Jeremiah Chapter 42 in Simple English

Read Jeremiah Chapter 42

1Then all the captains of the armies, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near

2and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please let our request come before you. Pray for us to the LORD your God, for all who are left of us. For we were many, and now only a few of us remain, as you can see with your own eyes."

3"Ask that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing we should do."

4Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you. Look, I will pray to the LORD your God as you have asked. Whatever answer the LORD gives you, I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you."

5Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act on everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us."

6"Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you. Then it will go well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."

7After ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

8Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the armies who were with him, and all the people, from the least to the greatest,

9and said to them, "This is what the LORD says, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to lay your request before him:"

10'If you will stay on in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down. I will plant you and not tear you up. For I am sorry for the trouble I have brought on you.

11Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you fear. Do not be afraid of him, says the LORD. For I am with you, to save you and to rescue you from his hand.

12I will show you mercy, so that he will have mercy on you and let you go back to your own land.'

13"But suppose you say, 'We will not stay in this land,' and so refuse to obey the voice of the LORD your God."

14Suppose you say, 'No, we will go to the land of Egypt. There we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor go hungry for bread. There we will live.'

15Then hear the word of the LORD, you who are left of Judah. This is what the LORD of hosts says, the God of Israel: 'If you are set on going to Egypt, and you go to live there,

16then the sword you feared will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you dreaded will follow close behind you there in Egypt. And there you will die.

17So it will be with all the men who are set on going to Egypt to live there. They will die by the sword, by famine and by plague. Not one of them will be left or escape the disaster that I will bring on them.'

18"For this is what the LORD of hosts says, the God of Israel: 'As my anger and my fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will become a thing people curse by, a thing that shocks them, a curse and an insult. And you will never see this place again.'"

19The LORD has spoken about you, you who are left of Judah: 'Do not go to Egypt.' Know for certain that I have warned you this day.

20You deceived yourselves in your hearts when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, 'Pray for us to the LORD our God. Tell us everything the LORD our God says, and we will do it.'

21Today I have told you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor anything he sent me to say to you.

22"So now know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine and by plague, in the place where you want to go and live."

Explanation

Jeremiah 42

In short

A group of Judean survivors asks the prophet Jeremiah to find out from God where they should move and promises to obey whatever God says. God's answer comes after ten days: stay in your land and I will protect you, but if you go to Egypt seeking safety, the very dangers you fear will find you there and kill you.

Context

Jeremiah 42 takes place after Jerusalem has fallen to Babylon. A surviving community, led by military captains including Johanan and Jezaniah, remains in the devastated land. They are afraid of Babylon's king and considering fleeing to Egypt. They come to Jeremiah as a group, from the least to the greatest, asking him to seek God's guidance on whether to stay or go, and they pledge beforehand to follow whatever answer God gives.

What the text says

In verses 1-3, the survivors approach Jeremiah and ask him to pray to God on their behalf, requesting to know what path they should take. In verses 4-6, Jeremiah agrees to pray and promises to report God's full answer without hiding anything. The people swear an oath that they will obey whatever God says, whether it seems good or bad.

Verse 7 marks a ten-day wait. Then in verses 8-12, God's message comes: if they remain in the land, God will build them up, not tear them down, and will protect them from Babylon's king. God promises to show them mercy and restore them to their land.

But verses 13-18 present the alternative: if they refuse to stay and instead go to Egypt to escape war and hunger, the very things they fear will chase them there. They will die by sword, famine, and plague in Egypt, and God's anger will pursue them there as it has pursued Jerusalem.

Verses 19-22 conclude with God's final warning: do not go to Egypt. God says the people have already deceived themselves by asking for God's word while planning their own path. Jeremiah has now declared God's message to them, but, the text states, they have not obeyed it.

Takeaways

God offers protection to those who trust and remain, but flight based on fear leads only to what was being fled from.
A promise made to obey God carries weight only when followed through afterward.
The gap between asking for God's guidance and actually following it can be a sign of divided heart.

Jeremiah 42 - Simple English