Jeremiah 42
Warning Against Going to Egypt
Then aall the commanders of the forces, and bJohanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of cHoshaiah, and all the people dfrom the least to the greatest, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let aour plea for mercy come before you, and bpray to the Lord your God for us, for all cthis remnant—dbecause we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us— 3 that athe 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 awhatever the Lord answers you I will tell you. aI will keep nothing back from you.” 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, a“May the Lord be a true and bfaithful witness against us cif we do not act according to all the word dwith 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, athat it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
7 aAt the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he summoned aJohanan the son of Kareah and ball the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people cfrom the least to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ato whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, athen I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; bfor I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 aDo not fear the king of Babylon, aof whom you are afraid. bDo not fear him, declares the Lord, bfor I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 aI will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. 13 aBut if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God 14 and saying, ‘No, awe will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or bhear the sound of the trumpet or cbe 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: aIf you set your faces to enter Egypt band go to live there, 16 then the sword athat 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, band 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 ano remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.
18 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: aAs 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. bYou 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, a‘Do not go to Egypt.’ bKnow for a certainty that I have warned you this day 20 that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. aFor you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, a‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and bwhatever 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 athat he sent me to tell you. 22 aNow 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 ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.