THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
JEREMIAH

Jeremiah 42 ©

Johanan and all the people desire Jeremiah to ask counsel of God for them, with great promises of obedience, v. 1, etc. Jeremiah, by command from God, prophecies unto them their preservation in Judea, but their destruction in Egypt, with an upbraiding of their hypocrisy and obstinacy, 7.

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 unto the greatest, came near,

2

And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be 1accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)

3

That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.

4

Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have 2heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.

5

Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a 3true and faithful witness 4between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.5

6

Whether it be good, or whether it be 6evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; thata it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

7

¶And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.

8

Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,

9

And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me 7to present your supplication before him;

10

If ye will still 8abide in this land, then will I 9buildb you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I 10repent me of the 11evil that I have done unto you.

11

Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

12

And I will shew 12mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own 13land.

13

¶But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,

14

Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no 14war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:

15

And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye 15wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;

16

Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

17

16So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and 17none of them shall remain or escape 18from the evil that I will bring upon them.

18

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be pouredc forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an 19execration,d and an astonishment,e and a curse,f and a reproach;g and ye shall see 20this place no more.

19

¶The LORD hath said 21concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: 22know certainly that I have admonished 23you this day.

20

For ye dissembled in 24your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.

21

And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, 25nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.

22

Now therefore know 26certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.