Jeremiah 42:1-6

Warning against Going to Egypt

1 Then all the commanders of the forces, ¹Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people ²both small and great approached

2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please let our ³petition come before you, and ⁴pray for us to the LORD your God, that is for all this remnant; because we are left but a ⁵few out of many, as your own eyes now see us,

3 that the LORD your God may tell us the ⁶way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do."

4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you. Behold, I am going to ⁷pray to the LORD your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole message which the ⁸LORD will answer you. I will ⁹not keep back a word from you."

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the ¹⁰LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the LORD your God will send you to us.

6 "Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will ¹¹listen to the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go ¹²well with us when we listen to the voice of the LORD our God."

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Jeremiah 42:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH CAHPTER 42

This chapter contains a request of the Jews to Jeremiah, to pray to the Lord for them to direct them, and the Lord's answer to it. The request is made by the captains and all the people, Jer 42:1-3; which Jeremiah undertook to present to the Lord, Jer 42:4; they promising to go according to the direction that should be given, Jer 42:5,6. After ten days an answer is returned, and the prophet calls the captains and people together to hear it, Jer 42:7,8; the purport of which was, that if they continued in the land of Judah, it would be well with them, and they would be safe, Jer 42:9-12; but if they went into Egypt, they should die by the sword, famine, and pestilence, and be a curse and reproach, and never see their own land more, Jer 42:13-18; they are charged with dissimulation and disobedience, Jer 42:19-21; and the chapter is concluded with an assurance of their perishing by the above judgments in the place they were desirous of dwelling in, Jer 42:22.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 12

1. Jeremiah 40:8, 13; Jeremiah 41:11, 18
2. Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 8:10; Jeremiah 42:8; Jeremiah 44:12; Acts Jeremiah 8:10
3. Jeremiah 36:7; Jeremiah 37:20
4. Exodus 8:28; 1 Samuel 7:8; 1 Samuel 12:19; 1 Kings 13:6; Isaiah 37:4; Jeremiah 37:3; Jeremiah 42:20; Acts 8:24; James 5:16
5. Leviticus 26:22; Deuteronomy 28:62; Isaiah 1:9; Lamentations 1:1
6. Psalms 86:11; Proverbs 3:6; Jeremiah 6:16; Micah 4:2
7. Exodus 8:29; 1 Samuel 12:23
8. 1 Kings 22:14; Jeremiah 23:28
9. 1 Samuel 3:17, 18; Psalms 40:10; Acts 20:20
10. Genesis 31:50; Judges 11:10; Jeremiah 43:2; Micah 1:2; Malachi 2:14; Malachi 3:5
11. Exodus 24:7; Deuteronomy 5:27; Joshua 24:24
12. Deuteronomy 5:29, 33; Deuteronomy 6:3; Jeremiah 7:23

Footnotes 6

[a]. Or "princes"
[b]. Lit "fall"
[c]. Lit "word"
[d]. Lit "word"
[e]. Lit "good"
[f]. Lit "evil"