4 "I've heard you," I replied. "I'll certainly pray to the Lord your God. I'll do what you have asked me to do. In fact, I'll tell you everything the Lord says. I won't keep anything back from you."
5 Then they said to me, "We'll do everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us to do. If we don't, may he be a true and faithful witness against us.
6 It doesn't matter whether what you say is in our favor or not. We're asking you to pray to the Lord our God. And we'll obey him. Things will go well with us. That's because we will obey the Lord our God."
7 Ten days later a message came to me from the Lord.
8 So I sent for Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all of the other army officers who were with him. I also gathered together all of the people from the least important of them to the most important.
9 I said to all of them, "The Lord is the God of Israel. You asked me to present your appeal to him.
10 He told me, 'Stay in this land. Then I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will plant you. I will not pull you up by the roots. I am very sad that I had to bring all of this trouble on you.