Jeremiah 42

1 Then all the commanders of the forces, along with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached

And all the captains of the forces, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah, the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least even to the greatest, came near,

2 Jeremiah the prophet and said, “May our petition come before you; pray to the LORD your God on behalf of this entire remnant. For few of us remain of the many, as you can see with your own eyes.

and said to Jeremiah the prophet: “Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us to Jehovah, thy God, for all this remnant; (for we are left a few out of many, as thine eyes do behold us; )

3 Pray that the LORD your God will tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.”

that Jehovah, thy God, may show us the way wherein we shall walk, and the thing which we shall do.”

4 “I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will surely pray to the LORD your God as you request, and I will tell you everything that the LORD answers; I will not withhold a word from you.”

And Jeremiah the prophet said to them: “I have heard; behold, I will pray to Jehovah your God, according to your words, and all which Jehovah shall answer you I will declare to you; I will keep back nothing from you.”

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act upon every word that the LORD your God sends you to tell us.

Then they said to Jeremiah: “May Jehovah be our witness, a faithful and true witness! According to all for which Jehovah our God shall send thee to us, so will we do.

6 Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us, for we will obey the voice of the LORD our God!”

Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us when we shall have obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.”

7 After ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah,

And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah.

8 and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.

And he called Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people, from the least even to the greatest,

9 Jeremiah told them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition:

and said to them: “Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, to whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him:

10 ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I will relent of the disaster I have brought upon you.

If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I repent me of the evil which I have done to you.

11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear; do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you to save you and deliver you from him.

Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith Jehovah; for I will be with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

12 And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own land.’

And I will show mercies to you, that he may have compassion upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.

13 But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and you thus disobey the voice of the LORD your God,

But if ye say, 'We will not dwell in this land,' so as not to hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God,

14 and if you say, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt and live there, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn or hunger for bread,’

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 be hungry for bread, and there will we dwell, —

15 then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and reside there,

now, therefore, hear the word of Jehovah, ye remnant of Judah! Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: If ye set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there,

16 then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow on your heels into Egypt, and you will die 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, of which ye were afraid, shall follow close after you into Egypt, and there shall ye die.

17 So all who resolve to go to Egypt to reside there will die by sword and famine and plague. Not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring upon them.’

So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence, and not one of them shall remain, or escape from the evil which I bring upon them.

18 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’

For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath have been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt; and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.

19 The LORD has told you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for sure that I have warned you today!

This is the word of Jehovah to you, ye remnant of Judah! Go ye not into Egypt; ye shall surely know that I have warned you this day.

20 For you have deceived yourselves by sending 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 will do it.’

Ye err to your own ruin; for ye sent me to Jehovah your God, saying, 'Pray for us to Jehovah our God, and according to all that Jehovah our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it';

21 For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in all He has sent me to tell you.

and now I have this day declared it to you, but ye have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah your God, nor to anything for which he sent me to you.

22 Now therefore, know for sure that by sword and famine and plague you will die in the place where you desire to go to reside.”

Now, therefore, ye shall know assuredly, that by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence ye shall die, in the place whither ye have chosen to go and to sojourn.”