The People Ask Jeremiah to Pray

42 Then all the ^[a]commanders of the military 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)supplication ^[b]come before you, and ^(D)pray for us to Yahweh your God, that is for all this remnant, because we remain but a ^(E)few out of many, as your own eyes now see us, ³ that Yahweh 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 Yahweh your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole ^[c]message which ^(H)Yahweh will answer you. I will ^(I)not keep back a word from you.” ⁵ And they said to Jeremiah, “May ^(J)Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole ^[d]message with which Yahweh your God will send you to us. ⁶ Whether it is good or bad, we will ^(K)listen to the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we are sending you, so that good ^(L)may come to us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.”

⁷ Now it happened that at the ^(M)end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. ⁸ Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ^[e]commanders of the military forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great, ⁹ and said to them, “Thus ^(N)says Yahweh the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him: ¹⁰ ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will ^(O)build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I have ^[f](P)relented of the calamity that I have done against you. ^11 (Q)Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares Yahweh, ‘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 return 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 Yahweh 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 now, listen to the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “If you really set your face to enter ^(W)Egypt, and you will enter to sojourn 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 ^[g]follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there. ¹⁷ So all the men who set their face to go to Egypt to sojourn there will die by the ^(Y)sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and they will ^(Z)have no survivors or any who escaped from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.”’”

¹⁸ For thus says Yahweh 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 Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not ^(AD)go into Egypt!” You should clearly ^(AE)know that today I have ^(AF)testified against you. ²⁰ For you have only ^[h](AG)led yourselves astray; for it is you who sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, “Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.” ²¹ So I have ^(AH)told you today, but you have ^(AI)not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, even according to all that He has sent me to tell you. ²² So now, you should clearly know that you will ^(AJ)die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the ^(AK)place where you desire to go to sojourn.