Old Testament
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
New Testament
Jeremiah 42
The People Ask Jeremiah to Pray for Them
421Then 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. 2They said to him, “Please hear our request and pray for us to the Lord your God, for this group of survivors. As you can see, only a few of us are left, though once there were many. 3Pray that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go and what we should do.”
4Then 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.”
5Then 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. 6Whether 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.”
7Ten days later, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8He called Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, and all of the people from the least to the greatest, 9and reported this to them:
The Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your request, says this: 10If 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. 11Do 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. 12I will be merciful to you so that he will be merciful to you and will send you back to your own land.
13But if you say, “We will not remain in this land,” and if you disobey the voice of the Lord your God, 14and 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,” 15then 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, 16then the sword you fear will overtake you in Egypt, the famine you dread will follow you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17This 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. 18This 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.
19This 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 20that you have put your own souls[] 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.” 21I 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. 22Therefore, be certain about this. You will die by the sword, famine, and plague in the place where you want to go and live.
Footnotes
- 42:20 Or lives