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42. Flight to Egypt

¹ Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah Hebrew; Septuagint (see also 43:2) Azariah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached ² Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “Please hear our petition and pray to the LORD your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left. ³ Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”

⁴ “I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will certainly pray to the LORD your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the LORD says and will keep nothing back from you.”

⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us. ⁶ Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God.”

⁷ Ten days later the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. ⁸ So he called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest. ⁹ He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says: ¹⁰ ‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you. ¹¹ 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 and will save you and deliver you from his hands. ¹² I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’

¹³ “However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey the LORD your God, ¹⁴ and if you say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,’ ¹⁵ then hear the word of the LORD, you remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there, ¹⁶ then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die. ¹⁷ Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’ ¹⁸ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be a curse That is, your name will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that you are cursed. and an object of horror, a curse That is, your name will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that you are cursed. and an object of reproach; you will never see this place again.’

¹⁹ “Remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today ²⁰ that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, ‘Pray to the LORD our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’ ²¹ I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the LORD your God in all he sent me to tell you. ²² So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.”

In order to prepare them to obey, he testified that he would be a faithful messenger of God; for there is no doubt but that the Prophet, as we shall see, regarded them with suspicion. That he might therefore have them teachable and obedient to the answer expected from God, he said beforehand, that he would honestly and faithfully perform his office as a Prophet.

I have heard, he says; here he shews how ready he was to attend, and how he neglected nothing conducive to their well being. I have heard, he says, Behold, I will pray according to your words There is no doubt but that he thus intimated that he wished well to them; and it might have rendered them more attentive to the oracle to know that the Prophet was influenced by love. Nor is there a doubt but that the Prophet testified his love towards them, that his doctrine might afterwards have more weight with them.

By saying, Whatever your God will answer, he did not mean that the oracle would be revealed to all, for the words could not be otherwise explained than through the Prophet, who would openly make known to the whole people what he heard from God’s mouth. But he says, that the answer would be given to them, because God would give the answer which was to be communicated to all, as it is said that God spoke to Moses, and also to all the people, for the doctrine was intended for all. Moses did not receive the law, nor its interpretation, in his own private character, but in order that the people might know what was right. So Jeremiah did here; the answer he received from God he made known as belonging in common to all the people.

But in calling God their God, he did not mean to flatter them or to praise their piety, but to exhort them to surrender and devote themselves wholly to God, as though he had said, that they had to do with God, who had bound them to himself when he adopted them as his peculiar people, and then favored them with so many blessings. Since then God had made himself known to them, they could not reject his counsel with impunity, for there was no pretext of ignorance. We hence see what weight there is in this, your God; for Jeremiah reminded them that they could not with impunity trifle with God, for they were not their own, but had been chosen to be God’s people, and on this condition, to be wholly subject to his authority. Then the sum of the whole is this, that the Prophet would faithfully convey to the Jews the answer God would give them; and he said this that his doctrine might have a greater authority among them. It now follows, —