Jeremiah

42** And all the captains, and Johanan the son of Kareah and ʽAzariah the son of Maʽasejah and all the people, from the smallest to the greatest, approached the prophet Jeremiah 2* and said to him “Accept our plea and pray to your God Jehovah for this remnant (for we that remain are a few out of many, as you see us to be with your own eyes) 3 and have your God Jehovah tell us the way we are to go and the thing we are to do.” 4 And the prophet Jeremiah said to them “Agreed; I shall pray to your God Jehovah as you say, and every word of answer that Jehovah gives you I will tell to you, I will not withhold a word from you.” 5* And they said to Jeremiah “So help us Jehovah, we will do exactly according to the word Jehovah sends us by you; 6 be it good or bad, we will obey our God Jehovah to whom we are sending you, in order that it may be well with us because we obey our God Jehovah.”

7 And at the end of ten days Jehovah’s word came to Jeremiah, 8 and he called Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains who were with him and all the people from the smallest to the greatest 9 and said to them “Says Israel’s God Jehovah, to whom you sent me to lay your appeal before him, 10 If you stay here in this country I will build you up and not pull you down, plant you and not uproot you; for I am sorry for the harm I have done you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are so afraid; do not be afraid, quoth Jehovah, because I am with you to save you and to deliver you out of his hands, 12* and I will give you his sympathy and he shall be sympathetic toward you and settle you on your soil. 13 But if you say ‘We will not stay in this country,’ not obeying your God Jehovah, 14 thinking ‘No, we will go into Egypt where we shall not see war nor hear the sound of a ram-horn nor starve for bread, and live there,’15 —so now hear Jehovah’s word, remnant of Judah: says Israel’s God Jehovah of Armies, If you do set your faces to go into Egypt, and go in and live as immigrants there, 16 then the swords you are afraid of shall reach you there in Egypt, and the starvation you are worrying about shall dog you to Egypt, and you shall die there; 17 and all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live as immigrants there shall die by swords, by starvation, and by epidemics, and no one of theirs shall survive or escape from the disaster I am bringing upon them. 18 For Israel’s God Jehovah of Armies says, As my anger and resentment were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will my resentment be poured out on you at your going into Egypt, and you shall be a thing to be cursed by and to appall and to be abused and taunted, and you shall not see this place again. 19 Jehovah has spoken for you, remnant of Judah: do not go into Egypt. You are to take notice that I bear witness against you today 20 that you have been fooling with your own lives, because you yourselves sent me to your God Jehovah with the words ‘Pray to our God Jehovah for us, and tell us exactly how our God Jehovah says and we will do so,’ 21 and I have told you today and you have not obeyed your God Jehovah as to every precept he sent to you by me. 22 So now take notice that by swords, starvation, and epidemics you will die in the place you are pleased to go to live as immigrants there.”