1 ARST Then Johanan son of Kereah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the other leaders of the Israelite soldiers who had not surrendered to the army of Babylonia, and many other people, including those who were important and those who were not important, came to me. BSB BSB: Then all the commanders of the forces, along with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached
2 ARST They said,“Please listen to our request and pray to Yahweh our God for all of us. Although we were previously a huge number of people, you can see that now we are only a small number of people who have survived. BSB BSB: Jeremiah the prophet and said, “May our petition come before you; pray to the LORD your God on behalf of this entire remnant. For few of us remain of the many, as you can see with your own eyes.
3 ARST Pray that Yahweh our God will show us what we should do and where we should go.” BSB BSB: Pray that the LORD your God will tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.”
4 ARST I replied,“Okay, I will pray to Yahweh our God, like you have requested, and I will tell you what he says. I will tell you everything.” BSB BSB: “I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will surely pray to the LORD your God as you request, and I will tell you everything that the LORD answers. I will not withhold a word from you.”
5 ARST They replied to me,“We know that Yahweh our God will be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to do everything that he tells us to do. BSB BSB: Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act upon every word that the LORD your God sends you to tell us.
6 ARST We are requesting you to ask Yahweh our God what we should do. When he replies, we will obey him, whether we like what he says or not. We will do that because we know that things will go well for us if we obey him.” BSB BSB: Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, 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!”
7 ARST So I prayed to Yahweh, and ten days later he gave me his reply. BSB BSB: After ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah,
8 ARST So I summoned Johanan son of Kereah and all the other leaders of the and all the other people, including those who were important and those who were not important. BSB BSB: and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.
9 ARST I said to them,“You told me to tell Yahweh, the God of Israel what you were requesting. This is what he replied: BSB BSB: Jeremiah told them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition:
10 ARST ‘You should stay here in this land. If you do that, I will cause your nation to be strong and not be weak. I will cause you to prosper and not be exiled again. I will stop the disasters that I made you experience. BSB BSB: ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I will relent of the disaster I have brought upon you.
11 ARST But do not be afraid of the king of Babylon anymore, because I will be with you. I will rescue you from his power. BSB BSB: Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear; do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you to save you and deliver you from him.
12 ARST I will be merciful to you by causing him to act kindly toward you. So as a result, he will allow you to stay here in your land.’ BSB BSB: And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own land.’
13 ARST But if you refuse to obey Yahweh our God, and if you say‘We will not stay here; BSB BSB: But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and you thus disobey the voice of the LORD your God,
14 ARST instead, we will go to Egypt. There we will not experience any wars, we will not hear trumpets signaling our soldiers to prepare for battles, and we will not be hungry.’ BSB BSB: and if you say, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt and live there, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn or hunger for bread,’
15 ARST Listen now! you people who are left in Judah! Listen to what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, says to you:‘If you are determined to go to Egypt, and if you go and live there, BSB BSB: then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and reside there,
16 ARST you will experience those wars and famines that you are afraid of, and you will all die there. BSB BSB: then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow on your heels into Egypt, and you will die there.
17 ARST That is what will happen to all you who are determined to go to Egypt and live there. Some of you will be killed by the swords of your enemies, and others of you will die from famines and from diseases. None of you will escape the disasters that I will bring on you.’ BSB BSB: So all who resolve to go to Egypt to reside there will die by sword and famine and plague. Not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring upon them.’
18 ARST And Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, the God whom Israel worships, also says this:‘Because I was very angry, I severely punished all the people of Jerusalem. I will do the same things to you when you go to Egypt. The result will be that people will curse you. They will be horrified about what has happened to you. They will make fun of you, and you will never see this land again.’ BSB BSB: For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’
19 ARST You little group of people of Judah who are still alive, listen to me: Yahweh has told you,‘Do not go to Egypt.’ So do not forget what I have warned you today. BSB BSB: The LORD has told you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for sure that I have warned you today!
20 ARST You made a life- and- death mistake when you requested me to pray to Yahweh our God and claimed to be willing to obey everything he said. BSB BSB: For you have deceived yourselves by sending me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray to the LORD our God on our behalf, and as for all that the LORD our God says, tell it to us and we will do it.’
21 ARST So today I have told you exactly what he said, but I know that you will not obey Yahweh our God now, just as you have not obeyed him previously. BSB BSB: For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in all He has sent me to tell you.
22 ARST You want to go to Egypt and live there. So now, you can be sure of this: All of you will die there. Some of you will be killed by the swords of your enemies and others will die from famines or from diseases.” BSB BSB: Now therefore, know for sure that by sword and famine and plague you will die in the place where you desire to go to reside.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.