Jeremiah 42:4-14

4 And Jeremiah the prophet saith unto them, `I have heard: lo, I am praying unto Jehovah your God according to your words, and it hath come to pass, the whole word that Jehovah answereth you, I declare to you -- I do not withhold from you a word.'

5 And they have said to Jeremiah, `Jehovah is against us for a witness true and faithful, if -- according to all the word with which Jehovah thy God doth send thee unto us -- we do not so.

6 Whether good or evil, to the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we are sending thee, we do hearken; because it is good for us when we hearken to the voice of Jehovah our God.'

7 And it cometh to pass, at the end of ten days, that there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah,

8 and he calleth unto Johanan son of Kareah, and unto all the heads of the forces that [are] with him, and to all the people, from the least even unto the greatest,

9 and he saith unto them, `Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me, to cause your supplication to fall before Him:

10 `If ye do certainly dwell in this land, then I have builded you up, and I throw not down; and I have planted you, and I pluck not up; for I have repented concerning the evil that I have done to you.

11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, whom ye are afraid of; be not afraid of him -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- for with you [am] I, to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.

12 And I give to you mercies, and he hath pitied you, and caused you to turn back unto your own ground.

13 `And if ye are saying, We do not dwell in this land -- not to hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God,

14 saying, No; but the land of Egypt we enter, that we see no war, and the sound of a trumpet do not hear, and for bread be not hungry; and there do we dwell.

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.