Jeremiah 42:7-22

Jeremiah's Advice to Stay

7 Now at the end of 10 days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah,

8 and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the armies who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.

9 He said to them, "This is what the Lord says, the God of Israel to whom you sent me to bring your petition before Him:

10 'If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will rebuild and not demolish you, and I will plant and not uproot you, because I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought on you.

11 Don't be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear; don't be afraid of him'-[this is] the Lord's declaration-'because I am with you to save you and deliver you from him.

12 I will grant you compassion, and he^[a] will have compassion on you and allow you to return to your own soil.

13 But if you say: We will not stay in this land, so as not to obey the voice of the Lord your God,

14 and if you say: No, instead we'll go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram's horn or hunger for food, and we'll live there,

15 then hear the word of the Lord, remnant of Judah! This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: If you are firmly resolved to go to Egypt and live there for a while,

16 then the sword you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you are worried about will follow on your heels^[b] there to Egypt, and you will die there.

17 All who resolve to go to Egypt to live there for a while will die by the sword, famine, and plague. They will have no survivor or escapee from the disaster I will bring on them.'

18 "For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Just as My anger and fury were poured out on Jerusalem's residents, so will My fury pour out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of execration, scorn, cursing, and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.'

19 The Lord has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: 'Don't go to Egypt.' Know for certain that I have warned you today!

20 You have led your own selves astray because you are the ones who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, 'Pray to the Lord our God on our behalf, and as for all that the Lord our God says, tell it to us, and we'll act accordingly.'^[c]

21 For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in everything He has sent me to [tell] you.

22 Now therefore, know for certain that by the sword, famine, and plague you will die in the place where you desired to go to live for a while."

Jeremiah 42:7-22 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX reads I
• [b]. Lit will cling after you
• [c]. Jr 42:2-6