Warning Against Going to Egypt

42 Then ^(A)all the commanders of the forces, and ^(B)Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of ^(C)Hoshaiah, and all the people ^(D)from the least to the greatest, came near ² and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let ^(E)our plea for mercy come before you, and ^(F)pray to the Lord your God for us, for all ^(G)this remnant—^(H)because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us— ³ that ^(I)the Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” ⁴ Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your request, and ^(J)whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you. ^(K)I will keep nothing back from you.” ⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, ^(L)“May the Lord be a true and ^(M)faithful witness against us ^(N)if we do not act according to all the word ^(O)with which the Lord your God sends you to us. ⁶ Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, ^(P)that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

^7 (Q)At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸ Then he summoned ^(R)Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(S)all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people ^(T)from the least to the greatest, ⁹ and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(U)to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: ¹⁰ If you will remain in this land, ^(V)then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; ^(W)for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. ^11 (X)Do not fear the king of Babylon, ^(Y)of whom you are afraid. ^(Z)Do not fear him, declares the Lord, ^(AA)for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. ^12 (AB)I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. ^13 (AC)But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God ¹⁴ and saying, ‘No, ^(AD)we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or ^(AE)hear the sound of the trumpet or ^(AF)be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ ¹⁵ then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AG)If you set your faces to enter Egypt ^(AH)and go to live there, ¹⁶ then the sword ^(AI)that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, ^(AJ)and there you shall die. ¹⁷ All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have ^(AK)no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.

¹⁸ “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AL)As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. ^(AM)You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more. ¹⁹ The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ^(AN)‘Do not go to Egypt.’ ^(AO)Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day ²⁰ that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. ^(AP)For you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ^(AQ)‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and ^(AR)whatever the Lord our God says, declare to us and we will do it.’ ²¹ And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything ^(AS)that he sent me to tell you. ^22 (AT)Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.”