Warning against Going to Egypt

42 Then all the ^[a]commanders of the forces, ^(A)Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people ^(B)both small and great approached ² and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our ^(C)petition ^[b]come before you, and ^(D)pray for us to the Lord your God, that is for all this remnant; because we are left but a ^(E)few out of many, as your own eyes now see us, ³ that the Lord your God may tell us the ^(F)way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.” ⁴ Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to ^(G)pray to the Lord your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole ^[c]message which the ^(H)Lord will answer you. I will ^(I)not keep back a word from you.” ⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the ^(J)Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole ^[d]message with which the Lord your God will send you to us. ⁶ Whether it is ^[e]pleasant or ^[f]unpleasant, we will ^(K)listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go ^(L)well with us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our God.”

⁷ Now at the ^(M)end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸ Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ^[g]commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great, ⁹ and said to them, “Thus ^(N)says 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 ^(O)build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I ^[h]will ^(P)relent concerning the calamity that I have inflicted on you. ^11 (Q)Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares the Lord, ‘for ^(R)I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand. ¹² I will also show you compassion, so that ^(S)he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil. ¹³ But if you are going to say, “We will ^(T)not stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, ¹⁴ saying, “No, but we will ^(U)go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or ^(V)hear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there”; ¹⁵ then ^[i]in 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 ^[j]mind to enter ^(W)Egypt and go in to reside there, ¹⁶ then the ^(X)sword, 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. ¹⁷ So all the men who set their ^[k]mind to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the ^(Y)sword, by famine and by pestilence; and they will ^(Z)have no survivors or refugees from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.”’”

¹⁸ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “As My ^(AA)anger 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 ^(AB)curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach; and ^(AC)you will see this place no more.” ¹⁹ The Lord has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not ^(AD)go into Egypt!” You should clearly ^(AE)understand that today I have ^(AF)testified against you. ²⁰ For you have only ^[l](AG)deceived 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.” ²¹ So I have ^(AH)told you today, but you have ^(AI)not ^[m]obeyed the Lord your God, even in whatever He has sent me to tell you. ²² Therefore you should now clearly understand that you will ^(AJ)die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence, in the ^(AK)place where you wish to go to reside.