Jeremiah 42:3-13

3 that the LORD your God may show us the way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do.

4 Then Yirmeyahu the prophet said to them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall happen that whatever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back from you.

5 Then they said to Yirmeyahu, the LORD be a true and faithful witness among us, if we don't do according to all the word with which the LORD your God shall send you to us.

6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

7 It happened after ten days, that the word of the LORD came to Yirmeyahu.

8 Then called he Yochanan the son of Kareach, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,

9 and said to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him:

10 If you will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I repent me of the evil that I have done to you.

11 Don't be afraid of the king of Bavel, of whom you are afraid; don't be afraid of him, says the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you, and cause you to return to your own land.

13 But if you say, We will not dwell in this land; so that you don't obey the voice of the LORD your God,

Jeremiah 42:3-13 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.