Jeremiah 42

Chapter 42

Warning against Going to Egypt

¹Then all the ¹commanders of the forces, ^aJohanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people ^bboth small and great approached

²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our ^apetition ¹come before you, and ^bpray for us to the Lord your God, that is for all this remnant; because we are left but a ^cfew out of many, as your own eyes now see us,

³that the Lord your God may tell us the ^away in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.”

⁴Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to ^apray to the Lord your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole ¹message which the ^bLord will answer you. I will ^cnot keep back a word from you.”

⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the ^aLord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole ¹message with which the Lord your God will send you to us.

⁶“Whether it is ¹pleasant or ²unpleasant, we will ^alisten to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go ^bwell with us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our God.”

⁷Now at the ^aend of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

⁸Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ¹commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great,

⁹and said to them, “Thus ^asays the Lord the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him:

¹⁰‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will ^abuild you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I ¹will ^brelent concerning the calamity that I have inflicted on you.

¹¹‘^aDo not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares the Lord, ‘for ^bI am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand.

¹²‘I will also show you compassion, so that ^ahe will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil.

¹³‘But if you are going to say, “We will ^anot stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of the Lord your God,

¹⁴saying, “No, but we will ^ago to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or ^bhear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there”;

¹⁵then ¹in that case listen to the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “If you really set your ²mind to enter ^aEgypt and go in to reside there,

¹⁶then the ^asword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there.

¹⁷“So all the men who set their ¹mind to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the ^asword, by famine and by pestilence; and they will ^bhave no survivors or refugees from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.” ’ ”

¹⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “As My ^aanger and wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a ^bcurse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach; and ^cyou will see this place no more.”

¹⁹The Lord has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not ^ago into Egypt!” You should clearly ^bunderstand that today I have ^ctestified against you.

²⁰For you have only ^1adeceived yourselves; for it is you who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.”

²¹So I have ^atold you today, but you have ^bnot ¹obeyed the Lord your God, even in whatever He has sent me to tell you.

²²Therefore you should now clearly understand that you will ^adie by the sword, by famine and by pestilence, in the ^bplace where you wish to go to reside.