Jeremiah 42

1 And alle the princes of werriours neiyiden, and Johannan, the sone of Caree, and Jeconye, the sone of Josie, and the residue comyn puple, fro a litil man `til to a greet man.

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 thei seiden to Jeremye, the profete, Oure preier falle in thi siyt, and preie thou for vs to thi Lord God, for alle these remenauntis; for we ben left a fewe of manye, as thin iyen biholden vs; and thi Lord God telle to vs the weie,

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 bi which we schulen go, and the word which we schulen do.

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

4 Forsothe Jeremye, the profete, seide to hem, Y haue herd; lo! Y preye to oure Lord God, bi youre wordis; Y schal schewe to you ech word, what euere word the Lord schal answere to me, nether Y schal hide ony thing fro 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 And thei seiden to Jeremye, The Lord be witnesse of treuthe and of feith bitwixe vs; if not bi ech word, in which thi Lord God schal sende thee to vs, so we schulen do, whether it be good ether yuel.

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 We schulen obeie to the vois of oure Lord God, to whom we senden thee, that it be wel to vs, whanne we han herd the vois of oure Lord 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 Forsothe whanne ten daies weren fillid, the word of the Lord was maad to Jeremye.

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

8 And he clepide Johannan, the sone of Caree, and alle the princes of werriours, that weren with hym, and al the puple fro the leste `til to the mooste; and he seide to hem,

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 The Lord God of Israel seith these thingis, to whom ye senten me, that Y schulde mekeli sette forth youre preyeris in his siyt.

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 ye resten, and dwellen in this lond, Y schal bilde you, and Y schal not distrie; Y schal plaunte, and Y schal not drawe out; for now Y am plesid on the yuel which Y dide to 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 Nyle ye drede of the face of the kyng of Babiloyne, whom ye `that ben ferdful, dreden; nyle ye drede hym, seith the Lord, for Y am with you, to make you saaf, and to delyuere fro his hond.

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 And Y schal yyue mercies to you, and Y schal haue merci on you, and Y schal make you dwelle in youre lond.

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 Forsothe if ye seien, We schulen not dwelle in this lond, nether we schulen here the vois of oure Lord God, and seie,

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

14 Nai, but we schulen go to the lond of Egipt, where we schulen not se batel, and schulen not here the noise of trumpe, and we schulen not suffre hungur, and there we schulen dwelle;

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 for this thing, ye remenauntis of Juda, here now the word of the Lord. The Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis, If ye setten youre face, for to entre in to Egipt, and if ye entren,

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 to dwelle there, the swerd whiche ye dreden schal take you there in the lond of Egipt, and the hungur for which ye ben angwischid schal cleue to you in Egipt; and there ye schulen die.

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

17 And alle the men that settiden her face, to entre in to Egipt, and to dwelle there, schulen die bi swerd, and hungur, and pestilence; no man of hem schal dwelle stille, nether schal aschape fro the face of yuel, which Y schal brynge on hem.

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 why the Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis, As my strong veniaunce and myn indignacioun is wellid togidere on the dwelleris of Jerusalem, so myn indignacioun schal be wellid togidere on you, whanne ye han entrid in to Egipt; and ye schulen be in to sweryng, and in to wondring, and in to cursyng, and in to schenschipe; and ye schulen no more se this place.

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 The word of the Lord is on you, ye remenauntis of Juda; nyle ye entre in to Egipt; ye witinge schulen wite, that Y haue witnessid to you to dai;

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 ye han disseyued youre soulis, for ye senten me to youre Lord God, and seiden, Preye thou for vs to oure Lord God, and bi alle thingis what euer thingis oure Lord schal seie to thee, so telle thou to vs, and we schulen do.

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

21 And Y telde to you to dai, and ye herden not the vois of youre Lord God, on alle thingis for whiche he sente 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 therfor ye witynge schulen wite, for ye schulen die bi swerd, and hungur, and pestilence, in the place to which ye wolden entre, to dwelle 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.”