42 1 The captains ask counsel of Jeremiah what they ought to do. 7 He admonisheth the remnant of the people not to go into Egypt.
1 Then all the captains of the host, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least unto the most, came,
2 And said unto Jeremiah the Prophet, [a]Hear our prayer, we beseech thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant (for we are left, but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold)
3 That the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may [b]do.
4 Then Jeremiah the Prophet said unto them, I have heard you: behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words, and whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you: I will keep nothing back from you.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, [c]The Lord be a witness of truth, and faith between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.
6 Whether it be good or evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord God, to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.
7 ¶ [d]And so after ten days came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah.
8 Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the host, which were with him, and all the people from the least to the most,
9 And said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your prayers before him,
10 If ye will dwell in this land, then I will build you, and not destroy you, and I will plant you, and not root you out: for I [e]repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.
11 Fear not for the king of Babel, of whom ye are afraid: be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for I am with you, to save you, and to deliver you [f]from his hand,
12 And I will grant you mercy that he may have compassion upon you, and he shall cause you to [g]dwell in your own land.
13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither hear the voice of the Lord your God,
14 Saying, Nay, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread, and there will we dwell,
15 (And now therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah: thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, If ye set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to dwell there,)
16 Then the sword that ye feared, [h]shall take you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, for the which ye care, shall there hang upon you in Egypt, and there shall ye die.
17 And all the men that set their faces to enter into Egypt to dwell there, shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, and none of them shall remain, nor escape from the plague, that I will bring upon them.
18 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, As mine anger and my wrath hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem: so shall my wrath be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt, and ye shall be a detestation, and an astonishment, and a [i]curse, and a reproach, and ye shall see this place no more.
19 O ye remnant of Judah, the Lord hath said concerning you, Go not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.
20 Surely ye [j]dissembled in your hearts when ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, Pray for us unto the Lord our God, and declare unto us even according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, and we will do it.
21 Therefore I have this day declared it you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor anything for the which he hath sent me unto you.
22 Now therefore, know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence [k]in the place whither ye desire to go and dwell.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 42:2 Hebrew, Let our prayer fall before thee, as Jer. 36:7
- Jeremiah 42:3 This declareth the nature of hypocrites, which would know of God’s word what they should do, but will not follow it, but inasmuch as it agreeth with that thing, which they have purposed to do.
- Jeremiah 42:5 There are none more ready to abuse the Name of God and take it in vain, than the hypocrites, which to color their falsehood use it without all reverence, and make it a means for them to deceive the simple and the godly.
- Jeremiah 42:7 Here is declared the vision and the occasion thereof, whereof mention was made, Jer. 40:1.
- Jeremiah 42:10 Read Jer. 18:8.
- Jeremiah 42:11 Because all kings’ hearts and ways are in his hands, he can turn them and dispose them as it pleaseth him, and therefore they need not to fear man, but only obey God, Prov. 21:1.
- Jeremiah 42:12 Or, return.
- Jeremiah 42:16 Thus God turneth the policy of the wicked to their own destruction: for they thought themselves sure in Egypt, and there Nebuchadnezzar destroyed them and the Egyptians, Jer. 46:25.
- Jeremiah 42:18 Read Jer. 26:6 and 24:12, showing that this should come upon them for their infidelity and stubbornness.
- Jeremiah 42:20 For ye were fully minded to go into Egypt, whatsoever God spake to the contrary.
- Jeremiah 42:22 To wit, in Egypt.