42 While there, Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah [or Azariah; 43:2] son of Hoshaiah ·went to [approached] Jeremiah the prophet. All the army officers and all the people, from the least important to the greatest, went along, too. ² They said to him, “Jeremiah, ·please listen to what we ask [^Llet our pleas for help/supplications fall before you]. Pray to the Lord your God for all ·the people left alive from the family of Judah [^Lthis remnant]. At one time there were many of us, but ·you can see that [^Las your eyes can see] there are few of us now. ³ So pray that the Lord your God will tell us ·where we should go [^Lthe path on which we should go] and what we should do.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah the prophet answered, “I ·understand what you want me to do [^Lhear]. I will pray to the Lord your God ·as you have asked [^Laccording to your works]. I will tell you ·everything he says [all his answers] and not ·hide [^Lkeep back] anything from you.”

⁵ Then the people said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and ·loyal [faithful] witness against us if we don’t do everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. ⁶ ·It does not matter if we like the message or not [^LWhether good or bad…]. We will ·obey [listen to] the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you. We will ·obey [listen to] what he says so good things will happen to us.”

⁷ Ten days later the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. ⁸ Then Jeremiah called for Johanan son of Kareah, the army officers with him, and all the other people, from the least important to the greatest. ⁹ Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to ·ask the Lord for what you wanted [^Lmake your supplications/fall before him]. This is what the God of Israel says: ¹⁰ ‘If you will stay in this land [^CJudah], I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not ·pull [tear] you up [1:10], because I am ·sad [sorry] about the ·disaster [evil; trouble] I ·brought on [^Ldid to] you. ¹¹ Now you fear the king of Babylon, but don’t be afraid of him. Don’t be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ‘because I am with you. I will save you and ·rescue [protect] you from his ·power [^Lhand]. ¹² I will be ·kind [compassionate; merciful] to you, and he will also treat you with ·mercy [kindness; compassion] and ·let you stay [restore you] in your land.’

¹³ “But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land [^CJudah],’ you will ·disobey [not listen to the voice of] the Lord your God. ¹⁴ Or you might say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt. There we will not see war, or hear the trumpets of ·war [battle], or ·be hungry [famine].’ ¹⁵ If you say that, listen to the message of the Lord, ·you who are left alive from [remnant of] Judah. This is what the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; ^Tof hosts], the God of Israel, says: ‘If you ·make up your mind [are determined] to go and live in Egypt, these things will happen: ¹⁶ ·You are afraid of war, but it will find you [^LThe sword you fear will overtake you there,] in the land of Egypt. And ·you are worried about hunger, but it will follow you into [^Lthe famine you dread will cling after you there in] Egypt, and you will die there. ¹⁷ Everyone who ·goes to live in [^Lsets their face to go to] Egypt will die ·in war [^Lby sword] or from ·hunger [famine] or ·terrible disease [plague; pestilence]. ·No one who goes to Egypt will live; no one will escape [^LThere will be no remnant or survivor from] the ·terrible things [harm; ^Levil] I will bring to them.’

¹⁸ “This is what the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; ^Tof hosts], the God of Israel, says: ‘I ·showed [poured out] my anger against the people of Jerusalem. In the same way I will ·show [pour out] my anger against you when you go to Egypt. Other nations will speak evil of you. People will be ·shocked [horrified] by what will happen to you. You will become a curse word, and people will ·insult [ridicule] you. And you will never see this place [^CJudah] again.’

¹⁹ “·You who are left alive in [Remnant of] Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Don’t go to Egypt.’ Be sure you ·understand [know] this; I warn you today ²⁰ that you ·are making a mistake that will cause your deaths [made a fatal mistake; ^Lhave erred with your life]. You sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we will do it.’ ²¹ So today I have ·told [proclaimed to] you, but you have not ·obeyed [listened to the voice of] the Lord your God in all that he sent me to tell you. ²² So now be sure you ·understand [know] this: You want to go to live in Egypt, but you will die there by ·war [^Lsword], ·hunger [famine], or ·terrible diseases [plague; pestilence].”