[:en]SCRIPTURE: JEREMIAH 42
“Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do” (Jeremiah 42:3)
“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. Whether is 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” (Jeremiah 42:5-6)
“O remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt’. Be sure of this: I warn you today 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. I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you. 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” (Jeremiah 42:19-22)
Whenever the Israelites met troubles, their outcry was “Back to Egypt”. Now that the Babylonians were coming to conquer them, they went to Jerusalem and asked Jeremiah to pray to the Lord to tell them what to do. God told them to stay in the land and He will be there to save and deliver them. But if they go to Egypt and settle there, they will die by sword, famine and plague.
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