Jeremiah
Chapter 42
1 Then all the army leaders, Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and everyone, both small and great, came forward.
2 They said to the prophet Jeremiah, “Please listen to our request and pray to God for us, for all of us who remain, because only a few of us are left from many, as you can see.”
3 So that God may show us the path to walk in and what we should do.
4 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to them, “I have listened to you; I will pray to God for you as you have asked; and whatever answer God gives, I will tell you everything; I will hide nothing from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May God be a true and trustworthy witness between us, if we do not follow all the instructions that your God gives you for us.”
6 Whether it is good or bad, we will listen to God, to whom we sent you; so that things will go well for us when we listen to God’s voice.
7 After ten days, God spoke to Jeremiah.
8 He called Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army leaders with him, and all the people, from the least to the greatest.
9 He said to them, “This is what God, the God of Israel, says, to whom you sent me to offer your request before Him;”
10 If you choose to stay in this land, then I will strengthen you and not destroy you, and I will settle you and not uproot you, because I regret the harm I have caused you.
11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, whom you are scared of; do not fear him, says God: for I am with you to save you and rescue you from his power.
12 I will show you kindness so that you will be shown kindness, and bring you back to your own land.
13 But if you say, “We won’t live in this land or listen to the voice of God,”
14 No, we will go to Egypt, where we won’t see war, hear the trumpet, or be hungry for bread; and we will live there.
15 So now, listen to what God tells you, you who remain from Judah. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: If you are fully determined to go to Egypt and live there;
16 It will happen that the sword you were afraid of will catch up with you in Egypt, and the hunger you feared will also reach you there in Egypt; and there you will die.
17 Everyone who goes to live in Egypt will die by war, hunger, and disease. No one will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.
18 God of Israel says: Just as my anger has been poured out on the people of Jerusalem, it will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will become a curse and a shocking example, and you will never see this place again.
19 God has told you, people left from Judah, do not go to Egypt: be sure that I have warned you today.
20 You pretended in your hearts when you sent me to God, saying, “Ask God to help us, and tell us everything God says, and we will do it.”
21 Today I told you, but you did not listen to God or follow what he sent me to tell you.
22 So now, be sure that you will die from war, hunger, and disease in the place you want to go to live.