Jeremiah 42:9–22

⁹He 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,^k and I will plant and not uproot you, because I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought on you.^{l 11}Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon^m whom you now fear; don’t be afraid of him’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘because I am with you to save youⁿ and rescue you from him. ¹²I will grant you compassion,^o and he^A 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,’^p in order to disobey the Lord your God, ¹⁴and if you say, ‘No, instead we’ll go to the land of Egypt^q where we will not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet^r or hunger for food, and we’ll live there,’ ¹⁵then hear the word of the Lord, remnant of Judah! This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel,^s says: ‘If you are firmly resolved to go to Egypt^t and stay there for a while, ¹⁶then the sword^u you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you are worried about will follow on your heels^B there to Egypt, and you will die there. ¹⁷All who resolve to go to Egypt to stay there for a while will die by the sword, famine, and plague. They will have no survivor or fugitive from the disaster I will bring on them.’

¹⁸“For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on Jerusalem’s residents,^v so will my fury pour out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an example for cursing, scorn,^w execration, and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’ ¹⁹The Lord has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: ‘Don’t go to Egypt.’ Know for certain that I have warned you today!^{x 20}You have gone astray at the cost of your lives^C because you are the ones who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord our God on our behalf, and as for all that the Lord our God says, tell it to us, and we’ll act accordingly.’ ²¹For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the Lord your God in everything he has sent me to tell you. ²²Now therefore, know for certain that by the sword, famine, and plague you will die in the place where you desired to go to stay for a while.”