1 After Jeremiah finished telling everyone all that the Lord their God had send him to say, 2 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 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 son of Kareah and all the army commanders refused to obey the Lord's command to stay in the land of Judah. 5 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 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 went to Egypt because they refused to obey the Lord's command. They went all the way to Tahpanhes.

8 A message from Lord came to Jeremiah at Tahpanhes: 9 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 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 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 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. 13 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.