,” would come and defeat Egypt and set up his throne on those very stones. God even went on to say:

“12I will set fire to the temples of Egypt’s gods, and the king of Babylonia will either burn their gods or carry them off. As shepherds pick their clothes clean of lice, so the king of Babylonia will pick the land of Egypt clean and then leave victorious. 13He will destroy the sacred stone monuments at Heliopolis in Egypt and will burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.”—American Bible Society. (1992). The Holy Bible: The Good News Translation (2nd ed., Jeremiah 43:12-13). New York: American Bible Society.

24.    Clearly, Jeremiah was telling them that Egypt would not protect them. Nebuchadnezzar was going to come. You would have thought that people who had suffered through 2 1/2 years of siege by Nebuchadnezzar back in Judah would find that possibility galling. Somehow, those people thought that by going to Egypt, they would be protected. But, they had several examples of how their thinking about such things had been wrong in the past. (Jeremiah 7:4; 37:7-8)xiv They were certain that God would never allow Solomon’s Temple to be destroyed? Surely, they realized that the Egyptian gods were useless figments of warped imaginations, pagan abominations, etc. Did they really think that God did not understand them? Or, know what land they were in?

When self-denial becomes a part of our religion, we shall understand and do the will of God; for our eyes will be anointed with eye-salve so that we shall behold wonderful things out of his law. We shall see the path of obedience as the only path of safety. God holds his people responsible in proportion as the light of truth is brought to their understanding. The claims of his law are just and reasonable, and through the grace of Christ he expects us to fulfill his requirements.—Ellen G. White, The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February 25, 1890, par. 5.

25.    Are we ever tempted to go back into the slavery of sin? Did they really believe that going to Egypt would protect them from Babylon?

26.    Their relocation to Egypt was not just a change in geography. Read Jeremiah 44:1-10. Jeremiah was telling them that God was at the point of letting them go because they were doing everything possible to war against Him.

27.    And what was their attitude? What incredible answers did they give to Jeremiah who confronted them for their sins? Read Jeremiah 44:15-19xv. Why did they think that the Queen of Heaven had done anything for them? Was it just that they preferred the fertility cult ceremonies? Or, did the Devil have complete control of them? Apparently, they were saying that back in the days before Josiah’s reform, they were burning incense to and worshiping the Queen of Heaven and they were visiting the fertility cult temples and pouring out drink offerings to her, and things were going pretty well. However, after the reforms of Josiah-which as we have noted in previous lessons came too late-all “hell” broke loose.

28.    What did God through Jeremiah say to them in response? Read Jeremiah 44:20-30. It was exactly because of all the evil things they were doing that God could no longer work with them and could no longer help them. That was why they were in the mess they were. And finally, Jeremiah said that God had said:

“I will hand over King Hophra of Egypt to his enemies who want to kill him, just as I handed over King Zedekiah of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, who was his enemy and wanted to kill him.”—American Bible Society. (1992). The Holy Bible: The Good News Translation (2nd ed., Jeremiah 44:30). New York: American Bible Society.

29.    So, how should we respond to those who are deep into their sins and still seem to be doing very well? What about the entertainers who are doing everything possible against God’s directions and yet seem to be wildly successful-at least financially? The Devil is alive and well on planet earth! The Devil does not need to trouble people who are already on his side. All God can do without violating their freedom is to let them go!

30.    The Bible has clearly spelled out the differences between good and evil. (Romans 7:7; Micah 6:8; Joshua 24:15; Matthew 22:37-39; Deuteronomy 12:8)xvi Are there advantages to doing good even apart from God and religion? Sam Harris, a known atheist, wrote the following comment in his book called The Moral Landscape:

Consider what would happen if we discovered a cure for human evil. Imagine, for the sake of argument, that every relevant change in the human brain can be made cheaply, painlessly, and safely. The cure for psychopathy can be put directly into the food supply like vitamin D. Evil is now nothing more than a nutritional deficiency.—Sam Harris, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2010), Kindle Edition, p. 109.

31.    That, of course, is complete nonsense because science cannot solve such problems. By contrast, Ellen White said: “With us, everything depends on how we accept the Lord’s terms.”-Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 118.1.

32.    Is it a mistake to assume that salvation could come with no conditions? We need to recognize that conditions for salvation are not the same as works. We need to understand clearly the problems with two false teachings: 1) Salvation by works, otherwise known as legalism; and 2) Salvation as completely non-conditional, otherwise known as “cheap grace.”

33.    Are we clear on what the conditions for salvation are? God “cannot” admit to heaven anyone who will start the rebellion all over again. Those who are fully convinced of the rightness of God’s cause and the superiority of His government and realize that doing His will is always for our best good in the long term are welcome there.

34.    How would you respond to an atheist who says he does not believe in Jesus or God or anything about religion; but, he believes his life is better than yours?

35.    The cause of all the evil in the world is the Devil. If you are comfortably in his camp, why should he trouble you? But, if you are attempting to follow God, you are a great threat to him and he must do everything possible to pervert you or destroy you.

36.    As we have seen, the final events in Jeremiah’s history and his life were full of murder, intrigue, and absolute rebellion against God. Going back to Egypt was not a new idea. See Jeremiah 2:18,36; 41:17-18; 42:13-18; and 46xvii.

37.    Do you think God encouraged Jeremiah to opt for staying in Judah so he could travel with these people to Egypt and continue to try to influence them to follow God? Do you think there were some in that group who remained faithful to God? Jeremiah had told them that everyone who went to Egypt would die as a result of war, famine, or disease. Why didn’t they believe him? How many do you think there were in that small remnant that finally went back to Judah?

38.    Why is it so hard for human beings to learn from history? Would you agree with those who have said, “The one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history”?

39.    It is interesting to note that conservative Jews still commemorate the assassination of Gedaliah as recounted in our story for this week. It probably took place during the seventh month-which for the Jews is called Tishri—in 586 B.C.

40.    Do you think that those Jews had become so accustomed to war, violence, and killing that the death of someone did not seem to matter much to them any more?

41.    To some, the stories from so long ago seem remote and almost unreal. But, in recent times, clay bullae which were seal impressions made out of clay and hardened by heating in the fires that destroyed Jerusalem have come to light. The clay bullae shown at the end of this handout were impressions made by Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe; by “Yehucal, son of Shelemiyahu, son of Shovi”; and by Gedaliah, son of Pashur. Seeing these tiny records produced by those biblical characters themselves injects a little bit of reality into the incredible stories we have studied.

42.    In Jeremiah 42-45, we read the absolutely unbelievable story of what happened after the Babylonian conquest and destruction of Jerusalem. For those of us reading this story in 2015, it is incredibly sad. Nebuchadnezzar had tried repeatedly to set up leaders in Jerusalem with whom both he and the people could work. Every one of them either turned against him or was assassinated. If you had lived in the days of Jeremiah, would you trust anyone? On what basis would you trust someone?

43.    If you are to survive until the time of Jacob’s trouble and have to stand “singly and alone,” on whom would you rely at that point?

And there are many in the church who take it for granted that they understand what they believe, but, until controversy arises, they do not know their own weakness. When separated from those of like faith, and compelled to stand singly and alone to explain [40] their belief, they will be surprised to see how confused are their ideas of what they had accepted as truth. Certain it is that there has been among us a departure from the living God, and a turning to men, putting human wisdom in place of divine.—Ellen G. White, 5Testimonies 707.2 (1889); GW298.3; CWE 39.3; Mar 45.2; AG 30.3; LDE 70.1. [Bold type is added.]

44.    We do not know exactly what happened to Jeremiah. It is almost certain that he eventually died in Egypt. Let us hope that some of the authorities there treated him fairly. Also, we do not know exactly what happened to the people who were with him.

45.    How often do we rebel against clear commands from God? Is it true that every time we sin, we are rebelling against God? Or, are most of our sins those of ignorance? Do any of us want to return to spiritual Egypt?

© 2015, Kenneth Hart, MD, MA, MPH. Permission is hereby granted for any noncommercial use of these materials. Free distribution of all or of a portion of this material such as to a Bible study class is encouraged.    Info@Jheox.org

i-Jeremiah 40:7 Some of the Judean officers and soldiers had not surrendered. They heard that the king of Babylonia had made Gedaliah governor of the land and had placed him in charge of all those who had not been taken away to Babylonia—the poorest people in the land. 8 So Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai from Netophah, and Jezaniah from Maacah went with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 9 Gedaliah said to them, “I give you my word that there is no need for you to be afraid to surrender to the Babylonians. Settle in this land, serve the king of Babylonia, and all will go well with you. 10 I myself will stay in Mizpah and be your representative when the Babylonians come here. But you can gather and store up wine, fruit, and olive oil, and live in the villages you occupy.” 11 Meanwhile, all the Israelites who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and other countries, heard that the king of Babylonia had allowed some Israelites to stay on in Judah and that he had made Gedaliah their governor. 12 So they left the places where they had been scattered, and returned to Judah. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and there they gathered in large amounts of wine and fruit.

Gedaliah Is Murdered

13 After this, Johanan and the leaders of the soldiers who had not surrendered came to Gedaliah at Mizpah 14 and said to him, “Don't you know that King Baalis of Ammon has sent Ishmael to murder you?” But Gedaliah did not believe it. 15 Then Johanan said privately to him, “Let me go and kill Ishmael, and no one will know who did it. Why should he be allowed to murder you? That would cause all the Jews who have gathered around you to be scattered, and it would bring disaster on all the people who are left in Judah.”

16 But Gedaliah answered, “Don't do it! What you are saying about Ishmael is not true!”

41:1 In the seventh month of that year, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a member of the royal family and one of the king's chief officers, went to Mizpah with ten men to see Governor Gedaliah. While they were all eating a meal together, 2 Ishmael and the ten men with him pulled out their swords and killed Gedaliah. 3 Ishmael also killed all the Israelites who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Babylonian soldiers who happened to be there.

4 The next day, before anyone knew about Gedaliah's murder, 5 eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and gashed themselves. They were taking grain and incense to offer in the Temple. 6 So Ishmael went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he came to them, he said, “Please come in to see Gedaliah.” 7 As soon as they were inside the city, Ishmael and his men killed them and threw their bodies in a well.

8 But there were ten men in the group who said to Ishmael, “Please don't kill us! We have wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he spared them. 9 The well into which Ishmael threw the bodies of the men he had killed was the large one[a] that King Asa had dug when he was being attacked by King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael filled the well with the bodies. 10 Then he made prisoners of the king's daughters and all the rest of the people in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the commanding officer had placed under the care of Gedaliah. Ishmael took them prisoner and started off in the direction of the territory of Ammon.

11 Johanan and all the army leaders with him heard of the crime that Ishmael had committed. 12 So they went after him with their men and overtook him near the large pool at Gibeon. 13 When Ishmael's prisoners saw Johanan and the leaders of the forces with him, they were glad, 14 and turned and ran to them. 15 But Ishmael and eight of his men got away from Johanan and escaped to the land of Ammon.

16 Then Johanan and the leaders of the forces with him took charge of the people whom Ishmael had taken away as prisoners from Mizpah after murdering Gedaliah—soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs. 17-18 They were afraid of the Babylonians because Ishmael had murdered Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylonia had made governor of the land. So they set out for Egypt, in order to get away from the Babylonians. On the way they stopped at Chimham near Bethlehem.

42:1 Then all the army leaders, including Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah[a] son of Hoshaiah, came with people of every class 2 and said to me, “Please do what we ask you! Pray to the LORD our God for us. Pray for all of us who have survived. Once there were many of us; but now only a few of us are left, as you can see. 3 Pray that the LORD our God will show us the way we should go and what we should do.”

4 I answered, “Very well, then. I will pray to the LORD our God, just as you have asked, and whatever he says, I will tell you. I will not keep back anything from you.”

5 Then they said to me, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not obey all the commands that the LORD our God gives you for us. 6 Whether it pleases us or not, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are asking you to pray. All will go well with us if we obey him.”

The LORD's Answer to Jeremiah's Prayer

7 Ten days later the LORD spoke to me; 8 so I called together Johanan, all the army leaders who were with him, and all the other people. 9 I said to them, “The LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me with your request has said, 10 ‘If you are willing to go on living in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not pull you up. The destruction I brought on you has caused me great sorrow. 11 Stop being afraid of the king of Babylonia. I am with you, and I will rescue you from his power. 12 Because I am merciful, I will make him have mercy on you and let you go back home. I, the LORD, have spoken.’

13-15 “But you people who are left in Judah must not disobey the LORD your God and refuse to live in this land. You must not say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we won't face war any more or hear the call to battle or go hungry.’ If you say this, then the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you are determined to go and live in Egypt, 16 then the war that you fear will overtake you, and the hunger you dread will follow you, and you will die there in Egypt. 17 All the people who are determined to go and live in Egypt will die either in war or of starvation or disease. Not one of them will survive, not one will escape the disaster that I am going to bring on them.’

18 “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will be a horrifying sight; people will make fun of you and use your name as a curse. You will never see this place again.’”

19 Then I continued, “The LORD has told you people who are left in Judah not to go to Egypt. And so I warn you now 20 that you are making a fatal mistake. You asked me to pray to the LORD our God for you, and you promised that you would do everything that he commands. 21 And now I have told you, but you are disobeying everything that the LORD our God sent me to tell you. 22 So then, remember this: you will die in war or of starvation or disease in the land where you want to go and live.”

43:1 I finished telling the people everything that the LORD their God had sent me to tell them. 2 Then Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other arrogant men said to me, “You are lying. The LORD our God did not send you to tell us not to go and live in Egypt. 3 Baruch son of Neriah has stirred you up against us, so that the Babylonians will gain power over us and can either kill us or take us away to Babylonia.” 4 So neither Johanan nor any of the army officers nor any of the people would obey the LORD's command to remain in the land of Judah. 5 Then Johanan and all the army officers took everybody left in Judah away to Egypt, together with all the people who had returned from the nations where they had been scattered: 6 the men, the women, the children, and the king's daughters. They took everyone whom Nebuzaradan the commanding officer had left under the care of Gedaliah, including Baruch and me. 7 They disobeyed the LORD's command and went into Egypt as far as the city of Tahpanhes.

8 There the LORD said to me, 9 “Get some large stones and bury them in the mortar of the pavement[a] in front of the entrance to the government building here in the city, and let some of the Israelites see you do it. 10 Then tell them that I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, am going to bring my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to this place, and he[b] will put his throne over these stones that you[c] buried, and will spread the royal tent over them. 11 Nebuchadnezzar will come and defeat Egypt. Those people who are doomed to die of disease will die of disease, those doomed to be taken away as prisoners will be taken away as prisoners, and those doomed to be killed in war will be killed in war. 12 I will set fire to the temples of Egypt's gods, and the king of Babylonia will either burn their gods or carry them off. As shepherds pick their clothes clean of lice, so the king of Babylonia will pick the land of Egypt clean and then leave victorious. 13 He will destroy the sacred stone monuments at Heliopolis in Egypt and will burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.”

44: 1The LORD spoke to me concerning all the Israelites living in Egypt, in the cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the southern part of the country. 2 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, said, “You yourselves have seen the destruction I brought on Jerusalem and all the other cities of Judah. Even now they are still in ruins, and no one lives in them 3 because their people had done evil and had made me angry. They offered sacrifices to other gods and served gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever worshiped. 4 I kept sending you my servants the prophets, who told you not to do this terrible thing that I hate. 5 But you would not listen or pay any attention. You would not give up your evil practice of sacrificing to other gods. 6 So I poured out my anger and fury on the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, and I set them on fire. They were left in ruins and became a horrifying sight, as they are today.

7 “And so I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, now ask why you are doing such an evil thing to yourselves. Do you want to bring destruction on men and women, children and babies, so that none of your people will be left? 8 Why do you make me angry by worshiping idols and by sacrificing to other gods here in Egypt, where you have come to live? Are you doing this just to destroy yourselves, so that every nation on earth will make fun of you and use your name as a curse? 9 Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their wives, and by you and your wives? 10 But to this day you have not humbled yourselves. You have not honored me or lived according to all the laws that I gave you and your ancestors.

11 “So then, I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will turn against you and destroy all Judah. 12 As for the people of Judah who are left and are determined to go and live in Egypt, I will see to it that all of them are destroyed. All of them, great and small, will die in Egypt, either in war or of starvation. They will be a horrifying sight; people will make fun of them and use their name as a curse. 13 I will punish those who live in Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem—with war, starvation, and disease. 14 None of the people of Judah who are left and have come to Egypt to live will escape or survive. Not one of them will return to Judah, where they long to live once again. No one will return except a few refugees.”

15 Then all the men who knew that their wives offered sacrifices to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, including the Israelites who lived in southern Egypt—a large crowd in all—said to me, 16 “We refuse to listen to what you have told us in the name of the LORD. 17 We will do everything that we said we would. We will offer sacrifices to our goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out wine offerings to her, just as we and our ancestors, our king and our leaders, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we were prosperous, and had no troubles. 18 But ever since we stopped sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and stopped pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing, and our people have died in war and of starvation.”

19 And the women added, “When we baked cakes shaped like the Queen of Heaven, offered sacrifices to her, and poured out wine offerings to her, our husbands approved of what we were doing.”

20 Then I said to all the men and the women who had answered me in this way, 21 “As for the sacrifices which you and your ancestors, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land offered in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—do you think that the LORD did not know about them or that he forgot them? 22 This very day your land lies in ruins and no one lives in it. It has become a horrifying sight, and people use its name as a curse because the LORD could no longer endure your wicked and evil practices. 23 This present disaster has come on you because you offered sacrifices to other gods and sinned against the LORD by not obeying all his commands.”

24-25 I told all the people, especially the women, what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, was saying to the people of Judah living in Egypt: “Both you and your wives have made solemn promises to the Queen of Heaven. You promised that you would offer sacrifices to her and pour out wine offerings to her, and you have kept your promises. Very well, then! Keep your promises! Carry out your vows! 26 But now listen to the vow that I, the LORD, have made in my mighty name to all you Israelites in Egypt: Never again will I let any of you use my name to make a vow by saying, ‘I swear by the living Sovereign LORD!’ 27 I will see to it that you will not prosper, but will be destroyed. All of you will die, either in war or of disease, until not one of you is left. 28 But a few of you will escape death and return from Egypt to Judah. Then the survivors will know whose words have come true, mine or theirs. 29 I, the LORD, will give you proof that I will punish you in this place and that my promise to bring destruction on you will come true. 30 I will hand over King Hophra of Egypt to his enemies who want to kill him, just as I handed over King Zedekiah of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, who was his enemy and wanted to kill him.”

Exodus 16:3 and said to them, “We wish that the LORD had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death.”

Numbers 16:13 Isn't it enough that you have brought us out of the fertile land of Egypt to kill us here in the wilderness? Do you also have to lord it over us?

ii-Jeremiah 39:11 But King Nebuchadnezzar commanded Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, to give the following order: 12 “Go and find Jeremiah and take good care of him. Do not harm him, but do for him whatever he wants.” 13 So Nebuzaradan, together with the high officials Nebushazban and Nergal Sharezer and all the other officers of the king of Babylonia, 14 had me brought from the palace courtyard. They put me under the care of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, who was to see that I got home safely. And so I stayed there among the people.

iii-Jeremiah 40:7 Some of the Judean officers and soldiers had not surrendered. They heard that the king of Babylonia had made Gedaliah governor of the land and had placed him in charge of all those who had not been taken away to Babylonia—the poorest people in the land. 8 So Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai from Netophah, and Jezaniah from Maacah went with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 9 Gedaliah said to them, “I give you my word that there is no need for you to be afraid to surrender to the Babylonians. Settle in this land, serve the king of Babylonia, and all will go well with you. 10 I myself will stay in Mizpah and be your representative when the Babylonians come here. But you can gather and store up wine, fruit, and olive oil, and live in the villages you occupy.” 11 Meanwhile, all the Israelites who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and other countries, heard that the king of Babylonia had allowed some Israelites to stay on in Judah and that he had made Gedaliah their governor. 12 So they left the places where they had been scattered, and returned to Judah. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and there they gathered in large amounts of wine and fruit.

Gedaliah Is Murdered

13 After this, Johanan and the leaders of the soldiers who had not surrendered came to Gedaliah at Mizpah 14 and said to him, “Don't you know that King Baalis of Ammon has sent Ishmael to murder you?” But Gedaliah did not believe it. 15 Then Johanan said privately to him, “Let me go and kill Ishmael, and no one will know who did it. Why should he be allowed to murder you? That would cause all the Jews who have gathered around you to be scattered, and it would bring disaster on all the people who are left in Judah.”

16 But Gedaliah answered, “Don't do it! What you are saying about Ishmael is not true!”

iv-Jeremiah 41:1 In the seventh month of that year, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a member of the royal family and one of the king's chief officers, went to Mizpah with ten men to see Governor Gedaliah. While they were all eating a meal together, 2 Ishmael and the ten men with him pulled out their swords and killed Gedaliah. 3 Ishmael also killed all the Israelites who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Babylonian soldiers who happened to be there.

4 The next day, before anyone knew about Gedaliah's murder, 5 eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and gashed themselves. They were taking grain and incense to offer in the Temple. 6 So Ishmael went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he came to them, he said, “Please come in to see Gedaliah.” 7 As soon as they were inside the city, Ishmael and his men killed them and threw their bodies in a well.

8 But there were ten men in the group who said to Ishmael, “Please don't kill us! We have wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he spared them. 9 The well into which Ishmael threw the bodies of the men he had killed was the large one[a] that King Asa had dug when he was being attacked by King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael filled the well with the bodies. 10 Then he made prisoners of the king's daughters and all the rest of the people in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the commanding officer had placed under the care of Gedaliah. Ishmael took them prisoner and started off in the direction of the territory of Ammon.

11 Johanan and all the army leaders with him heard of the crime that Ishmael had committed. 12 So they went after him with their men and overtook him near the large pool at Gibeon. 13 When Ishmael's prisoners saw Johanan and the leaders of the forces with him, they were glad, 14 and turned and ran to them. 15 But Ishmael and eight of his men got away from Johanan and escaped to the land of Ammon.

16 Then Johanan and the leaders of the forces with him took charge of the people whom Ishmael had taken away as prisoners from Mizpah after murdering Gedaliah—soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs. 17-18 They were afraid of the Babylonians because Ishmael had murdered Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylonia had made governor of the land. So they set out for Egypt, in order to get away from the Babylonians. On the way they stopped at Chimham near Bethlehem.

v-Jeremiah 42:1 Then all the army leaders, including Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah[a] son of Hoshaiah, came with people of every class 2 and said to me, “Please do what we ask you! Pray to the LORD our God for us. Pray for all of us who have survived. Once there were many of us; but now only a few of us are left, as you can see. 3 Pray that the LORD our God will show us the way we should go and what we should do.”

4 I answered, “Very well, then. I will pray to the LORD our God, just as you have asked, and whatever he says, I will tell you. I will not keep back anything from you.”

5 Then they said to me, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not obey all the commands that the LORD our God gives you for us. 6 Whether it pleases us or not, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are asking you to pray. All will go well with us if we obey him.”

The LORD's Answer to Jeremiah's Prayer

7 Ten days later the LORD spoke to me; 8 so I called together Johanan, all the army leaders who were with him, and all the other people. 9 I said to them, “The LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me with your request has said, 10 ‘If you are willing to go on living in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not pull you up. The destruction I brought on you has caused me great sorrow. 11 Stop being afraid of the king of Babylonia. I am with you, and I will rescue you from his power. 12 Because I am merciful, I will make him have mercy on you and let you go back home. I, the LORD, have spoken.’

13-15 “But you people who are left in Judah must not disobey the LORD your God and refuse to live in this land. You must not say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we won't face war any more or hear the call to battle or go hungry.’ If you say this, then the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you are determined to go and live in Egypt, 16 then the war that you fear will overtake you, and the hunger you dread will follow you, and you will die there in Egypt. 17 All the people who are determined to go and live in Egypt will die either in war or of starvation or disease. Not one of them will survive, not one will escape the disaster that I am going to bring on them.’

18 “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will be a horrifying sight; people will make fun of you and use your name as a curse. You will never see this place again.’”

19 Then I continued, “The LORD has told you people who are left in Judah not to go to Egypt. And so I warn you now 20 that you are making a fatal mistake. You asked me to pray to the LORD our God for you, and you promised that you would do everything that he commands. 21 And now I have told you, but you are disobeying everything that the LORD our God sent me to tell you. 22 So then, remember this: you will die in war or of starvation or disease in the land where you want to go and live.”

vi-Jeremiah 42:5 Then they said to me, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not obey all the commands that the LORD our God gives you for us. 6 Whether it pleases us or not, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are asking you to pray. All will go well with us if we obey him.”

vii-Jeremiah 42:18 “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will be a horrifying sight; people will make fun of you and use your name as a curse. You will never see this place again.’”

viii-Jeremiah 7:4 Stop believing those deceitful words, ‘We are safe! This is the LORD's Temple, this is the LORD's Temple, this is the LORD's Temple!’

ix-Jeremiah 43:1 I finished telling the people everything that the LORD their God had sent me to tell them. 2 Then Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other arrogant men said to me, “You are lying. The LORD our God did not send you to tell us not to go and live in Egypt. 3 Baruch son of Neriah has stirred you up against us, so that the Babylonians will gain power over us and can either kill us or take us away to Babylonia.” 4 So neither Johanan nor any of the army officers nor any of the people would obey the LORD's command to remain in the land of Judah. 5 Then Johanan and all the army officers took everybody left in Judah away to Egypt, together with all the people who had returned from the nations where they had been scattered: 6 the men, the women, the children, and the king's daughters. They took everyone whom Nebuzaradan the commanding officer had left under the care of Gedaliah, including Baruch and me. 7 They disobeyed the LORD's command and went into Egypt as far as the city of Tahpanhes.

x-Exodus 16:3 and said to them, “We wish that the LORD had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death.”

xi-Numbers 16:13 Isn't it enough that you have brought us out of the fertile land of Egypt to kill us here in the wilderness? Do you also have to lord it over us?

xii-2 Corinthians 10:5 we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

xiii-Jeremiah 43:8 There the LORD said to me, 9 “Get some large stones and bury them in the mortar of the pavement[a] in front of the entrance to the government building here in the city, and let some of the Israelites see you do it. 10 Then tell them that I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, am going to bring my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to this place, and he[b] will put his throne over these stones that you[c] buried, and will spread the royal tent over them. 11 Nebuchadnezzar will come and defeat Egypt. Those people who are doomed to die of disease will die of disease, those doomed to be taken away as prisoners will be taken away as prisoners, and those doomed to be killed in war will be killed in war. 12 I will set fire to the temples of Egypt's gods, and the king of Babylonia will either burn their gods or carry them off. As shepherds pick their clothes clean of lice, so the king of Babylonia will pick the land of Egypt clean and then leave victorious. 13 He will destroy the sacred stone monuments at Heliopolis in Egypt and will burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.”

xiv-Jeremiah 7:4 Stop believing those deceitful words, ‘We are safe! This is the LORD's Temple, this is the LORD's Temple, this is the LORD's Temple!’

37:7 to say to Zedekiah, “The Egyptian army is on its way to help you, but it will return home. 8 Then the Babylonians will come back, attack the city, capture it, and burn it down.

xv-Jeremiah 44:15 Then all the men who knew that their wives offered sacrifices to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, including the Israelites who lived in southern Egypt—a large crowd in all—said to me, 16 “We refuse to listen to what you have told us in the name of the LORD. 17 We will do everything that we said we would. We will offer sacrifices to our goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out wine offerings to her, just as we and our ancestors, our king and our leaders, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we were prosperous, and had no troubles. 18 But ever since we stopped sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and stopped pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing, and our people have died in war and of starvation.”

19 And the women added, “When we baked cakes shaped like the Queen of Heaven, offered sacrifices to her, and poured out wine offerings to her, our husbands approved of what we were doing.”

xvi-Romans 7:7 Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, “Do not desire what belongs to someone else,” I would not have known such a desire.

Micah 6:8 No, the LORD has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.

Joshua 24:15 If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the LORD.”

Matthew 22:37 Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and the most important commandment. 39 The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’

Deuteronomy 12:8 “When that time comes, you must not do as you have been doing. Until now you have all been worshiping as you please,

xvii-Jeremiah 2:Good News Translation (GNT)

18 What do you think you will gain by going to Egypt

to drink water from the Nile?

What do you think you will gain by going to Assyria

to drink water from the Euphrates?

36 You have cheapened yourself by turning to the gods of other nations. You will be disappointed by Egypt, just as you were by Assyria.

41:17-18 They were afraid of the Babylonians because Ishmael had murdered Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylonia had made governor of the land. So they set out for Egypt, in order to get away from the Babylonians. On the way they stopped at Chimham near Bethlehem.

42:13-15 “But you people who are left in Judah must not disobey the LORD your God and refuse to live in this land. You must not say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we won't face war any more or hear the call to battle or go hungry.’ If you say this, then the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you are determined to go and live in Egypt, 16 then the war that you fear will overtake you, and the hunger you dread will follow you, and you will die there in Egypt. 17 All the people who are determined to go and live in Egypt will die either in war or of starvation or disease. Not one of them will survive, not one will escape the disaster that I am going to bring on them.’

18 “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will be a horrifying sight; people will make fun of you and use your name as a curse. You will never see this place again.’”

46:1 The LORD spoke to me about the nations, 2 beginning with Egypt. This is what he said about the army of King Neco of Egypt, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia defeated at Carchemish near the Euphrates River in the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah:

3 “The Egyptian officers shout,

‘Get your shields ready

and march into battle!

4 Harness your horses and mount them!

Fall in line and put on your helmets!

Sharpen your spears!

Put on your armor!’

5 “But what do I see?” asks the LORD.

“They are turning back in terror.

Their soldiers are beaten back;

overcome with fear, they run as fast as they can

and do not look back.

6 Those who run fast cannot get away;

the soldiers cannot escape.

In the north, by the Euphrates,

they stumble and fall.

7 Who is this that rises like the Nile,

like a river flooding its banks?

8 It is Egypt, rising like the Nile,

like a river flooding its banks.

Egypt said, ‘I will rise and cover the world;

I will destroy cities and the people who live there.

9 Command the horses to go

and the chariots to roll!

Send out the soldiers:

men from Ethiopia[a] and Libya, carrying shields,

and skilled archers from Lydia.’”

10 This is the day of the Sovereign LORD Almighty:

today he will take revenge;

today he will punish his enemies.

His sword will eat them until it is full,

and drink their blood until it is satisfied.

Today the Almighty sacrifices his victims

in the north, by the Euphrates.

11 People of Egypt, go to Gilead[b]

and look for medicine!

All your medicine has proved useless;

nothing can heal you.

12 Nations have heard of your shame;

everyone has heard you cry.

One soldier trips over another,

and both of them fall to the ground.

The Coming of Nebuchadnezzar

13 When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia came to attack Egypt, the LORD spoke to me. He said,

14 “Proclaim it in the towns of Egypt,

in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes:

‘Get ready to defend yourselves;

all you have will be destroyed in war!

15 Why has your mighty god Apis fallen?

The LORD has struck him down!’

16 Your soldiers have stumbled and fallen;[c]

each one says to the other,

‘Hurry! Let's go home to our people

and escape the enemy's sword!’

17 “Give the king of Egypt a new name—

‘Noisy Braggart Who Missed His Chance.’

18 I, the LORD Almighty, am king.

I am the living God.

As Mount Tabor towers above the mountains

and Mount Carmel stands high above the sea,

so will be the strength of the one who attacks you.

19 Get ready to be taken prisoner,

you people of Egypt!

Memphis will be made a desert,

a ruin where no one lives.

20 Egypt is like a splendid cow,

attacked by a stinging fly from the north.

21 Even her hired soldiers

are helpless as calves.

They did not stand and fight;

all of them turned and ran.

The day of their doom had arrived,

the time of their destruction.

22 Egypt runs away, hissing like a snake,

as the enemy's army approaches.

They attack her with axes,

like people cutting down trees

23     and destroying a thick forest.

Their soldiers are too many to count;

they outnumber the locusts.

24 The people of Egypt are put to shame;

they are conquered by the people of the north.

I, the LORD, have spoken.”

25 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says, “I am going to punish Amon, the god of Thebes, together with Egypt and its gods and kings. I am going to take the king of Egypt and all who put their trust in him, 26 and hand them over to those who want to kill them, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army. But later on, people will live in Egypt again, as they did in times past. I, the LORD, have spoken.

The LORD Will Save His People

27 “My people, do not be afraid,

people of Israel, do not be terrified.

I will rescue you from that faraway land,

from the land where you are prisoners.

You will come back home and live in peace;

you will be secure, and no one will make you afraid.

28 I will come to you and save you.

I will destroy all the nations

where I have scattered you,

but I will not destroy you.

I will not let you go unpunished;

but when I punish you, I will be fair.

I, the LORD, have spoken.”

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