Jeremiah 42
Lexham English Bible
The Remnant Asks Jeremiah to Pray to Yahweh for Direction
42 Then all the commanders of the armies, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the smallest to the greatest, approached 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “May our plea please fall before you,[a] and pray for us to Yahweh your God, for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes are seeing us. 3 And let Yahweh your God inform us the way in which we should go and the thing that we should do.” 4 And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Look, I am going to pray to Yahweh your God according to your words, and then[b] all the words[c] that Yahweh answers you I will tell you; I will not withhold from you a word.” 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be against us as a true and faithful witness[d] if we do not do according to all the words[e] that Yahweh sends you for us. 6 Whether good or bad, we will listen to the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.”
The Remnant Rejects the Word of Yahweh
7 And then[f] at the end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. 8 And he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the armies who were with him, and all the people from the smallest to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to cause your plea to fall before him:[g] 10 ‘If only you will stay in this land, then I will build you and I will not tear you down, and I will plant you and I will not pluck you up, for I relent of the disaster that I have brought to you. 11 You must not be afraid of[h] the king of Babylon whom you are afraid of.[i] You must not be afraid of him,’ declares[j] Yahweh, ‘for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and will restore you to your soil.
13 But if you are saying, “We will not stay in this land,” so as to not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, 14 saying, “No, for we will go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war, and we will not hear the sound of a horn, and we will not be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,” 15 then therefore[k] hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “If you are determined[l] to go to Egypt, and you go to dwell as aliens there, 16 then it will be that the sword that you are in fear of will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you are anxious of will pursue after you there into Egypt, and there you will die. 17 So all the people who are determined[m] to go to Egypt to dwell as aliens there will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, and there will not be for them an escapee or a survivor from the disaster that I am bringing upon them.” 18 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will pour out on you at your going to Egypt, and you will become a curse, and a horror, and a curse formula, and a disgrace, and you will no longer see this place.”’
19 Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘You must not go to Egypt.’ You must certainly know that I have warned you today[n] 20 that you have made a fatal mistake,[o] for you sent me to Yahweh your God, saying,[p] ‘Pray for us to Yahweh our God, and all that Yahweh our God says, so tell us and we will do it.’[q] 21 So I have told you today,[r] and you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, or of anything[s] that he sent me for you. 22 Now then, certainly you must know that by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague you will die in the place where you desire to go, to dwell as aliens there.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 42:2 Literally “to the face of you”
- Jeremiah 42:4 Literally “and it will happen”
- Jeremiah 42:4 Hebrew “word”
- Jeremiah 42:5 Literally “a witness of faithfulness and trustworthy”
- Jeremiah 42:5 Hebrew “word”
- Jeremiah 42:7 Literally “And it was”
- Jeremiah 42:9 Literally “to the face of him”
- Jeremiah 42:11 Literally “from the face of”
- Jeremiah 42:11 Literally “in fear from the presence of him”
- Jeremiah 42:11 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 42:15 Literally “to thus”
- Jeremiah 42:15 Literally “If you indeed set your face”
- Jeremiah 42:17 Literally “have set their faces”
- Jeremiah 42:19 Literally “the day”
- Jeremiah 42:20 Literally “you have caused them to err for your lives”
- Jeremiah 42:20 Literally “to say”
- Jeremiah 42:20 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Jeremiah 42:21 Literally “the day”
- Jeremiah 42:21 Literally “all”
Jeremiah 42
New American Standard Bible
Warning against Going to Egypt
42 Then all the commanders of the forces, (A)Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people (B)from the small to the great approached 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our (C)pleading [a]come before you, and (D)pray for us to the Lord your God for all this remnant—since we have been left only a (E)few out of many, just as your own eyes now see us— 3 that the Lord your God will tell us the (F)way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do.” 4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to (G)pray to the Lord your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole [b]message which the (H)Lord gives you as an answer. I will (I)not withhold a word from you.” 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the (J)Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole [c]message with which the Lord your God will send you to us. 6 Whether it is [d]pleasant or [e]unpleasant, we will (K)listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go (L)well for us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our God.”
7 Now at the (M)end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people from the small to the great, 9 and said to them, “This is what the Lord (N)says, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before Him: 10 ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will (O)build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I [f]will (P)relent of the disaster that I have inflicted on you. 11 (Q)Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares the Lord, ‘for (R)I am with you to save you and rescue you from his hand. 12 I will also show you compassion, so that (S)he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil. 13 But if you are going to say, “We will (T)not stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, 14 saying, “No, but we will (U)go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or (V)hear the sound of a trumpet, or hunger for bread, and we will stay there”; 15 then [g]in that case listen to the word of the Lord, you remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “If you really set your [h]minds to enter (W)Egypt and go in to reside there, 16 then the (X)sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17 So all the people who set their [i]minds to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the (Y)sword, by famine, or by plague; and they will (Z)have no refugees or survivors from the disaster that I am going to bring on them.”’”
18 For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “As My (AA)anger and wrath have gushed out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will gush out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a (AB)curse, an object of horror, [j]an imprecation, and a disgrace; and (AC)you will not see this place again.” 19 The Lord has spoken to you, you remnant of Judah, “Do not (AD)go to Egypt!” You (AE)know for certain that I have (AF)admonished you today. 20 For you have only [k](AG)deceived yourselves; for it is you who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.” 21 So I have (AH)told you today, but you have (AI)not [l]obeyed the Lord your God in whatever He has sent me to tell you. 22 And now you shall know for certain that you will (AJ)die by the sword, by famine, or by plague in the (AK)place where you desire to go to reside.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 42:2 Lit fall
- Jeremiah 42:4 Lit word
- Jeremiah 42:5 Lit word
- Jeremiah 42:6 Lit good
- Jeremiah 42:6 Lit evil
- Jeremiah 42:10 Or shall have changed my mind about
- Jeremiah 42:15 Lit now therefore
- Jeremiah 42:15 Lit face
- Jeremiah 42:17 Lit face
- Jeremiah 42:18 Lit a curse-formula
- Jeremiah 42:20 Or acted errantly in your souls
- Jeremiah 42:21 Lit listened to the voice of
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
