Read the Bible

The People Ask Jeremiah to Pray

¹ Then all the ^(F1)commanders of the military forces, ^(C1)Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people ^(C2)both small and great approached² and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please let our ^(C1)supplication ^(F1)come before you, and ^(C2)pray for us to Yahweh your God, that is for all this remnant, because we remain but a ^(C3)few out of many, as your own eyes now see us,³ that Yahweh your God may tell us the ^(C1)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 am going to ^(C1)pray to Yahweh your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole ^(F1)message which ^(C2)Yahweh will answer you. I will ^(C3)not keep back a word from you."⁵ And they said to Jeremiah, "May ^(C1)Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole ^(F1)message with which Yahweh your God will send you to us.⁶ "Whether it is good or bad, we will ^(C1)listen to the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we are sending you, so that good ^(C2)may come to us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God."

⁷ Now it happened that at the ^(C1)end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.⁸ Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ^(F1)commanders of the military forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great,⁹ and said to them, "Thus ^(C1)says Yahweh the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him:¹⁰ 'If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will ^(C1)build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I have ^(F1)(C2)relented of the calamity that I have done against you.¹¹ '^(C1)Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,' declares Yahweh, 'for ^(C2)I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand.¹² 'I will also show you compassion, so that ^(C1)he will have compassion on you and return you to your own soil.¹³ 'But if you are going to say, "We will ^(C1)not stay in this land," so as not to listen to the voice of Yahweh your God,¹⁴ saying, "No, but we will ^(C1)go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or ^(C2)hear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there,"¹⁵ then now, listen to the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "If you really set your face to enter ^(C1)Egypt, and you will enter to sojourn there,¹⁶ then the ^(C1)sword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will ^(F1)follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there.¹⁷ "So all the men who set their face to go to Egypt to sojourn there will die by the ^(C1)sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and they will ^(C2)have no survivors or any who escaped from the calamity that I am going to bring on them."'"

¹⁸ For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "As My ^(C1)anger and wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a ^(C2)curse, an object of horror, an imprecation, and a reproach; and ^(C3)you will see this place no more."¹⁹ Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, "Do not ^(C1)go into Egypt!" You should clearly ^(C2)know that today I have ^(C3)testified against you.²⁰ For you have only ^(F1)(C1)led yourselves astray; for it is you who sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, "Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God says, tell us so, and we will do it."²¹ So I have ^(C1)told you today, but you have ^(C2)not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, even according to all that He has sent me to tell you.²² So now, you should clearly know that you will ^(C1)die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the ^(C2)place where you desire to go to sojourn.