A common misinterpretation views this as arbitrary divine wrath against all who travel to Egypt or prefer exile, stripping it of its contextual specificity to the hypocritical Judahites who feigned submission to God's word while plotting defiance; others erroneously apply it as a blanket curse on seeking refuge abroad or equate the escapees with unrepentant survivors rather than a merciful remnant, overlooking the passage's emphasis on willful rebellion against clear prophetic instruction as the root cause of judgment.
Jeremiah 42:17
King James Version (1769)
17 So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
This verse delivers God's judgment through Jeremiah on the disobedient remnant who, despite seeking prophetic counsel and vowing obedience, reject His command to stay in Judah and insist on fleeing to Egypt for safety; it foretells their destruction by sword, famine, and pestilence, with survival only for a scant few escapees, underscoring the peril of ignoring divine direction in favor of human schemes and the certainty of calamity for those who spurn God's protective will.