Jeremiah 42

1 Then all the army commanders and Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah the prophet.

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 They said to him, “Let our pleas come before you. Pray for us to Yahweh your God for these people who remain since we are so few in number, as you see.

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 Ask Yahweh your God to tell us the way we should go and what we should do.”

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

4 So Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Look, I will pray to Yahweh your God as you have requested. Whatever Yahweh answers, I will tell 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 They said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not do everything that Yahweh your God tells us to do.

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 is good or if it is bad, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of Yahweh 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 At the end of ten days, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.

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

8 So Jeremiah called to Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders with him, and to all the people from the least 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 Then he said to them, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel—to whom you sent me so I might lay your pleas before him—says,

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 go back and live in this land, then I will build you and not tear you down; I will plant you and not pull you up, for I will turn back the disaster 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 fear the king of Babylon, whom you are fearing. Do not fear him—this is Yahweh's declaration—since I am with you to save you and rescue 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 For I will give you mercy. I will have compassion on you, and I will bring you back to your 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 suppose that you say, “We will not stay in this land”—if you do not listen to my voice, the voice of Yahweh your God.

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

14 Suppose that you say, “No! We will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see any war, where we will not hear the sound of the trumpet, and we will not go hungry for food. We will live there.”

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 listen to this word of Yahweh, you remnant of Judah. Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, 'If you actually set out to go to Egypt, to go and 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 the sword that you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt. The famine that you are worrying about will pursue you to Egypt, and you will die there.

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

17 So it will happen that all the men who set out to go to Egypt to live there will die by sword, famine, or plague. There will be no survivor of them, no one to escape the disaster 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 Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: Just as my wrath and my fury were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the same way my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and a horror, an object for speaking curses, and something dishonorable, and you will not see this place again.'”

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 Then Jeremiah said, “Yahweh has spoken concerning you—the remnant of Judah. Do not go to Egypt! You certainly know that I have been a witness against you today.

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 fatally deceived yourselves when you sent me to Yahweh your God and said, 'Pray to Yahweh our God for us. Everything that Yahweh our God says, tell us, and we will carry it out.'

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

21 For I have reported to you today, but you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God or to anything about which he 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 So now, you should certainly know that you will die by sword, famine, and plague in the place where you desired to go to live.”

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.”