Jeremiah 42:17-22

17 So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Mitzrayim 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 on them.

18 For thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el: As my anger and my wrath has been poured forth on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, so shall my wrath be poured forth on you, when you shall enter into Mitzrayim; and you shall be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.

19 The LORD has spoken concerning you, remnant of Yehudah, Don't you go into Mitzrayim: know certainly that I have testified to you this day.

20 For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us to the LORD our God; and according to all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it:

21 and I have this day declared it to you; but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything for which he has sent me to you.

22 Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where you desire to go to sojourn there.

Jeremiah 42:17-22 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.