Jeremiah Advises Survivors Not to Migrate

42Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah^* son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached ²the prophet Jeremiah and said, ‘Be good enough to listen to our plea, and pray to the Lord your God for us—for all this remnant. For there are only a few of us left out of many, as your eyes can see. ³Let the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do.’ ⁴The prophet Jeremiah said to them, ‘Very well: I am going to pray to the Lord your God as you request, and whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you; I will keep nothing back from you.’ ⁵They in their turn said to Jeremiah, ‘May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to everything that the Lord your God sends us through you. ⁶Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.’