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.

And they come nigh — all the heads of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest —

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.

and they say unto Jeremiah the prophet, 'Let, we pray thee, our supplication fall before thee, and pray for us unto Jehovah thy God, for all this remnant; for we have been left a few out of many, as thine eyes do see us;

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

and Jehovah thy God doth declare to us the way in which we walk, and the thing that we do.'

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.”

And Jeremiah the prophet saith unto them, 'I have heard: lo, I am praying unto Jehovah your God according to your words, and it hath come to pass, the whole word that Jehovah answereth you, I declare to you — I do not withhold from you a word.'

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.

And they have said to Jeremiah, 'Jehovah is against us for a witness true and faithful, if — according to all the word with which Jehovah thy God doth send thee unto us — we do not so.

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.”

Whether good or evil, to the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we are sending thee, we do hearken; because it is good for us when we hearken to the voice of Jehovah our God.'

7 At the end of ten days, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.

And it cometh to pass, at the end of ten days, that there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah,

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.

and he calleth unto Johanan son of Kareah, and unto all the heads of the forces that [are] with him, and to all the people, from the least even unto the greatest,

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,

and he saith unto them, 'Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me, to cause your supplication to fall before Him:

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.

'If ye do certainly dwell in this land, then I have builded you up, and I throw not down; and I have planted you, and I pluck not up; for I have repented concerning the evil that I have done to you.

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.

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

12 For I will give you mercy. I will have compassion on you, and I will bring you back to your land.

And I give to you mercies, and he hath pitied you, and caused you to turn back unto your own ground.

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.

'And if ye are saying, We do not dwell in this land — not to hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God,

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.”

saying, No; but the land of Egypt we enter, that we see no war, and the sound of a trumpet do not hear, and for bread be not hungry; and there do we dwell.

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,

And now, therefore, hear ye a word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: If ye really set your faces to enter Egypt, and have gone in to sojourn 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.

then it hath come to pass, the sword that ye are afraid of, doth there overtake you, in the land of Egypt; and the hunger, because of which ye are sorrowful, doth there cleave after you in Egypt, and there ye die.

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.

'Thus are all the men who have set their faces to enter Egypt to sojourn there; they die — by sword, by hunger, and by pestilence, and there is not to them a remnant and an escaped one, because of the evil that I am bringing in upon them;

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.'”

for thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: As poured out hath been Mine anger and My fury on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so poured out is My fury upon you in your entering Egypt, and ye have been for an execration, and for an astonishment, and for a reviling, and for a reproach, and ye do not see any more this place.

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.

'Jehovah hath spoken against you, O remnant of Judah, do not enter Egypt: know certainly that I have testified against you to-day;

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.'

for ye have shewed yourselves perverse in your souls, for ye sent me unto Jehovah your God, saying, Pray for us unto Jehovah our God, and according to all that Jehovah our God saith, so declare to us, and we have done [it];

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 I declare to you to-day, and ye have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah your God, and to anything with which He hath sent me unto you.

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.”

And now, know ye certainly that by sword, by famine, and by pestilence ye die, in the place that ye have desired to go in to sojourn there.'