The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 42 Jeremiah exhorts the people not to go to the land of Egypt

 The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 42

Jeremiah exhorts the people not to go to the land of Egypt

1 Then all the commanders of the army came, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest,

2 And they said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our plea now be before you, and pray to the Lord your God for us concerning all this remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes see;

3 That the Lord your God may teach us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.”

4 And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you; behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words; and whatever the Lord answers you, I will declare to you; I will hide nothing from you.”

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a witness between us of truth and faithfulness, if we do not do according to all the word with which the Lord your God sends you to us.

6 Whether it is good or bad, we obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send you, so that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

7 And it came to pass at the end of ten days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

8 Then he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the army who were with him, and all the people, from the least to the greatest,

9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him:

10 If you will indeed remain in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am sorry for the evil that I have done to you.” 

11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, whom you fear; do not fear, says the Lord, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.

12 And I will show you mercy, so that he may have mercy on you and bring you back to your own land.

13 But if you say, “We will not stay in this land, disobeying the voice of the Lord your God,”

14 saying, “No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet, nor will we hunger for bread,” and there we will stay.

15 In that case, hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah; Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are determined to go to Egypt and sojourn there,

16 then the sword that you fear will overtake you in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you dread will be with you in Egypt, and you will die there.

17 So it will be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to sojourn there: they will die by the sword, by famine, and by plague; and none of them will be left to escape the evil that I have spoken will come upon them.

18 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As 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; and you will be a curse, and an astonishment, and an execration, and a reproach, and you will never see this place again. 

19 The Lord has spoken concerning you, O remnant of Judah! Do not go into Egypt; be certain that I have testified against you today.

20 For you have deceived yourselves, for you sent me to the Lord your God, and according to all that the Lord our God says, declare it to us, and we will do it.

21 And I have declared it to you today, but you have not listened to the voice of the Lord your God in anything for which he sent me to you.

22 Now therefore know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the very place where you desired to enter, to sojourn there.