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

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

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

And it came to pass after ten days, that 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.

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 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, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom ye sent me to present your supplication 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 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 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].

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

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

But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey 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 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 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,

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

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

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

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 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 [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 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.”

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.