﻿Jeremiah.
Chapter 42.
All the commanders of the troops, Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached 
and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our plea come before you. Pray to the LORD your God for us, for this entire remnant, for we are left few out of many, as your own eyes see. 
May the LORD your God tell us the way we should go and what we should do.” 
Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. I will pray to the LORD your God as you have asked. Everything the LORD answers you I will tell you. I will withhold nothing from you.” 
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 sends you to tell us. 
Whether good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.” 
After ten days, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 
He called Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the troops with him, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, 
and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea: 
‘If you indeed remain in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I regret the disaster I have brought on you. 
Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand. 
I will grant you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and bring you back to your own land.’ 
But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ refusing to obey the voice of the LORD your God, 
and say, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, hear no trumpet, and have no hunger for bread. We will live there,’ 
then hear the word of the LORD, remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you are determined to enter Egypt and go to reside there, 
then the sword you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you dread will follow close after you there in Egypt, and there you will die. 
All the men who are determined to enter Egypt to reside there will die by sword, famine, and pestilence. None of them will survive or escape the disaster I am bringing on them.’ 
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As my anger and wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will become an object of imprecation, horror, cursing, and reproach, and you will never see this place again.’ 
The LORD has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for certain that I have warned you today. 
For you have deceived yourselves. You sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray to the LORD our God for us. Tell us everything the LORD our God says, and we will do it.’ 
I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God or anything he sent me to tell you. 
So now know for certain that you will die by sword, famine, and pestilence in the place where you desire to go and reside.” 
