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And they come nigh -- all the heads of the forces , and Johanan son of Kareah, and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest --
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and they say unto Jeremiah the prophet , `Let, we pray thee, our supplication fall before thee, and pray for us unto Jehovah thy God , for all this remnant; for we have been left a few out of many, as thine eyes do see us ;
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and Jehovah thy God doth declare to us the way in which we walk , and the thing that we do.'
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And Jeremiah the prophet saith unto them, `I have heard : lo, I am praying unto Jehovah your God according to your words , and it hath come to pass, the whole word that Jehovah answereth you, I declare to you -- I do not withhold from you a word .'
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And they have said to Jeremiah , `Jehovah is against us for a witness true and faithful, if -- according to all the word with which Jehovah thy God doth send thee unto us -- we do not so.
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Whether good or evil , to the voice of Jehovah our God , to whom we are sending thee, we do hearken ; because it is good for us when we hearken to the voice of Jehovah our God .'
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And it cometh to pass, at the end of ten days , that there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah ,
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and he calleth unto Johanan son of Kareah, and unto all the heads of the forces that [are] with him, and to all the people, from the least even unto the greatest ,
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and he saith unto them, `Thus said Jehovah , God of Israel , unto whom ye sent me, to cause your supplication to fall before Him:
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`If ye do certainly dwell in this land , then I have builded you up, and I throw not down; and I have planted you, and I pluck not up; for I have repented concerning the evil that I have done to you.
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Be not afraid of the king of Babylon , whom ye are afraid of; be not afraid of him -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- for with you [am] I, to save you, and to deliver you from his hand .
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And I give to you mercies, and he hath pitied you, and caused you to turn back unto your own ground .
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`And if ye are saying, We do not dwell in this land -- not to hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God ,
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saying, No; but the land of Egypt we enter , that we see no war , and the sound of a trumpet do not hear , and for bread be not hungry; and there do we dwell .
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And now, therefore, hear ye a word of Jehovah , O remnant of Judah : Thus said Jehovah of Hosts , God of Israel : If ye really set your faces to enter Egypt , and have gone in to sojourn there,
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then it hath come to pass, the sword that ye are afraid of, doth there overtake you, in the land of Egypt ; and the hunger, because of which ye are sorrowful, doth there cleave after you in Egypt , and there ye die .
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`Thus are all the men who have set their faces to enter Egypt to sojourn there; they die -- by sword , by hunger, and by pestilence , and there is not to them a remnant and an escaped one, because of the evil that I am bringing in upon them;
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for thus said Jehovah of Hosts , God of Israel : As poured out hath been Mine anger and My fury on the inhabitants of Jerusalem , so poured out is My fury upon you in your entering Egypt , and ye have been for an execration, and for an astonishment, and for a reviling , and for a reproach , and ye do not see any more this place .
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`Jehovah hath spoken against you, O remnant of Judah , do not enter Egypt : know certainly that I have testified against you to-day ;
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for ye have shewed yourselves perverse in your souls , for ye sent me unto Jehovah your God , saying, Pray for us unto Jehovah our God , and according to all that Jehovah our God saith , so declare to us , and we have done [it];
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and I declare to you to-day , and ye have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah your God , and to anything with which He hath sent me unto you.
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And now, know ye certainly that by sword , by famine , and by pestilence ye die , in the place that ye have desired to go in to sojourn there.'