Jeremiah 42

1 Then all the army commanders, together with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and everyone from the least to the most important came to

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 even to the greatest, came near.

2 Jeremiah the prophet and said, “Please listen to our request.

And said to Jeremiah the prophet, We beseech thee, let our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us to the LORD thy God, [even] for all this remnant; (for we are left [but] a few of many, as thy eyes do behold us: )

3 Pray to the Lord your God for all of us. As you can see there's only a few of us left compared to how many there were before. In your prayer please ask the Lord your God to tell where to go and what to do.”

That the LORD thy God may show us the way in which we may walk, and the thing that we may do.

4 “I'll do as you ask,” Jeremiah replied. “I will definitely pray to the Lord your God as you've requested, and I'll tell you everything he says. I won't keep anything back from you.”

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard [you]; behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, [that] whatever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare [it] to you; I will keep nothing back from you.

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we don't do everything that the Lord your God tells you we should.

Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.

6 Good or bad, we will obey what the Lord our God says, the one we're asking you to speak to. That way everything will go well with us, because we will be obeying what the Lord our God says.”

Whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

7 Ten days later a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah.

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

8 He summoned Johanan, all the army commanders, and everyone from the least to the most important.

Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who [were] with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,

9 Jeremiah told them, This what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to those of who you sent to me to present your request:

And said to them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;

10 If you will stay right here in this country, then I will build you up and I won't tear you down; I will plant you and I won't uproot you; because I'm very sad about the disaster I have brought down on 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 of the evil that I have done to you.

11 I know you fear the king of Babylon, but you don't need to be afraid of him, declares the Lord. I am with you to save you and rescue you from him.

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

12 I will be merciful to you, so that he will be merciful to you and will let you stay in your own country.

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

13 But if you say, “We won't stay here in this country,” and by doing so disobey what the Lord your God says;

But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,

14 or if you say instead, “No, we're going to Egypt to live there, where we won't experience war or hear trumpets sounding or go hungry;”

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 hunger for bread; and there will we dwell:

15 then listen to what the Lord says, you survivors from Judah! This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: If you're absolutely determined to go to Egypt and live there,

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;

16 then the war you're so frightened of will catch up with you there, and the famine you're so terrified of will chase after you 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 there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

17 Everyone who decides to go to Egypt and live there will die by war and famine and disease. Not a single one will survive or escape the disaster I will bring down on 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, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.

18 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: In the same way that my furious anger was poured out on the people living in Jerusalem, so will my anger be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. People will be horrified at what happens to you, and you will become a curse word, an insult, an expression of condemnation. You won't ever see your homeland again.

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As my anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem: so shall my fury 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, survivors from Judah, ‘Don't go to Egypt,’” Jeremiah concluded. “Be absolutely clear about this warning I'm giving you today!

The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.

20 You've made a big mistake that will cost you your lives by sending me to the Lord your God, asking, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us, and let us know everything the Lord our God says and we'll do it.’

For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me to the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us to the LORD our God; and according to all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do [it].

21 I have told you today what he said, but you have not obeyed everything the Lord your God sent me to tell you.

And [now] I have this day declared [it] to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any [thing] for which he hath sent me to you.

22 So you should know that without question you're going to die by war and famine and disease in Egypt where you want to go and live.”

Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go [and] to sojourn.