1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of
Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least
even to the greatest, came near, 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, Let,
we pray you, our supplication be presented before you, and pray for us to
Yahweh your God, even for all this remnant; for we are left but a few of
many, as your eyes do see us: 3 that Yahweh your God may show us the way
in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do. 4 Then Jeremiah
the prophet said to them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray to Yahweh
your God according to your words; and it shall happen that whatever thing
Yahweh shall answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back
from you. 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, Yahweh be a true and faithful
witness among us, if we don’t do according to all the word with which Yahweh
your God shall send you to us. 6 Whether it be good, or whether it be
evil, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we send you; that it
may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Yahweh our God. 7 It
happened after ten days, that the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. 8 Then
called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who
were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9 and said to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you
sent me to present your supplication before him: 10 If you will still
abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will
plant you, and not pluck you up; for I repent me of the evil that I have done
to you. 11 Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are
afraid; don’t be afraid of him, says Yahweh: for I am with you to save you,
and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may
have mercy on you, and cause you to return to your own land. 13 But if
you say, We will not dwell in this land; so that you don’t obey the
voice of Yahweh your God, 14 saying, No; but we will go into the land of
Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have
hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: 15 now therefore hear you
the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah: Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of
Israel, If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to
sojourn there; 16 then it shall happen, that the sword, which you
fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, whereof
you are afraid, shall follow hard after you there in Egypt; and there
you shall die. 17 So shall it be with all the men who set their faces
to go into Egypt to sojourn there: they shall die by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence; and none of them shall remain or escape from
the evil that I will bring on them. 18 For thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the
God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath has been poured forth on the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath be poured forth on you, when
you shall enter into Egypt; and you shall be an object of horror,
and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this
place no more. 19 Yahweh has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah,
Don’t you go into Egypt: know certainly that I have testified to you
this day. 20 For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls;
for you sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, Pray for us to Yahweh our
God; and according to all that Yahweh our God shall say, so 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 Yahweh your God in anything for which he has
sent me to you. 22 Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by
the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where you
desire to go to sojourn there.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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