Jeremiah 42

Warning against Going to Egypt

1Then all the 1commanders of the forces, 2Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people 3both small and great approached 2and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our 4petition 5come before you, and 6pray for us to the Lord your God, that is for all this remnant; because we are left but a 7few out of many, as your own eyes now see us, 3that the Lord your God may tell us the 8way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.” 4Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to 9pray to the Lord your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole 10message which the 11Lord will answer you. I will 12not keep back a word from you.” 5Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the 13Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole 14message with which the Lord your God will send you to us. 6Whether it is 15pleasant or 16unpleasant, we will 17listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go 18well with us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our God.”

7Now at the 19end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the 20commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great, 9and said to them, “Thus 21says the Lord the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: 10‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will 22build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I 23will 24relent concerning the calamity that I have inflicted on you. 1125Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares the Lord, ‘for 26I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand. 12I will also show you compassion, so that 27he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil. 13But if you are going to say, “We will 28not stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, 14saying, “No, but we will 29go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or 30hear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there”; 15then 31in that case listen to the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “If you really set your 32mind to enter 33Egypt and go in to reside there, 16then the 34sword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17So all the men who set their 35mind to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the 36sword, by famine and by pestilence; and they will 37have no survivors or refugees from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.”’”

18For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “As My 38anger and wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a 39curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach; and 40you will see this place no more.” 19The Lord has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not 41go into Egypt!” You should clearly 42understand that today I have 43testified against you. 20For you have only 4445deceived yourselves; for it is you who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.” 21So I have 46told you today, but you have 47not 48obeyed the Lord your God, even in whatever He has sent me to tell you. 22Therefore you should now clearly understand that you will 49die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence, in the 50place where you wish to go to reside.