Jeremiah 42
42
The People Ask Jeremiah to Pray for them
1Then all the army leaders, including Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah#42.1 One ancient translation (see also 43.2) Azariah; Hebrew Jezaniah. son of Hoshaiah, came with people of every class 2and said to me, “Please do what we ask you! Pray to the LORD our God for us. Pray for all of us who have survived. Once there were many of us; but now only a few of us are left, as you can see. 3Pray that the LORD our God will show us the way we should go and what we should do.”
4I answered, “Very well, then. I will pray to the LORD our God, just as you have asked, and whatever he says, I will tell you. I will not keep back anything from you.”
5Then they said to me, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not obey all the commands that the LORD our God gives you for us. 6Whether it pleases us or not, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are asking you to pray. All will go well with us if we obey him.”
The LORD's Answer to Jeremiah's Prayer
7Ten days later the LORD spoke to me; 8so I called together Johanan, all the army leaders who were with him, and all the other people. 9I said to them, “The LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me with your request has said, 10‘If you are willing to go on living in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not pull you up. The destruction I brought on you has caused me great sorrow. 11Stop being afraid of the king of Babylonia. I am with you, and I will rescue you from his power. 12Because I am merciful, I will make him have mercy on you and let you go back home. I, the LORD, have spoken.’
13-15“But you people who are left in Judah must not disobey the LORD your God and refuse to live in this land. You must not say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we won't face war any more or hear the call to battle or go hungry.’ If you say this, then the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you are determined to go and live in Egypt, 16then the war that you fear will overtake you, and the hunger you dread will follow you, and you will die there in Egypt. 17All the people who are determined to go and live in Egypt will die either in war or of starvation or disease. Not one of them will survive, not one will escape the disaster that I am going to bring on them.’
18“The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will be a horrifying sight; people will treat you with scorn and use your name as a curse. You will never see this place again.’ ”
19Then I continued, “The LORD has told you people who are left in Judah not to go to Egypt. And so I warn you now 20that you are making a fatal mistake. You asked me to pray to the LORD our God for you, and you promised that you would do everything that he commands. 21And now I have told you, but you are disobeying everything that the LORD our God sent me to tell you. 22So then, remember this: you will die in war or of starvation or disease in the land where you want to go and live.”
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Jeremiah 42: GNBDK
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 42
42
Jeremiah Warns the People of Judah Not to Go to Egypt
1Then all the army commanders along with Kareah’s son Johanan and Hoshaiah’s son Jezaniah and all the people, from the least important to the most important, came to the prophet Jeremiah. 2They said to him, “Please listen to our request, and pray to the Lord your God for all of us who are left here. As you can see, there are only a few of us left. 3Let the Lord your God tell us where we should go and what we should do.”
4The prophet Jeremiah answered them, “I have listened to your request. I will pray to the Lord your God as you have requested, and I will tell you everything the Lord says. I won’t keep anything from you.”
5They said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we don’t do exactly what the Lord your God tells us to do. 6We will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, whether it’s good or bad. Yes, we will obey the Lord our God so that everything will go well for us.”
7After ten days the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. 8So Jeremiah called Kareah’s son Johanan, all the army commanders who were with him, and all the people from the least important to the most important. 9Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to plead your case humbly to the Lord. This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 10Suppose you stay in this land. Then I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you. I will change my plans about the disaster I’ve brought on you. 11Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Don’t be afraid of him, declares the Lord. I’m with you. I will save you and rescue you from his power. 12I will have compassion on you. I will make him have compassion on you and return you to your land.
13“But suppose you say, ‘We won’t stay in this land,’ and you disobey the Lord your God. 14Then you say, ‘We’ll go to Egypt, where we won’t have to see war, hear the sound of a ram’s horn, or be hungry. We’ll stay there.’
15“Now, listen to the Lord’s word, you people who are left in Judah. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Suppose you’re determined to go to Egypt, and you go and live there. 16Then the wars you fear will catch up with you in Egypt. The famines you dread will follow you to Egypt, and you will die there. 17So all the people who decide to go and live in Egypt will die in wars, famines, and plagues. No one will survive or escape the disasters I will bring on them.
18“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: As my anger and my fury were poured out on those who live in Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become a curse word. You will become something ridiculed, cursed, and disgraced. You won’t see this place again.
19“The Lord has told you people who are left in Judah not to go to Egypt. You need to know that I am warning you today. 20You only deceived yourselves when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us, and tell us everything that the Lord our God says, and we’ll do it.’ 21I have told you today, but you won’t obey anything the Lord your God sent me to tell you. 22But now, you need to know that you will die in wars, famines, or plagues in the place where you want to go and live.”
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.