Jeremiah 42

1 And all the leaders of the warriors, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, and the rest of the common people, from the least even to the greatest, drew near.

And they come near—all the heads of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest—

2 And they said to Jeremiah the prophet: “Let our supplication fall before your sight. And pray for us to the Lord your God, on behalf of this entire remnant. For few out of many have been left behind, just as your eyes behold us.

and they say to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our supplication fall before you, and pray for us to your God YHWH for all this remnant; for we have been left a few out of many, as your eyes see us;

3 And so, may the Lord your God announce to us the way that we must travel, and the word that we must accomplish.”

and your God YHWH declares to us the way in which we walk, and the thing that we do.”

4 Then Jeremiah, the prophet, said to them: “I have listened. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words. And whatever word he will respond to me, I will declare to you. And I will conceal nothing from you.”

And Jeremiah the prophet says to them, “I have heard: behold, I am praying to your God YHWH according to your words, and it has come to pass, the whole word that YHWH answers you, I declare to you—I do not withhold a word from you.”

5 And they said to Jeremiah: “May the Lord be the witness between us of truth and fidelity, if we do not act according to whatever word the Lord your God will send by you to us.

And they have said to Jeremiah, “YHWH is against us for a true and faithful witness, if—according to all the word with which your God YHWH sends you to us—we do not do so.

6 Whether it is for good or for harm, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you. So may it be well with us, when we heed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Whether [it is] good or evil, to the voice of our God YHWH, to whom we are sending you, we listen; because it is good for us when we listen to the voice of our God YHWH.”

7 Then, when ten days had been completed, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

And it comes to pass, at the end of ten days, that there is a word of YHWH to Jeremiah,

8 And he called Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the leaders of warriors who were with him, and all the people, from the least even to the greatest.

and he calls to Johanan son of Kareah, and to all the heads of the forces that [are] with him, and to all the people, from the least even to the greatest,

9 And he said to them: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you have sent me, so that I may present your petitions in his sight:

and he says to them, “Thus said YHWH, God of Israel, to whom you sent me, to cause your supplication to fall before Him:

10 If you dwell quietly in this land, I will build you up, and I will not tear you down. I will plant you, and I will not uproot you. For now I have been appeased by the harm that I have done to you.

If you certainly dwell in this land, then I have built you up, and I do not throw down; and I have planted you, and I do not pluck up; for I have relented concerning the calamity that I have done to you.

11 Do not be afraid before the face of the king of Babylon, whom you have dreaded with great fear. Do not dread him, says the Lord. For I am with you, so that I may accomplish your salvation, and so that I may rescue you from his hand.

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are afraid of; do not be afraid of him—a declaration of YHWH—for I [am] with you, to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

12 And I will give you mercies, and I will take pity on you, and I will cause you to live in your own land.

And I give mercies to you, and he has pitied you, and caused you to return to your own ground.

13 But if you say: ‘We will not live in this land, nor will we heed the voice of the Lord our God,’

And if you are saying, We do not dwell in this land—not to listen to the voice of your God YHWH,

14 saying: ‘Never! Instead, we will travel to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, and we will not hear the blast of the trumpet, and we will not endure famine. And there we shall live.’

saying, No; but we enter the land of Egypt, that we see no war, and do not hear the sound of a horn, and are not hungry for bread; and we dwell there—

15 Because of this, hear now the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces so as to advance into Egypt, and if you enter so that you may live there,

And now, therefore, hear a word of YHWH, O remnant of Judah! Thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: If you really set your faces to enter Egypt, and have gone to sojourn there,

16 the sword which you dread will overtake you there, in the land of Egypt, and the famine, about which you are anxious, will cling to you in Egypt, and there you shall die.

then it has come to pass, the sword that you are afraid of, overtakes you there, in the land of Egypt; and the hunger, because of which you are sorrowful, cleaves after you there in Egypt, and there you die.

17 And all the men, who have set their faces so that they may advance to Egypt in order to live there, will die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence. None of them will remain, nor will they escape from the face of the evil that I will bring over them.

Thus are all the men who have set their faces to enter Egypt to sojourn there; they die—by sword, by hunger, and by pestilence, and there is not a remnant and an escaped one to them, because of the calamity that I am bringing in on them;

18 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Just as my fury and my indignation has been enflamed over the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will my indignation be enflamed over you, when you will have entered into Egypt. And so you will be an oath, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a disgrace. And you will never see this place again.

for thus said YHWH of Hosts, God of Israel: As My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My fury is poured out on you in your entering Egypt, and you have been for an execration, and for an astonishment, and for a reviling, and for a reproach, and you do not see this place anymore.

19 This is the word of the Lord concerning you, O remnant of Judah: Do not choose to enter into Egypt, for certainly you understand what I have sworn to you this day.

YHWH has spoken against you, O remnant of Judah, do not enter Egypt: certainly know that I have testified against you today;

20 For you have deceived your own souls. For you have sent me to the Lord our God, saying: ‘Pray on our behalf to the Lord our God. And in accord with anything whatsoever that the Lord our God will tell you, announce this to us, and we will do it.’

for you have showed yourselves perverse in your souls, for you sent me to your God YHWH, saying, Pray for us to our God YHWH, and according to all that our God YHWH says, so declare to us, and we have done [it];

21 And I have announced it to you this day, and you have not heeded the voice of the Lord your God, concerning everything about which he has sent me to you.

and I declare to you today, and you have not listened to the voice of your God YHWH, and to anything with which He has sent me to you.

22 Therefore, know with certainty now, that you will die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence, in the place which you wish to enter so that you may live there.”

And now, certainly know that by sword, by famine, and by pestilence you die, in the place that you have desired to go to sojourn there.”