CHAPTER 42

¹And all the commanders of the troops of Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah and all the people from the least to the greatest approached, ²and they said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our supplication, pray, fall before you and pray for us to the LORD your God for all this remnant, for we remain few of many, as your own eyes see us. ³And let the LORD your God tell us the way in which we should go and the thing we should do.” ⁴And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. I am about to pray to the LORD your God according to your words, and it shall be, whatever word the LORD answers you I will tell you, I will not hold back anything from you.” ⁵And they had said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do according to all the word that the LORD our God will send you concerning us. ⁶Whether good or bad, we will heed the voice of the LORD our God to Whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, that we heed the voice of the LORD our God.” ⁷And it happened at the end of ten days that the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. ⁸And he called to Johanan son of Kareah and to all the commanders of the troops who were with him and to all the people from the least to the greatest. ⁹And he said to them, “Thus said the LORD God of Israel to Whom you sent me to lay your supplication before Him: ¹⁰If you indeed dwell in this land, I will build you and will not destroy, and I will plant you and will not uproot, for I have repented of the evil that I have done to you. ¹¹Do not fear the king of Babylonia of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, said the LORD, for I am with you to rescue you and to save you from his hand. ¹²And I will grant you mercy and he shall be merciful to you and bring you back to your land. ¹³And if you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ not heeding the voice of the LORD your God, ¹⁴saying ‘No. Rather we shall go to the land of Egypt where we shall not see war nor hear the sound of the ram’s horn nor hunger for bread, and there shall we dwell.’ ¹⁵And now listen to the word of the LORD, remnant of Judah. Thus said the LORD of Armies, God of Israel: if you indeed set your face to go to Egypt and go to sojourn there, ¹⁶the sword that you fear shall overtake you in the land of Egypt, and the famine about which you worry shall catch up with you in Egypt, and there shall you die. ¹⁷And all the people who set their face to go to Egypt to sojourn there shall die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence, and you shall have no remnant or survivor from the evil I bring upon you. ¹⁸For thus said the LORD of Armies, God of Israel: As My anger and wrath have poured forth on the dwellers of Jerusalem, so shall My wrath pour forth upon you when you go to Egypt, and you shall become an imprecation and a desolation and a curse and a disgrace, and you shall not see this place again. ¹⁹The LORD has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah. Do not go to Egypt. You surely know that I have warned you today. ²⁰For you have misled yourselves, for you, you 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 says, so tell us and we will do it.’ ²¹And I have told you today, and you did not heed the voice of the LORD your God and all of which he sent me to you. ²²And now, you surely know that by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence you shall die in the place that you desire to go to sojourn there.”