Jeremiah 42

1 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,

Then Johanan and Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the [other] leaders of the [Israeli] soldiers [who had not surrendered to the army of Babylonia], and many [HYP] [other] people, including those who were important and those who were not important, came

2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please let our petition be presented before you, and pray for us to YHWH your God, even for all this remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes do see us:

to me. They said, “Please listen to our request and pray to Yahweh our God for all of us. Although we were previously a huge number of people, you can see that now we are only a small number of people [who have survived].

3 that YHWH your God may show us the way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do."

[Pray] that Yahweh our God will show us what we should do and where we should go.”

4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you; look, I will pray to YHWH your God according to your words; and it shall happen that whatever thing YHWH shall answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back from you."

I replied, “Okay, I will pray to Yahweh our God, like you have requested, and I will tell you what he says. I will (tell you everything/not hide anything from you).”

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, "YHWH be a true and faithful witness among us, if we do not do according to all the word with which YHWH your God shall send you to us.

They replied to me, “We hope/wish that Yahweh our God will be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to do everything that he tells us to do.

6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of YHWH our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of YHWH our God."

We are requesting you to ask Yahweh our God what we should do. [When he replies], we will obey him, whether we like what he says or not. We will do that because [we know that] things will go well for us if we obey him.”

7 It happened after ten days, that the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah.

[So I prayed] to Yahweh, and ten days later he gave me his reply.

8 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,

So I summoned Johanan and all his [other] soldiers and all the [other] people, including those who were important and those who were not important.

9 and said to them, "Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before him:

I said to them, “You told me to tell Yahweh, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], what you were requesting. This is what he replied:

10 'If you will still live 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 grieve over the distress that I have brought on you.

‘You [should] stay here in this land. If you do that, I will cause your [nation] to be strong and not be weak. I will cause you to prosper and not be exiled [again]. I am sorry about the disasters that I [was forced to] cause you to experience.

11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him, says YHWH: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

But do not be afraid of the king of Babylon [any more], because I will (be with/help) you. I will rescue you [DOU] from his power [MTY].

12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you, and cause you to return to your own land.'

I will be merciful to you by causing him to act kindly toward you. So as a result, he will allow you to stay here in your land.’

13 But if you say, 'We will not dwell in this land'; so that you do not obey the voice of YHWH your God,

But if you refuse to obey Yahweh our God, and if you say ‘We will not stay here;

14 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':

instead, we will go to Egypt. There we will not experience [any] wars, we will not hear trumpets [signaling our soldiers to prepare for battles], and we will not be hungry,’

15 now therefore hear the word of YHWH, O remnant of Judah: Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, 'If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to live there;

then listen to what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt, and you go and live there,

16 then it shall happen, that the sword, which you fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are afraid, shall follow close behind you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.

you will experience those wars and famines that you are afraid of, and you will [all] die there.

17 So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live 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 on them.'

That is what will happen to all you who are determined to go to Egypt and live there. [Some of you] will be killed by the swords [of your enemies, and others of you will die] from famines and from diseases. None of you will escape the disasters that I will bring on you.’

18 For thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel: 'As my anger and my wrath has been poured forth on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath be poured forth on you, when you shall enter into Egypt; and you shall be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.'

And the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], also says this: ‘Because I was very angry, I severely punished [MTY] [all] the people of Jerusalem. I will do the same things to you when you go to Egypt. [The result will be that] people will curse you. They will be horrified about [what has happened to] you. They will make fun of you, and you will never see this land again.’

19 YHWH has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah, 'Do not go into Egypt': know certainly that I have testified to you this day.

You little group of people of Judah who are still alive, [listen to me]: Yahweh has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ [So] do not forget what I have warned you today.

20 For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for you sent me to YHWH your God, saying, 'Pray for us to YHWH our God; and according to all that YHWH our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it':

I know that you were lying when you requested me to pray to Yahweh our God.

21 and I have this day declared it to you; but you have not obeyed the voice of YHWH your God in anything for which he has sent me to you.

And today I have told you exactly what he said, but [I know that] you will not obey Yahweh our God now, just as you have not obeyed him previously.

22 Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where you desire to go to live there."

You want to go to Egypt and live there. So now, you can be sure of this: [All of] you will die there. [Some of you will be killed] by the swords [of your enemies and others will die] from famines or from diseases.”