Warning Against Going to Egypt
1
Then 1all the commanders of the forces, and 2Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of 3Hoshaiah, and all the people 4from the least to the greatest, came near
2
and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Let 5our plea for mercy come before you, and 6pray to the LORD your God for us, for all 7this remnant--8because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us--
3
that 9the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do."
4
Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your request, and 10whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you. 11I will keep nothing back from you."
5
Then they said to Jeremiah, 12"May the LORD be a true and 13faithful witness against us 14if we do not act according to all the word 15with which the LORD your God sends you to us.
6
Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, 16that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."
7
17At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.
8
Then he summoned 18Johanan the son of Kareah and 19all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people 20from the least to the greatest,
9
and said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 21to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him:
10
If you will remain in this land, 22then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; 23for I relent of the disaster that I did to you.
11
24Do not fear the king of Babylon, 25of whom you are afraid. 26Do not fear him, declares the LORD, 27for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand.
12
28I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land.
13
29But if you say, 'We will not remain in this land,' disobeying the voice of the LORD your God
14
and saying, 'No, 30we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or 31hear the sound of the trumpet or 32be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,'
15
then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 33If you set your faces to enter Egypt 34and go to live there,
16
then the sword 35that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, 36and there you shall die.
17
All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have 37no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.
18
"For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 38As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. 39You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more.
19
The LORD has said to you, O remnant of Judah, 40'Do not go to Egypt.'41Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day
20
that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. 42For you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, 43'Pray for us to the LORD our God, and 44whatever the LORD our God says declare to us and we will do it.'
21
And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything 45that he sent me to tell you.
22
46Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)