Jeremias 42:1-8

1 THE WORD THAT CAME TO JEREMIAS from the Lord in the days of Joakim, king of Juda, saying,

2 Go to the house of the Archabin, and thou shalt bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of the courts, and give them wine to drink.

3 So I brought forth Jechonias the son of Jeremin the son of Chabasin, and his brethren, and his sons, and all the family of the Archabin;

4 and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Joanan, the son of Ananias, the son of Godolias, a man of God, who dwells near the house of the princes that are over the house of Maasaeas the son of Selom, who kept the court.

5 And I set before them a jar of wine, and cups, and I said, Drink ye wine.

6 But they said, We will on no account drink wine, for our father Jonadab the son of Rechab commanded us, saying, Ye shall on no account drink wine, ye, nor your sons for ever:

7 nor shall ye at all build houses, nor sow any seed, nor shall ye have a vineyard: for ye shall dwell in tents all your days; that ye may live many days upon the land, in which ye sojourn.

8 And we hearkened to the voice of Jonadab our father, so as to drink no wine all our days, we, and our wives, and our sons, and our daughters;

Jeremias 42:1-8 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.