Jeremias 42
1 THE WORD THAT CAME TO JEREMIAS from the Lord in the days of Joakim, king of Juda, saying,
Then 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 to the greatest, came near,
2 Go to the house of the Archabin, and you shall bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of the courts, and give them wine to drink.
And said to Jeremiah the prophet, Let our request come before you, and make prayer for us to the Lord your God, even for this small band of us; for we are only a small band out of what was a great number, as your eyes may see:
3 So I brought forth Jechonias the son of Jeremin the son of Chabasin, and his brethren, and his sons, and all the family of the Archabin;
That the Lord your God may make clear to us the way in which we are to go and what we are to do.
4 and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Joanan, the son of Ananias, the son of Godolias, a man of God, who dwells near the house of the princes that are over the house of Maasaeas the son of Selom, who kept the court.
Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have given ear to you; see, I will make prayer to the Lord your God, as you have said; and it will be that, whatever the Lord may say in answer to you, I will give you word of it, keeping nothing back.
5 And I set before them a jar of wine, and cups, and I said, Drink you wine.
Then they said to Jeremiah, May the Lord be a true witness against us in good faith, if we do not do everything which the Lord your God sends you to say to us.
6 But they said, We will on no account drink wine, for our father Jonadab the son of Rechab commanded us, saying, You shall on no account drink wine, [neither] you, nor your sons for ever:
If it is good or if it is evil, we will be guided by the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you; so that it may be well for us when we give ear to the voice of the Lord our God.
7 nor shall you at all build houses, nor sow any seed, nor shall you have a vineyard: for you shall dwell in tents all your days; that you may live many days upon the land, in which you sojourn.
And it came about that after ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
8 And we listened to the voice of Jonadab our father, so as to drink no wine all our days, we, and our wives, and our sons, and our daughters;
And he sent for Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were still with him, and all the people, from the least to the greatest,
9 and so as to build no houses to dwell in: and we have had no vineyard, nor field, nor seed:
And said to them, These are the words of the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to put your request before him:
10 but we have lived in tents, and have listened, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
If you still go on living in the land, then I will go on building you up and not pulling you down, planting you and not uprooting you: for my purpose of doing evil to you has been changed.
11 And it came to pass, when Nabuchodonosor came up against the land, that we said we would come in; and we entered into Jerusalem, for fear of the host of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the host of the Assyrians: and we lived there.
Have no fear of the king of Babylon, of whom you are now in fear; have no fear of him, says the Lord: for I am with you to keep you safe and to give you salvation from his hands.
12 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
And I will have mercy on you, so that he may have mercy on you and let you go back to your land.
13 Thus says the Lord, Go, and say to the men of Juda, and to them that dwell in Jerusalem, Will you not receive correction to listen to my words?
But if you say, We have no desire to go on living in this land; and do not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God,
14 The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept the word which he commanded his children, that they should drink no wine; and they have not drunk [it]: but I spoke to you early, and you listened not.
Saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or be hearing the sound of the horn, or be in need of food; there we will make our living-place;
15 And I sent to you my servants the prophets, saying, Turn you every one from his evil way, and amend your practices, and go not after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell upon the land which I gave to you and to your fathers: but you inclined not your ears, and listened not.
Then give ear now to the word of the Lord, O you last of Judah: the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, If your minds are fixed on going into Egypt and stopping there;
16 But the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept the command of their father; but this people has not listened to me.
Then it will come about that the sword, which is the cause of your fear, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and need of food, which you are fearing, will go after you there in Egypt; and there death will come to you.
17 Therefore thus says the Lord; Behold, I [will] bring upon Juda and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evils which I pronounced against them.
Such will be the fate of all the men whose minds are fixed on going into Egypt and stopping there; they will come to their end by the sword, by being short of food, and by disease: not one of them will keep his life or get away from the evil which I will send on them.
18 Therefore thus says the Lord; Since the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have listened to the command of their father, to do as their father commanded them:
For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: As my wrath and passion have been let loose on the people of Jerusalem, so will my passion be let loose on you when you go into Egypt: and you will become an oath and a cause of wonder and a curse and a name of shame; and you will never see this place again.
19 there shall never be lacking a man of the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab to stand before my face while the earth remains.
The Lord has said about you, O last of Judah, Go not into Egypt: be certain that I have given witness to you this day.
For you have been acting with deceit in your hearts; for you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, Make prayer for us to the Lord our God, and give us word of everything he may say, and we will do it.
And this day I have made it clear to you, and you have not given ear to the voice of the Lord your God in anything for which he has sent me to you.
And now be certain that you will come to your end by the sword and by being short of food and by disease, in the place to which you are pleased to go for a living-place.
