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The Remnant Asks Jeremiah to Pray to Yahweh for Direction

42 Then all the commanders of the armies, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the smallest to the greatest, approached and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “May our plea please fall before you,[a] and pray for us to Yahweh your God, for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes are seeing us. And let Yahweh your God inform us the way in which we should go and the thing that we should do.” And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Look, I am going to pray to Yahweh your God according to your words, and then[b] all the words[c] that Yahweh answers you I will tell you; I will not withhold from you a word.” Then they said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be against us as a true and faithful witness[d] if we do not do according to all the words[e] that Yahweh sends you for us. Whether good or bad, we will listen to the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.”

The Remnant Rejects the Word of Yahweh

And then[f] at the end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. And he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the armies who were with him, and all the people from the smallest to the greatest, and said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to cause your plea to fall before him:[g] 10 ‘If only you will stay in this land, then I will build you and I will not tear you down, and I will plant you and I will not pluck you up, for I relent of the disaster that I have brought to you. 11 You must not be afraid of[h] the king of Babylon whom you are afraid of.[i] You must not be afraid of him,’ declares[j] Yahweh, ‘for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and will restore you to your soil.

13 But if you are saying, “We will not stay in this land,” so as to not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, 14 saying, “No, for we will go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war, and we will not hear the sound of a horn, and we will not be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,” 15 then therefore[k] hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “If you are determined[l] to go to Egypt, and you go to dwell as aliens there, 16 then it will be that the sword that you are in fear of will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you are anxious of will pursue after you there into Egypt, and there you will die. 17 So all the people who are determined[m] to go to Egypt to dwell as aliens there will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, and there will not be for them an escapee or a survivor from the disaster that I am bringing upon them.” 18 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will pour out on you at your going to Egypt, and you will become a curse, and a horror, and a curse formula, and a disgrace, and you will no longer see this place.”’

19 Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘You must not go to Egypt.’ You must certainly know that I have warned you today[n] 20 that you have made a fatal mistake,[o] for you sent me to Yahweh your God, saying,[p] ‘Pray for us to Yahweh our God, and all that Yahweh our God says, so tell us and we will do it.’[q] 21 So I have told you today,[r] and you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, or of anything[s] that he sent me for you. 22 Now then, certainly you must know that by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague you will die in the place where you desire to go, to dwell as aliens there.”

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 42:2 Literally “to the face of you”
  2. Jeremiah 42:4 Literally “and it will happen”
  3. Jeremiah 42:4 Hebrew “word”
  4. Jeremiah 42:5 Literally “a witness of faithfulness and trustworthy”
  5. Jeremiah 42:5 Hebrew “word”
  6. Jeremiah 42:7 Literally “And it was”
  7. Jeremiah 42:9 Literally “to the face of him”
  8. Jeremiah 42:11 Literally “from the face of”
  9. Jeremiah 42:11 Literally “in fear from the presence of him”
  10. Jeremiah 42:11 Literally “a declaration of”
  11. Jeremiah 42:15 Literally “to thus”
  12. Jeremiah 42:15 Literally “If you indeed set your face”
  13. Jeremiah 42:17 Literally “have set their faces”
  14. Jeremiah 42:19 Literally “the day”
  15. Jeremiah 42:20 Literally “you have caused them to err for your lives”
  16. Jeremiah 42:20 Literally “to say”
  17. Jeremiah 42:20 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  18. Jeremiah 42:21 Literally “the day”
  19. Jeremiah 42:21 Literally “all”

42 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near, and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our supplication be presented before you, and pray for us to Yahweh your God, even for all this remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes see us; that Yahweh your God may show us the way in which we should walk, and the things that we should do.”

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to Yahweh your God according to your words; and it will happen that whatever thing Yahweh answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.”

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness among us, if we don’t do according to all the word with which Yahweh your God sends you to tell us. Whether it is good, or whether it is bad, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Yahweh our God.”

After ten days, Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah. Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, and said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him, says: 10 ‘If you will still live in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I grieve over the distress that I have brought on you. 11 Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Don’t be afraid of him,’ says Yahweh: ‘for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you, and cause you to return to your own land.

13 “‘But if you say, “We will not dwell in this land;” so that you don’t obey Yahweh your God’s voice, 14 saying, “No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there we will dwell:”’ 15 now therefore hear Yahweh’s word, O remnant of Judah: Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to live there; 16 then it will happen that the sword, which you fear, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are afraid, will follow close behind you there in Egypt; and you will die there. 17 So will it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live there. They will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. None of them will remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them.’ 18 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and my wrath has been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you, when you enter into Egypt; and you will be an object of horror, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you will see this place no more.’

19 “Yahweh has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah, ‘Don’t go into Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have testified to you today. 20 For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for you sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God says, so declare to us, and we will do it.’ 21 I have declared it to you today; but you have not obeyed Yahweh your God’s voice in anything for which he has sent me to you. 22 Now therefore know certainly that you will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live there.”