Jeremiah 42

1 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

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 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].

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

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 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).”

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 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.

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 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.”

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

And it came about that after ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

8 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.

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 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:

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 ‘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.

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 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].

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 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.’

And I will have mercy on you, so that he may have mercy on you and let you go back to your land.

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

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 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,’

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 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,

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

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 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.’

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 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.’

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 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.

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.

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

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.

21 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.

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.

22 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.”

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.