Jeremiah 42:6-16

6 It does not matter if we like the message or not. We will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you. We will obey what he says so good things will happen to us."

7 Ten days later the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah.

8 Then Jeremiah called for Johanan son of Kareah, the army officers with him, and all the other people, from the least important to the greatest.

9 Jeremiah said to them, "You sent me to ask the Lord for what you wanted. This is what the God of Israel says:

10 'If you will stay in Judah, I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not pull you up, because I am sad about the disaster I brought on you.

11 Now you fear the king of Babylon, but don't be afraid of him. Don't be afraid of him,' says the Lord, 'because I am with you. I will save you and rescue you from his power.

12 I will be kind to you, and he will also treat you with mercy and let you stay in your land.'

13 "But if you say, 'We will not stay in Judah,' you will disobey the Lord your God.

14 Or you might say, 'No, we will go and live in Egypt. There we will not see war, or hear the trumpets of war, or be hungry.'

15 If you say that, listen to the message of the Lord, you who are left alive from Judah. This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: 'If you make up your mind to go and live in Egypt, these things will happen:

16 You are afraid of war, but it will find you in the land of Egypt. And you are worried about hunger, but it will follow you into Egypt, and you will die there.

Jeremiah 42:6-16 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.