The People Ask Jeremiah to Pray for Them
42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah. 2 They said to him, “Please hear our request and pray to the Lord your God for us, for this group of survivors. As you can see, only a few of us are left, though once there were many. 3 Pray that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go and what we should do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Certainly, I will pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. I will tell you whatever the Lord answers. I will keep nothing back from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do everything the Lord your God directs you to tell us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, of whom you are inquiring for us. May it go well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
7 Ten days later, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 He called Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, along with all of the people from the least to the greatest, 9 and he reported this to them:
The Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your request, says this: 10 If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieving over the disaster I brought upon you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the Lord, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will be merciful to you so that he will be merciful to you and will send you back to your own land.
13 But if you say, “We will not remain in this land,” and if you disobey the voice of the Lord your God, 14 and if you say, “No, we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, hear no battle signal from the ram’s horn, and experience no hunger for bread, and we will live there,” 15 then hear the word of the Lord, you survivors from Judah. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. If you are determined to go and live in Egypt, 16 then the sword you fear will overtake you in Egypt, the famine you dread will follow you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17 This is what will happen to everyone who is determined to go into Egypt. All of them will die by the sword, famine, and plague. None of them will survive or escape from the disaster I am going to bring on them. 18 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. As my anger and my wrath have been poured out on those who live in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be an object of horror and derision, an object of cursing and ridicule. You will never see this place again.
19 This is what the Lord says concerning you, you remaining survivors from Judah: Do not go to Egypt. You can be certain about this. I am warning you today 20 that you have put your own souls[a] in danger by sending me to the Lord your God and saying, “Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we will do it.” 21 I have told you this today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything he sent me to tell you. 22 Therefore, be certain about this. You will die by the sword, famine, and plague in the place where you want to go and live.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 42:20 Or lives