Jeremiah 42:4-14

4 dixit autem ad eos Hieremias propheta audivi ecce ego oro ad Dominum Deum vestrum secundum verba vestra omne verbum quodcumque responderit mihi indicabo vobis nec celabo vos quicquam

5 et illi dixerunt ad Hieremiam sit Dominus inter nos testis veritatis et fidei si non iuxta omne verbum in quo miserit te Dominus Deus tuus ad nos sic faciemus

6 sive bonum est sive malum voci Domini Dei nostri ad quem mittimus te oboediemus ut bene sit nobis cum audierimus vocem Domini Dei nostri

7 cum autem conpleti essent decem dies factum est verbum Domini ad Hieremiam

8 vocavitque Iohanan filium Caree et omnes principes bellatorum qui erant cum eo et universum populum a minimo usque ad magnum

9 et dixit ad eos haec dicit Dominus Deus Israhel ad quem misistis me ut prosternerem preces vestras in conspectu eius

10 si quiescentes manseritis in terra hac aedificabo vos et non destruam plantabo et non evellam iam enim placatus sum super malo quod feci vobis

11 nolite timere a facie regis Babylonis quem vos pavidi formidatis nolite eum metuere dicit Dominus quia vobiscum sum ego ut salvos faciam vos et eruam de manu eius

12 et dabo vobis misericordiam et miserebor vestri et habitare vos faciam in terra vestra

13 si autem dixeritis vos non habitabimus in terra ista nec audiemus vocem Domini Dei nostri

14 dicentes nequaquam sed ad terram Aegypti pergemus ubi non videbimus bellum et clangorem tubae non audiemus et famem non sustinebimus et ibi habitabimus

Jeremiah 42:4-14 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.