Jeremiah 42:1-12

Flight to Egypt

1 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah^[a] 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.’

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Jeremiah 42:1-12 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 30

1. S Jeremiah 40:13; Jeremiah 41:11
2. S Jeremiah 41:16
3. Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 44:12
4. S Genesis 20:7; S Jeremiah 36:7; Acts 8:24; James 5:16
5. S Isaiah 1:9
6. S Leviticus 26:22; Lamentations 1:1
7. ver 20; Psalms 86:11; S Proverbs 3:6; S Jeremiah 15:11
8. Exodus 8:29; 1 Samuel 12:23
9. S Jeremiah 1:17
10. S Numbers 22:18; 1 Kings 22:14; S 1 Samuel 3:17
11. 1 Kings 22:16; Psalms 119:160; Romans 3:4
12. S Deuteronomy 7:9; John 8:26; S 1 Corinthians 1:9
13. S Genesis 31:48; S Deuteronomy 4:26; S Isaiah 1:2; S Romans 1:9; Revelation 1:5; Genesis 31:50
14. Deuteronomy 5:29; Deuteronomy 6:3; Jeremiah 7:23; Jeremiah 22:15
15. S ver 19; S Exodus 24:7; S Joshua 24:24
16. ver 1
17. Jeremiah 41:16; S Mark 9:35; Luke 7:28; Hebrews 8:11
18. ver 2
19. 2 Kings 22:15
20. Jeremiah 43:4
21. S Jeremiah 24:6
22. S Deuteronomy 30:9; Jeremiah 31:28
23. S Deuteronomy 29:28; Ecclesiastes 3:2; Jeremiah 45:4; Ezekiel 36:36; Daniel 11:4
24. S 2 Chronicles 34:24; Isaiah 30:26; S Jeremiah 18:8
25. Jeremiah 27:11
26. S Numbers 14:9; S 1 Samuel 15:24; Psalms 23:4; Matthew 10:28; 2 Timothy 1:7
27. Psalms 18:27; Psalms 69:35; S Psalms 119:94; S Isaiah 63:1; Hebrews 7:25; Isaiah 43:5
28. S Psalms 3:7; S Proverbs 20:22; S Jeremiah 1:8; Romans 8:31
29. S Exodus 3:21; S 2 Samuel 24:14; 2 Corinthians 1:3
30. S Genesis 31:3; S Nehemiah 1:9; Psalms 106:44-46

Footnotes 1

[a]. Hebrew; Septuagint (see also 43:2) "Azariah"