Jeremiah 42

1Then all the commanders of the troops, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest came forward

2and said to the prophet Jeremiah, “Please let our plea come before you. Pray to Yahweh your God for us, for this whole remnant. For only a few of us are left out of many, as you can see with your own eyes.

3Pray that Yahweh your God will tell us the way we should go and what we should do.”

4The prophet Jeremiah said to them, “I have heard you. I will pray to Yahweh your God as you have asked, and whatever Yahweh answers you, I will tell you. I will not hold back a word from you.”

5Then they said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do everything that Yahweh your God sends you to tell us.

6Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of Yahweh our God.”

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

8So he called Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the troops who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest,

9and said to them, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before him, says:

10If you will stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I relent of the disaster that I have brought on you.

11Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares Yahweh, for I am with you to save you and to rescue you from his hand.

12I will show you compassion, so that he will have compassion on you and let you return to your own land.

13But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey the voice of Yahweh your God,

14and if you say, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will live there,’

15then hear the word of Yahweh, you remnant of Judah. This is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: If you are determined to go to Egypt, and you go to live there,

16then the sword you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you dread will follow close behind you there in Egypt, and there you will die.

17All the people who are determined to go to Egypt to live there will die by the sword, by famine, and by plague. Not one of them will survive or escape the disaster that I will bring on them.

18For this is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of contempt and scorn, and you will never see this place again.

19Yahweh has spoken to you, remnant of Judah: Do not go to Egypt. Know for certain that I have warned you today.

20You have gone astray at the cost of your lives, for you yourselves sent me to Yahweh your God and said, ‘Pray for us to Yahweh our God. Tell us everything that Yahweh our God says, and we will do it.’

21I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh your God in anything he has sent me to tell you.

22So now know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by plague in the place where you want to go and live.”