Jeremiah:42

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* All the army leaders , including Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah son of Hoshaiah , came with people of every class . * They said to me : »Please do what we ask you ! Pray to Jehovah our God for us . Pray for all of us who have survived . Once there were many of us . Now there are only a few of us left , as you can see . * »Pray that Jehovah our God will show us the way we should go and what we should do .« * I answered : »Very well , then . I will pray to Jehovah our God , just as you have asked . I will tell you what he says . I will not keep back anything from you .« * Then they said to me : »May Jehovah be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not obey all the commandments that Jehovah our God gives you for us . * »Whether it pleases us or not , we will obey Jehovah our God , to whom we are asking you to pray . All will go well with us if we obey him .« * Ten days later Jehovah spoke to me . * I called together Johanan , all the army leaders who were with him , and all the other people . * I said to them , »Jehovah , the God of Israel , to whom you sent me with your request said : * ‘If you are willing to go on living in this land I will build you up and not tear you down . I will plant you and not uproot you . The destruction I brought on you has caused me great sorrow . * ‘Stop being afraid of the king of Babylon . I am with you . I will rescue you from his power .’ * For the reason that I am merciful , I will make him have mercy on you and let you go back home . I Jehovah have spoken . * »‘If you say : »We will not stay in this land , and you disobey Jehovah your God .« * Then you say : »We will go to Egypt , where we will not have to see war , hear the sound of a ram 's horn , or be hungry . We will stay there .« * Listen to the word of Jehovah , you people who are left in Judah . This is what Jehovah of Hosts , the God of Israel , says : »Suppose you are determined to go to Egypt , and you go and live there . * »Then the war that you fear will overtake you , and the hunger you dread will follow you , and you will die there in Egypt . * »All the people who are determined to go and live in Egypt will die either in war or of starvation or disease . Not one of them will survive , not one will escape the disaster that I am going to bring on them .« ’ * »Jehovah , the God of Israel , says : ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem , so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt . You will be a horrifying sight . People will make fun of you and use your name as a curse . You will never see this place again .’ * »Then I continued : Jehovah has told you people who are left in Judah not to go to Egypt . And so I warn you now . * »You are making a fatal mistake . You asked me to pray to Jehovah our God for you , and you promised that you would do everything that he commands . * »Now I have told you , but you are disobeying everything that Jehovah our God sent me to tell you . * »So then , remember this : you will die in war or of starvation or disease in the land where you want to go and live .«

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