Jeremiah 42

¹ Then all the army leaders, with Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah son Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached

² the prophet Jeremiah and said, ‘May it please you to hear our request! Intercede with Yahweh your God for all this remnant – and how few we are who once were so many, your own eyes can now see –

³ so that Yahweh your God may show us the way we are to go and what we must do.’

⁴ The prophet Jeremiah replied, ‘I hear you; and I will indeed pray to Yahweh your God as you ask; and every word Yahweh your God replies I will tell you, keeping nothing back from you’.

⁵ They in their turn said to Jeremiah, ‘May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not follow the instructions that Yahweh your God sends us through you.

⁶ Whether we like it or not, we mean to obey the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we send you to speak for us, and by thus obeying the voice of Yahweh our God we will prosper.’

⁷ Ten days later the word of Yahweh was addressed to Jeremiah.

⁸ He then summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the army leaders who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.

⁹ He said, ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you delegated me to offer this request says this:

¹⁰ “If you are willing to remain peaceably in this country, I will build you and not overthrow you; I will plant you, not tear you up. For I am sorry for the evil I have done you.

¹¹ Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon any longer; do not fear him – it is Yahweh who speaks – for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hands.

¹² I will take pity on you, and move him to pity you and let you return to your native soil.

¹³ But if you say: We do not want to stay in this country; if you disobey the voice of Yahweh your God,

¹⁴ and say: No, the land of Egypt is where we want to go, where we shall not see war nor hear the sound of trumpet, nor lack for bread; that is where we want to live;

¹⁵ in that case, remnant of Judah, listen to the word of Yahweh. Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: If

¹⁶ you are determined to go to Egypt, and if you go and settle there, the sword you fear will overtake you, there in the land of Egypt; the famine you dread will follow on your heels, right into Egypt; you shall die there.

¹⁷ All the men who are determined to go to Egypt and settle there shall die by sword, famine and plague: not one survivor will escape the disaster I mean to bring them.

¹⁸ Yes, Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: Just as my anger and my fury have been poured out on the citizens of Jerusalem, so will my fury be poured out on you if you go to Egypt: you will become an object of execration and horror, a curse, a laughing-stock; and you will never see this place again.”‘

² Azariah son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan son of Kareah, and all those arrogant and apostate men, said to Jeremiah, ‘You are lying. Yahweh did not entrust you to say, “Do not go to Egypt and settle there”.

³ It is Baruch son of Neriah who keeps encouraging you to thwart us, to hand us over into the hands of the Chaldaeans, who will either put us to death or report us to Babylon!”

¹⁹ ‘Remnant of Judah!’ Jeremiah answered ‘Yahweh himself tells you, “Do not go into Egypt”. Understand this clearly: today I have given you solemn warning.

²⁰ You were playing with your own lives when you made me your envoy to Yahweh your God and said, “Intercede for us with Yahweh our God; tell us what Yahweh our God orders and we shall do it”.

²¹ And now that I have told you, you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh your God today, or any part of the message he gave me for you.

²² So understand this clearly: you are going to die by sword, famine and plague in the place where you have been wanting to go and settle.’