Jeremiah 42:1-9

Warning Against Going to Egypt

1 Then ¹all the commanders of the forces, and ²Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of ³Hoshaiah, and all the people ⁴from the least to the greatest, came near

2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let ⁵our plea for mercy come before you, and ⁶pray to the Lord your God for us, for all ⁷this remnant— ⁸because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us—

3 that ⁹the Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do. ”

4 Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your request, and ¹⁰whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you. ¹¹I will keep nothing back from you. ”

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, ¹²“May the Lord be a true and ¹³faithful witness against us ¹⁴if we do not act according to all the word ¹⁵with which the Lord your God sends you to us.

6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, ¹⁶that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God. ”

7 ¹⁷At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

8 Then he summoned ¹⁸Johanan the son of Kareah and ¹⁹all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people ²⁰from the least to the greatest,

9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ²¹to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him:

Jeremiah 42:1-9 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.

Cross References

• 1. 42:1 ch. 40:13; 41:11
• 2. 42:1 See ch. 40:8
• 3. 42:1 ch. 43:2
• 4. 42:1 [ch. 6:13]
• 5. 42:2 See ch. 36:7
• 6. 42:2 ver. 20; [1 Sam. 7:8; 12:19]
• 7. 42:2 [ch. 40:15; Isa. 37:4]
• 8. 42:2 [Lev. 26:22]
• 9. 42:3 [ch. 37:17; Ezra 8:21]
• 10. 42:4 1 Sam. 3:18; [Num. 22:18]
• 11. 42:4 1 Sam. 3:18; [Num. 22:18]
• 12. 42:5 [Gen. 31:50]
• 13. 42:5 [Rev. 1:5; 3:14]
• 14. 42:5 Judg. 11:10
• 15. 42:5 ver. 21
• 16. 42:6 ch. 7:23
• 17. 42:7 [Ezek. 3:16]
• 18. 42:8 [See ver. 1 above]
• 19. 42:8 [See ver. 1 above]
• 20. 42:8 [See ver. 1 above]
• 21. 42:9 ver. 2, 3