Soldiers heard what Ishmael had done and pursued him. When Ishmael's prisoners saw them they were happy. Ishmael and some of his men escaped into Ammon, but the soldiers decided to take all the people (including Jeremiah) to Egypt because they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do when they found out that Gedaliah had been killed.
On the way to Egypt the people asked Jeremiah to pray and ask God what He wanted them to do. They promised God that they'd do everything He said even if they didn't like it. 10 days later Jeremiah received an answer. God told them to stay in Judah and He would protect them from the Babylonians and make them strong and prosperous. But if they got scared and went to Egypt they would die there of the same things they were afraid would happen to them in Judah. Jeremiah added that the people had asked him for help which he gave along with their promise to do whatever the Lord told them. But they reneged, so they would die of war, hunger and disease.
The people accused Jeremiah of lying. They said Baruch put him up to it because he wanted to go to Babylon. So they disobeyed God and went to Egypt. Once they were settled in Egypt, the Lord told Jeremiah to bury some large stones in the mortar of the brick pavement in front of Pharaoh's palace and make sure the Jews were watching.
Then Jeremiah was to tell them that God had sent for Nebuchadnezzar, who would come and set up his tent right on top of where those stones were. He would attack and kill many people, it would be like he had picked the land clean. Then he'd go home.
The Lord sent Jeremiah to speak to the Jews living in towns all over Egypt. He told them that God had destroyed Jerusalem and Judah because the people angered him for worshiping empty, useless idols. Over and over God sent prophets to warn the people about the danger their disgusting sins were putting them in, but they wouldn't listen. God asked them why they insisted on courting disaster. God could see that that their pride kept them from respecting Him. So, He decided to wipe them out with disasters. Just as He punished Jerusalem with war, hunger and disease, so he would punish them. Only a few would return to Judah, the rest would die in Egypt.
Most of the Jews listened to Jeremiah, but they had wives who burned incense to the "Queen of Heaven" and refused to change. They shouted at Jeremiah that they had worshiped that way like their ancestors did in Jerusalem back in the good old days when things were good. Since the time they stopped burning incense their lives had gotten too hard. Jeremiah tried to tell them that things got bad BECAUSE they had worshiped other gods and God put a curse on the land. Then Jeremiah told them that God had said to go ahead and keep doing what they were doing. But watch out! They would know that when God says something will happen - it will!
Earlier, in the 4th year of king Jehoiakim's reign, God gave Jeremiah a message for Baruch. Now Baruch had written down everything Jeremiah said. God told him to stop complaining about being so tired and blaming God for keeping him so busy. God had alot more to tell Jeremiah and they were far from finished! But God did promise him that he would be protected from death.
Tomorrow read Jeremiah 46-48
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