Jeremiah 42

A request for guidance

1Then all the army commanders, Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came forward. 2They said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please hear our plea. Pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant. Once we were many; now only a few of us are left, as you can see. 3May the LORD your God show us the way to go and what we should do.” 4Jeremiah the prophet answered, “I hear you. I will pray to the LORD your God as you ask. Everything the LORD tells me in answer to you, I will tell you. I will hold nothing back.” 5They said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us. 6Whether it is welcome or unwelcome, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you. Then things will go well for us, because we obey the LORD our God.”

Stay in the land

7Ten days later, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8He called Johanan son of Kareah, all the army commanders with him, and all the people, from the least to the greatest. 9He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says—the one you sent me to with your plea: 10‘If you will stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you. For I have relented over the disaster I brought on you. 11Do not fear the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you to save you and rescue you from his hand. 12I will grant you mercy, so that he will have mercy on you and restore you to your own ground.’

The warning against Egypt

13“But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and refuse to obey the LORD your God, 14if you say, ‘No! We will go to Egypt, where we will see no war, hear no trumpet, and go hungry for no bread. That is where we will live,’ 15then hear the word of the LORD, remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to enter Egypt and settle there, 16the sword you fear will catch up with you there in Egypt. The famine you dread will cling to you there in Egypt. There you will die. 17Everyone determined to go and settle in Egypt will die by sword, famine, or plague. No survivor or fugitive will escape the disaster I am bringing on them.’ 18“For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath were poured out on Jerusalem's inhabitants, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will become an example invoked in oaths, an object of horror, a curse, and a disgrace. You will never see this place again.’ 19“The LORD has spoken to you, remnant of Judah: ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be certain of this: I have warned you today. 20You have made a fatal mistake. You yourselves sent 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 will do it.’ 21I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the LORD your God in anything he sent me to tell you. 22So be certain: you will die by sword, famine, and plague in the place where you want to go and settle.”