Jeremiah 42:12-22

Complete Jewish Bible

¹² I will take pity on you, so that he will take pity on you and cause you to return to your own land.

¹³ “But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ thereby not heeding what Adonai your God is saying, ¹⁴ and instead say, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt; because there we will not see war or hear the shofar sounding its alarm or be short of food; so we’ll stay there’; ¹⁵ then hear what Adonai says, remnant of Y’hudah — this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and stay there, ¹⁶ the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, of which you are afraid, will pursue you relentlessly there in Egypt; and there you will die. ¹⁷ This is how it will be for all the people determined to go to Egypt and stay there — they will die by sword, famine and plague; none of them will remain or escape the disaster that I will bring upon them.’ ¹⁸ For here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, so likewise my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt; so that you will become an object of condemnation, astonishment, cursing and reproach; and you will see this place no more.’

¹⁹ “Adonai has spoken concerning you, remnant of Y’hudah! Don’t go to Egypt! You know for a fact that I have given you fair warning today. ²⁰ For you have been behaving deceitfully, against your own interests. You sent me to Adonai your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to Adonai our God; tell us everything Adonai our God says, and we will do it.’ ²¹ Today I have told it to you, but you haven’t heeded any part of what Adonai your God gave me to tell you. ²² Therefore, know for a fact that you will die by sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go and live.”