Jeremiah did not speak in a rush but rather waited for ten days. After ten days the word of Jehovah came to them through Jeremiah, saying that if they would still remain in the land, He would build them up and not tear them down, and He would plant them and not pluck them up (vv. 7-10). They were told that they should not fear the king of Babylon, for Jehovah was with them to save and deliver them from his hand. Jehovah would show compassions to them, that the king of Babylon might have compassion on them and might bring them back to their own land (vv. 11-12). However, if they would not remain in the land and would not listen to the voice of Jehovah their God, but would go to the land of Egypt and dwell there, then the sword would overtake them in Egypt, and the famine would follow hard after them, and they would die there in Egypt (vv. 13-16). Jehovah's wrath would be poured out on them when they went to Egypt, and they would become an execration, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach, and they would see the land no more (vv. 17-22).
When Jeremiah finished speaking, Azariah, Johanan, and all the proud men said to him, "You are speaking falsehood; Jehovah our God has not sent you to say, You shall not go to Egypt to sojourn there" (43:2). They went on to say that Baruch was inciting him against them so as to give them into the hand of the Chaldeans to be put to death or taken into exile to Babylon. So Johanan, all the leaders of the forces, and all the people did not listen to the voice of Jehovah to remain in the land of Judah, but Johanan and all the leaders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah and came to the land of Egypt as far as Tahpanhes (vv. 3-7).
Jeremiah 43:8—44:14 is a record of the word of Jehovah through Jeremiah concerning the destiny of the remnant of Judah in Egypt.
Jehovah asked Jeremiah to take large stones and hide them in the mortar in the brickwork at the entrance of Pharaoh's house in the sight of the Jews (vv. 8-9). Jehovah, the God of Israel, said that He was going to send Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and set his throne above those stones which He had hidden, and Nebuchadnezzar would spread his canopy over them (v. 10). He would come and strike the land of Egypt. He would burn the houses of the gods of Egypt and smash the pillars of the temple of the sun in the land of Egypt (vv. 11-13).