8 and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the armies who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.
9 He said to them, “This is what the Lord says, the God of Israel to whom you sent me to bring your petition before Him:
10 ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will rebuild and not demolish you, and I will plant and not uproot you, because I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought on you.
11 Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear; don’t be afraid of him’ — this is the Lord’s declaration — ‘because I am with you to save you and deliver you from him.
12 I will grant you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and allow you to return to your own soil.
13 But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ so as not to obey the voice of the Lord your God,
14 and if you say, ‘No, instead we’ll go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn or hunger for food, and we’ll live there,’