Jeremiah 42
New American Standard Bible
Warning against Going to Egypt
42 Then all the commanders of the forces, (A)Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people (B)from the small to the great approached 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our (C)pleading [a]come before you, and (D)pray for us to the Lord your God for all this remnant—since we have been left only a (E)few out of many, just as your own eyes now see us— 3 that the Lord your God will 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 [b]message which the (H)Lord gives you as an answer. I will (I)not withhold 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 [c]message with which the Lord your God will send you to us. 6 Whether it is [d]pleasant or [e]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 for 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 commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people from the small to the great, 9 and said to them, “This is what the Lord (N)says, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea 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 [f]will (P)relent of the disaster 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 rescue 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 [g]in that case listen to the word of the Lord, you remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “If you really set your [h]minds to enter (W)Egypt and go in to reside there, 16 then the (X)sword, of which you are afraid, 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 people who set their [i]minds to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the (Y)sword, by famine, or by plague; and they will (Z)have no refugees or survivors from the disaster that I am going to bring on them.”’”
18 For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “As My (AA)anger and wrath have gushed out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will gush out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a (AB)curse, an object of horror, [j]an imprecation, and a disgrace; and (AC)you will not see this place again.” 19 The Lord has spoken to you, you remnant of Judah, “Do not (AD)go to Egypt!” You (AE)know for certain that I have (AF)admonished you today. 20 For you have only [k](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 [l]obeyed the Lord your God in whatever He has sent me to tell you. 22 And now you shall know for certain that you will (AJ)die by the sword, by famine, or by plague in the (AK)place where you desire to go to reside.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 42:2 Lit fall
- Jeremiah 42:4 Lit word
- Jeremiah 42:5 Lit word
- Jeremiah 42:6 Lit good
- Jeremiah 42:6 Lit evil
- Jeremiah 42:10 Or shall have changed my mind about
- Jeremiah 42:15 Lit now therefore
- Jeremiah 42:15 Lit face
- Jeremiah 42:17 Lit face
- Jeremiah 42:18 Lit a curse-formula
- Jeremiah 42:20 Or acted errantly in your souls
- Jeremiah 42:21 Lit listened to the voice of
Jeremiah 42
Common English Bible
Don’t go to Egypt!
42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan, Kareah’s son, and Jezaniah, Hoshaiah’s son, and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest, approached 2 Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “We have something to ask you: Please pray to the Lord your God for us, this small group, for as you can see we were once many but now are very few. 3 May the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do.”
4 The prophet Jeremiah replied, “Yes, I’ll pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. And I’ll tell you whatever the Lord says; I won’t hide anything from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do everything that the Lord your God tells us through you. 6 Whether we like it or not, we will obey all that the Lord our God says. We will obey the Lord our God, to whom we’re sending you, so it may go well for us.”
7 Ten days later Jeremiah received the Lord’s word. 8 So he called Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers with him and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest, 9 and he said to them: You have sent me to present your plea to the Lord, and this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 10 If you live in this land, I will build you up and not pull you down. I will plant you and not dig you up because I grieve over the disaster I have brought upon you. 11 You don’t have to be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. You don’t have to be afraid of him anymore, declares the Lord, for I will be with you to save you and rescue you from his hand. 12 I will be merciful to you, and he will be merciful and return you to your land.
13 But if you say, “We won’t live in this land,” you will disobey the Lord your God. 14 And if you insist, “No, we’re going to live in Egypt, where there’s no war, battle alarms, or hunger, and there we will stay,” 15 then listen to the Lord’s word, you remaining Judeans. The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: If you are determined to go to Egypt and you then go and live there, 16 then the war you fear will seize you in the land of Egypt; and the famine you dread will hunt you down in Egypt, and there you will die. 17 Every one of you who is determined to go and live in Egypt will die by the sword, famine, and disease. No one will escape the disaster that I will bring upon them there.
18 The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Just as my fierce anger was poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so it will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing, scorn, shock, and disgrace. And you will never see this place again. 19 You who survive from Judah, the Lord has told you: Don’t go to Egypt. Know without a doubt that I have warned you this day. 20 You are putting your lives at risk[a] by sending me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we’ll do it.” 21 Today I have told you, but you still haven’t obeyed all that the Lord your God has sent me to tell you. 22 So know without a doubt that you will die by war, famine, and disease in the place you yearn to go and live.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 42:20 Or to do evil
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