Jeremiah:The danger of rejecting God’s help|Bible studies
42:1-22 Then all the captains of the army, and Jo · ha′nan + the son of Ka · re′ah, Je · a · ni′ah the son of Ho · sa′iah, and all the people, from the youngest to the youngest, said to Jeremiah the prophet: “Do hear, please, our request for favor and Jehovah your God is with all the remaining ones of this people, + because few among them are few, + just as you see. 3 Jehovah your God tell us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do. ”
4 The prophet Jeremiah answered them: “I have heard, and I keep praying to Jehovah your God according to your request; and whatsoever the LORD shall answer them, I will also tell you. I will not hide anything from them. ”
5 They told Jeremiah: “May Jehovah prove to be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do just as Jehovah your God has commanded us. 6 Whether it be good or bad, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us because we obey the voice of Jehovah our God. ”
7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah. 8 Then he called Jo · ha′nan the son of Ka · re′ah and all the chiefs of the army with him and all the people from the least to the greatest. + 9 He said to them: “Jehovah the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before him, says: 10 ‘If you really stay in this land, then I will build them up, and I will not tear you down, and I will plant you and not pull them up, because I will forget about the calamity that I have brought upon them. + 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid.’ +
“’Do not be afraid of him,’ declares Jehovah, ‘for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will show you mercy, + and he will show you mercy and cause them to return to your own land.
13 “But if you say,“ No, we will not dwell in this land! ” and you must not obey the voice of Jehovah your God 14saying: “No, but we shall go into the land of Egypt, + where we shall neither see war nor hear the sound of the horn nor hunger for bread; there we shall live, ”15 then hear the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah. This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said: “If you intend to go to Egypt and dwell there, 16 then the sword that you fear will overtake them in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you dread will come upon Egypt, and you will die there. + 17 And all those who were determined to go to Egypt to live there will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. Not one of them will escape or escape the disaster I bring upon them. ”’
18 “For this is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said, ‘As my anger and my wrath have been poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, + so my anger will be poured out upon YOU if you go to Egypt, and YOU will become a curse, a horror, a reproach, and a curse, + and YOU will never see this place again. ‘
19 “Jehovah has rejected you, O remnant of Judah. Don’t go to Egypt. You must know for certain that I have warned you today, 20 that your error will cost you your life. * For you sent me to Jehovah your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to Jehovah our God, and tell us everything that Jehovah our God says, and we will do it. ‘+ 21 And I have told YOU today, but YOU will not listen to the voice of Jehovah YOUR God or to do anything that he has sent me to say to YOU. + 22 Therefore be sure that YOU will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence in the place where YOU desire to live. ”
43:1-13 When Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all these words from Jehovah their God, every single word that Jehovah their God had sent him to tell them, 2 Az·a·riʹah the son of Ho·shaiʹah, Jo·haʹnan+ the son of Ka·reʹah, and all the presumptuous men said to Jeremiah: “What you are saying is a lie! Jehovah our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to reside there.’ 3 But Barʹuch+ the son of Ne·riʹah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chal·deʹans, to put us to death or to take us into exile in Babylon.”+
4 So Jo·haʹnan the son of Ka·reʹah and all the army chiefs and all the people disobeyed the voice of Jehovah to remain in the land of Judah. 5 Instead, Jo·haʹnan the son of Ka·reʹah and all the army chiefs took with them all the remnant of Judah who had returned to reside in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been dispersed.+ 6 They took the men, the women, the children, the daughters of the king, and everyone* whom Neb·uʹzar·adʹan+ the chief of the guard had left with Ged·a·liʹah+ the son of A·hiʹkam+ the son of Shaʹphan,+ as well as Jeremiah the prophet and Barʹuch the son of Ne·riʹah. 7 And they went into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of Jehovah, and they went as far as Tahʹpan·hes.
8 Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah in Tahʹpan·hes, saying: 9 “Take in your hand large stones, and hide them in the mortar in the brick terrace at the entrance of the house of Pharʹaoh in Tahʹpan·hes, with the Jewish men looking on. 10 Then say to them, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, says: “Here I am sending for Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar* the king of Babylon, my servant,+ and I will place his throne right above these stones that I have hidden, and he will extend his royal tent over them.+ 11 And he will come in and strike the land of Egypt.+ Whoever is meant for deadly plague will be for deadly plague, and whoever is meant for captivity will be for captivity, and whoever is meant for the sword will be for the sword.+ 12 And I will set the houses* of the gods of Egypt on fire,+ and he will burn them and lead them captive. He will wrap the land of Egypt around himself just as a shepherd wraps himself in his garment, and he will depart from there in peace. 13 And he will break to pieces the pillars* of Beth-sheʹmesh* in the land of Egypt, and he will burn the houses* of the gods of Egypt with fire.”