Jeremiah 42:7-22

The Remnant Rejects the Word of Yahweh

7 {And then} at [the] end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.

8 And he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the armies who [were] with him, and all the people from [the] smallest to [the] greatest,

9 and said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to cause your plea to fall {before him}:

10 'If only you will stay in this land, then I will build you and I will not tear [you] down, and I will plant you and I will not pluck [you] up, for I relent of the disaster that I have brought to you.

11 You must not be afraid {of} the king of Babylon whom you [are] {afraid of}. You must not be afraid of him,' {declares} Yahweh, 'for I [am] with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.

12 And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and will restore you to your soil.

13 But if you [are] saying, "We will not stay in this land," [so as to] not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God,

14 saying, "No, for we will go [to] the land of Egypt where we will not see war, and we will not hear [the] sound of a horn, and we will not be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,"

15 then {therefore} hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "{If you are determined} to go [to] Egypt, and you go to dwell as aliens there,

16 then it will be [that] the sword that you [are] in fear of will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you [are] anxious of will pursue after you there [into] Egypt, and there you will die.

17 So all the people who {are determined} to go [to] Egypt to dwell as aliens there will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, and there will not be for them an escapee or a survivor from the disaster that I [am] bringing upon them."

18 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will pour out on you at your going [to] Egypt, and you will become a curse, and a horror, and a curse [formula], and a disgrace, and you will no longer see this place." '

19 Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, 'You must not go [to] Egypt.' You must certainly know that I have warned you {today}

20 that {you have made a fatal mistake}, for you sent me to Yahweh your God, {saying}, 'Pray for us to Yahweh our God, and all that Yahweh our God says, so tell us and we will do [it].'

21 So I have told you {today}, and you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, or of {anything} that he sent me for you.

22 Now then, certainly you must know that by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague you will die in the place where you desire to go, to dwell as aliens there."

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]. Literally "And it was"
• [b]. Literally "to the face of him"
• [c]. Literally "from the face of"
• [d]. Literally "in fear from the presence of him"
• [e]. Literally "a declaration of"
• [f]. Literally "to thus"
• [g]. Literally "If you indeed set your face"
• [h]. Literally "have set their faces"
• [i]. Literally "the day"
• [j]. Literally "you have caused them to err for your lives"
• [k]. Literally "to say"
• [l]. Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [m]. Literally "the day"
• [n]. Literally "all"