Jeremiah 42

Jeremiah Promises to Pray Jeremiah 42:4–6

⁴Verse 4. Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to Yahweh your God according to your words; and it will happen that whatever thing Yahweh answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.” ⁵Verse 5. Then they said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness among us, if we don’t do according to all the word with which Yahweh your God sends you to tell us. ⁶Verse 6. Whether it is good, or whether it is bad, we will obey the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Yahweh our God.”

God's Response After Ten Days Jeremiah 42:7–10

⁷Verse 7. After ten days, Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah. ⁸Verse 8. Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, ⁹Verse 9. and said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him, says: ¹⁰Verse 10. ‘If you will still live in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I grieve over the distress that I have brought on you.

Assurance Against Fear Jeremiah 42:11–14

¹¹Verse 11. Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Don’t be afraid of him,’ says Yahweh: ‘for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. ¹²Verse 12. I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you, and cause you to return to your own land. ¹³Verse 13. “‘But if you say, “We will not dwell in this land;” so that you don’t obey Yahweh your God’s voice, ¹⁴Verse 14. saying, “No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:”’

Warning Against Going to Egypt Jeremiah 42:15–19

¹⁵Verse 15. now therefore hear Yahweh’s word, O remnant of Judah: Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘If you indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to live there; ¹⁶Verse 16. then it will happen that the sword, which you fear, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are afraid, will follow close behind you there in Egypt; and you will die there. ¹⁷Verse 17. So will it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live there. They will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. None of them will remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them.’

¹⁸Verse 18. For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and my wrath has been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you, when you enter into Egypt; and you will be an object of horror, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you will see this place no more.’ ¹⁹Verse 19. “Yahweh has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah, ‘Don’t go into Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have testified to you today.

Confrontation of Deceit Jeremiah 42:20–22

²⁰Verse 20. For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for you sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God says, so declare to us, and we will do it.’ ²¹Verse 21. I have declared it to you today; but you have not obeyed Yahweh your God’s voice in anything for which he has sent me to you. ²²Verse 22. Now therefore know certainly that you will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live there.”