Jeremiah 43
1 [So] I finished telling to the people that message from Yahweh our God.
After Jeremiah finished telling everyone all that the Lord their God had send him to say,
2 But then Johanan and Azariah and some other insolent/arrogant men said to me, “You are lying! Yahweh our God has not told [us] that we should not go to Egypt!
Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the proud and rebellious men told Jeremiah, “You're lying! The Lord our God hasn't sent you to tell us, ‘You are not to go and live in Egypt.’
3 [We think that] Baruch has urged/persuaded you to say this, in order that [if we stay here], the soldiers from Babylonia will seize us and kill us or take us to Babylonia.”
No, it's Baruch son of Neriah who's turned you against us in order to hand us over to the Babylonians so they can kill us or exile us to Babylon!”
4 So Johanan and the other leaders of the [Israeli] soldiers and [many of] [HYP] the other people [who were there] refused to obey Yahweh’s command to stay in Judah.
So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders refused to obey the Lord's command to stay in the land of Judah.
5 Johanan and all the [other] leaders gathered together all the people who had returned from the other countries to which they had been scattered.
Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders took with them all who were left of the people of Judah, those who had returned to the country from all the nations where they had been scattered.
6 [They included] men, women, children, the king’s daughters, and all those whom Nebuzaradan had left with Gedaliah, and they also took Baruch and me.
These included men, women, and children, the king's daughters, and everyone Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard had allowed to remain with Gedaliah, as well as Jeremiah and Baruch.
7 They refused to obey Yahweh, and they took us all [to Egypt], as far as Tahpenes [city].
They went to Egypt because they refused to obey the Lord's command. They went all the way to Tahpanhes.
8 [While we were] at Tahpenes, Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
A message from Lord came to Jeremiah at Tahpanhes:
9 “While the people of Judah are watching you, take some large rocks and bury them under the brick pavement at the entrance to the king’s palace there at Tahpenes.
As the people of Judah watch, get some large stones and set them into the cement of the brick pavement in the entrance way to Pharaoh's palace at Tahpanhes.
10 Then say to the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], says: “I will summon Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, who does my work, to come [with his army] to Egypt. I will set up his throne over these stones that I told Jeremiah to bury. And Nebuchadnezzar will set up his tent there [to show that he has become] the King [of Egypt].
Tell them that this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I'm going to send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bring him here. I will place his throne over these stones that I have set into the pavement, and he will spread out his royal tent over them.
11 When his [army] comes, they will attack Egypt. Then those will die who [I have determined] must die, those who [I have determined] must be captured will be captured, and those who [I have determined] must be killed by swords will be killed by swords.
He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those destined to die, imprisonment to those destined to be imprisoned, and the sword to those destined to be killed by the sword.
12 Nebuchadnezzar’s [soldiers] will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt. [But before they burn the temples], they will take away their idols [as souvenirs]. His [troops] will clean Egypt like a shepherd cleans lice from his cloak. They will tear down the sacred pillars that are in the temple of their sun god. And then Nebuchadnezzar’s [troops] will leave there, without having been harmed.”’”
I will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar will burn them and loot their idols. He will pick the land of Egypt clean like a shepherd picks his cloak clean of fleas, and he will leave unharmed.
He will knock down the sacred pillars of the temple of the sun in Egypt, and he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.
