BOOK 24 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Jeremiah 42

Jeremiah book home•Chapter 42 of 52•22 verses

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Jeremiah 42 Overview

The remnant asks Jeremiah to seek the LORD and promises to obey whatever He says; after ten days God tells them to remain in Judah and not fear Babylon, warning that flight to Egypt will bring the very sword, famine, and pestilence they hope to escape.

JeremiahBook

42Chapter

22Verses

Major ProphetsDivision

Before you read Jeremiah 42

Coming from

Ishmael murders Gedaliah and others at Mizpah, takes captives, and flees when Johanan intervenes; the survivors are rescued, but fear of Babylon now drives the remnant toward the border of Egypt.

In this chapter

Leads into

Johanan and other leaders accuse Jeremiah of lying, reject the command to remain in Judah, carry the remnant—including Jeremiah and Baruch—to Egypt, and there Jeremiah hides stones as a sign that Nebuchadnezzar will extend his rule over Egypt too.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The group stands at a decision point after Gedaliah’s assassination. Their stated willingness to obey is tested by an answer they do not want.

The interpretive center of Jeremiah 42 is the chapter’s own movement: seeking god requires willingness to obey the answer. Read its poetry, signs, historical references, and later biblical connections from that center rather than treating isolated phrases as detached slogans.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Seeking God requires willingness to obey the answer

The people solemnly promise submission before hearing the message.

Fear can push people toward the very danger they are trying to avoid

Egypt looks safe but will become the place where judgment catches them.

God offers protection within the hard path He appoints

Remaining in devastated Judah sounds risky, yet the LORD promises mercy there.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Deuteronomy 17:16

Israel’s kings were warned not to return to Egypt for security, giving deeper covenant background to Jeremiah’s warning.

Isaiah 30–31

Isaiah earlier condemned Judah’s instinct to seek safety in Egypt rather than the LORD.

Jeremiah 43

The people reject the answer they had promised to obey.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not confuse asking for prayer with submission to God.

The next chapter reveals that the group’s promise was conditional on receiving the answer they preferred.

Do not universalize 'stay where you are' as a rule for every dangerous situation.

This was specific prophetic direction to this remnant.

Read Jeremiah 42 watching for…

the promise to obey

the ten-day wait

God’s command to remain

the warning not to fear Babylon

Egypt becoming the place of feared judgment

Chapter outline2 sections

1-6The remnant asks Jeremiah to seek the LORD and promises to obey whatever he says 7-22The LORD tells them to stay in Judah and warns that going to Egypt will bring the very disaster they fear

Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,

And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before 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 us:)

That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.

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 it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.

Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.

Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.

Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,

And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;

If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.

Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, 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 from his hand.

And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.

But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,

Saying, No; 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:

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 wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;

Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.

The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.

For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.

And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.

Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.

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Jeremiah 42:15

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