JeremiahChapter 42

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¹Then all the army commanders came near. Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah came too. All the people came, from the least to the greatest. ²They came to Jeremiah the prophet and said, "Please hear what we ask. Pray to the LORD your God for all of us who are left. Once there were many of us, but now only a few are left. You can see that with your own eyes. ³Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do." ⁴"I have heard you," Jeremiah the prophet answered. "I will surely pray to the LORD your God as you ask. I will tell you everything the LORD answers. I will not hold back a single word from you." ⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, "The LORD your God will send you to tell us his words. If we do not do every word of it, may the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us. ⁶Whether we like it or not, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God. We are sending you to him. We will obey the voice of the LORD our God so it will go well with us!" ⁷Ten days later the LORD gave a message to Jeremiah. ⁸So Jeremiah called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army commanders with him. He called all the people, from the least to the greatest. ⁹Jeremiah told them, "You sent me to bring your request to the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what he says: ¹⁰'If you really stay in this land, I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will plant you and not pull you up. For I will turn back from the disaster I have brought on you. ¹¹Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon. You are afraid of him now. But do not be afraid of him, says the LORD. For I am with you. I will save you and rescue you from his power. ¹²I will show you mercy. Then he will show you mercy and let you go back to your own land.' ¹³But if you say, 'We will not stay in this land,' and so disobey the voice of the LORD your God, ¹⁴and if you say, 'No, we will go to the land of Egypt and live there. There we won't see war or hear the sound of the ram's horn or be hungry for bread,' ¹⁵then hear the word of the LORD, you people left in Judah! This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'If you make up your minds to go to Egypt and live there, ¹⁶Then the war you fear will catch up with you there. The hunger you dread will follow close behind you into Egypt. And you will die there. ¹⁷So all who decide to go and live in Egypt will die by war, hunger, and sickness. Not one of them will live or escape the disaster I will bring on them.' ¹⁸For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'My anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem. In the same way my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. People will use your name as a curse. You will be a thing of horror. People will mock you and put you to shame. And you will never see this place again.' ¹⁹You people left in Judah, the LORD has told you, 'Do not go to Egypt.' Know for sure that I have warned you today! ²⁰You have fooled yourselves. You sent me to the LORD your God. You said, 'Pray to the LORD our God for us. Tell us all that the LORD our God says, and we will do it.' ²¹I have told you today. But you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything he sent me to tell you. ²²So now know for sure: you will die by war, hunger, and sickness. You will die in the place where you want to go and live."