^42:14You must not say, ‘No, we will not stay. Instead we will go and live in the land of Egypt where we will not face war,¹⁶ or hear the enemy’s trumpet calls,¹⁷ or starve for lack of food.’¹⁸^42:15If you people who remain in Judah do that, then listen to what the Lord says. The Lord God of Israel who rules over all¹⁹ says, ‘If you are so determined²⁰ to go to Egypt that you go and settle there, ^42:16the wars you fear will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt. The starvation you are worried about will follow you there to²¹ Egypt. You will die there.²²

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Footnotes

16 Heb “see [or experience] war.”
17 Heb “hear the sound of the trumpet.” The trumpet was used to gather the troops and to sound the alarm for battle.
18 Jer 42:13–14 are a long complex condition (protasis) whose consequence (apodosis) does not begin until v. 15. The Hebrew text of vv. 13–14 reads: 42:13 “But if you say [or continue to say (the form is a participle)], ‘We will not stay in this land’ with the result that you do not obey [or “more literally, do not hearken to the voice of] the Lord your God, 42:14 saying, ‘No, but to the land of Egypt we will go where we … and there we will live,’ 42:15 now therefore hear the word of the Lord …” The sentence has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style but an attempt has been made to maintain the contingencies and the qualifiers that are in the longer Hebrew original.
19 Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” See the study note on for the translation and significance of this title.
20 Heb “set your face to.” See Jer 42:17; 44:11; Dan 11:17; 2 Kgs 12:17 (12:18 ) for parallel usage.
21 Or “will follow you right into Egypt,” or “will dog your steps all the way to Egypt”; Heb “cling after.” This is the only case of this verb with this preposition in the Qal stem. However, it is used with this preposition several times in the Hiphil, all with the meaning of “to pursue closely.” See 180 דָּבַק Hiph.2 and compare Judg 20:45; 1 Sam 14:22; 1 Chr 10:2.
22 The repetition of the adverb “there” in the translation of vv. 14, 16 is to draw attention to the rhetorical emphasis on the locale of Egypt in the original text of both v. 14 and v. 16. In v. 14 they say, “to the land of Egypt we will go … and there we will live.” In v. 16 God says, “wars … there will catch up with you … the hunger … there will follow after you … and there you will die.” God rhetorically denies their focus on Egypt as a place of safety and of relative prosperity. That can only be found in Judah under the protective presence of the Lord (vv. 10–12).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

and if you say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,’ then hear the word of the Lord, you remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there, then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

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 trumpet or hunger for food, and we’ll live there,’ then hear the word of the Lord, remnant of Judah! This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are firmly resolved to go to Egypt and stay there for a while, then the sword you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you are worried about will follow on your heels there to Egypt, and you will die there.

NLTNew Living Translation

instead, we will go to Egypt where we will be free from war, the call to arms, and hunger,’ then hear the Lord’s message to the remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and live there, the very war and famine you fear will catch up to you, and you will die there.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

saying, “No, for we will go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war, and we will not hear the sound of a horn, and we will not be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,” then therefore hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “If you are determined to go to Egypt, and you go to dwell as aliens there, then it will be that the sword that you are in fear of will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you are anxious of will pursue after you there into Egypt, and there you will die.

KJV 1900King James Version

Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: And now therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

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