Jeremiah 42

Warning against Going to Egypt

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

7Now at the 18end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people from the small to the great, 9and said to them, “This is what the Lord 19says, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before Him: 10‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will 20build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I 21will 22relent of the disaster that I have inflicted on you. 1123Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares the Lord, ‘for 24I am with you to save you and rescue you from his hand. 12I will also show you compassion, so that 25he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil. 13But if you are going to say, “We will 26not stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, 14saying, “No, but we will 27go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or 28hear the sound of a trumpet, or hunger for bread, and we will stay there”; 15then 29in that case listen to the word of the Lord, you remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “If you really set your 30minds to enter 31Egypt and go in to reside there, 16then the 32sword, of which you are afraid, 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 people who set their 33minds to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the 34sword, by famine, or by plague; and they will 35have no refugees or survivors from the disaster that I am going to bring on them.”’”

18For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “As My 36anger and wrath have gushed out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will gush out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a 37curse, an object of horror, 38an imprecation, and a disgrace; and 39you will not see this place again.” 19The Lord has spoken to you, you remnant of Judah, “Do not 40go to Egypt!” You 41know for certain that I have 42admonished you today. 20For you have only 4344deceived 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 45told you today, but you have 46not 47obeyed the Lord your God in whatever He has sent me to tell you. 22And now you shall know for certain that you will 48die by the sword, by famine, or by plague in the 49place where you desire to go to reside.