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Texts -- Jeremiah 42:1-21 (NET)

Context
The Survivors Ask the Lord for Advice but Refuse to Follow It
42:1 Then all the army officers , including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah and all the people of every class , went to the prophet Jeremiah. 42:2 They said to him , “Please grant our request and pray to the Lord your God for all those of us who are still left alive here . For , as you yourself can see , there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before. 42:3 Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do .” 42:4 The prophet Jeremiah answered them, “Agreed ! I will indeed pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. I will tell you everything the Lord replies in response to you. I will not keep anything back from you.” 42:5 They answered Jeremiah , “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do just as the Lord sends you to tell us to do . 42:6 We will obey what the Lord our God to whom we are sending you tells us to do. It does not matter whether we like what he tells us or not. We will obey what he tells us to do so that things will go well for us.” 42:7 Ten days later the Lord spoke to Jeremiah . 42:8 So Jeremiah summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people of every class . 42:9 Then Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to the Lord God of Israel to make your request known to him. Here is what he says to you: 42:10 ‘If you will just stay in this land , I will build you up. I will not tear you down . I will firmly plant you. I will not uproot you. For I am filled with sorrow because of the disaster that I have brought on you. 42:11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear . Do not be afraid of him because I will be with you to save you and to rescue you from his power . I, the Lord , affirm it! 42:12 I will have compassion on you so that he in turn will have mercy on you and allow you to return to your land .’ 42:13 “You must not disobey the Lord your God by saying , ‘We will not stay in this land .’ 42:14 You must not say , ‘No, we will not stay. Instead we will go and live in the land of Egypt where we will not face war , or hear the enemy’s trumpet calls , or starve for lack of food .’ 42:15 If you people who remain in Judah do that, then listen to what the Lord says . The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘If you are so determined to go to Egypt that you go and settle there , 42:16 the wars you fear will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt . The starvation you are worried about will follow you there to Egypt . You will die there . 42:17 All the people who are determined to go and settle in Egypt will die from war , starvation , or disease . No one will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’ 42:18 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says , ‘If you go to Egypt, I will pour out my wrath on you just as I poured out my anger and wrath on the citizens of Jerusalem . You will become an object of horror and ridicule , an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse . You will never see this place again .’ 42:19 “The Lord has told you people who remain in Judah , ‘Do not go to Egypt .’ Be very sure of this: I warn you here and now . 42:20 You are making a fatal mistake . For you sent me to the Lord your God and asked me, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us what the Lord our God says and we will do it.’ 42:21 This day I have told you what he said. But you do not want to obey the Lord by doing what he sent me to tell you.

Pericope

NET
  • Jer 42:1--43:7 -- The Survivors Ask the Lord for Advice but Refuse to Follow It

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Baxter, J. Sidlow. Explore the Book. 6 vols. London: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott, 1965.Bromiley, Geoffrey W. God and Marriage. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980.Bullock, C. Hassell. An Introduction to the Poe...
  • The biblical records of the times in which Jeremiah ministered are 2 Kings 21-25 and 2 Chronicles 33-36. His contemporary prophets were Zephaniah and Habakkuk before the Exile, and Ezekiel and Daniel after it began.King Manas...
  • Jeremiah's purpose was to call his hearers to repentance in view of God's judgment on Judah, which would come soon from an army from the north (chs. 2-45). Judgment was coming because God's people had forsaken Yahweh and had ...
  • I. Introduction ch. 1A. The introduction of Jeremiah 1:1-3B. The call of Jeremiah 1:4-191. The promise of divine enablement 1:4-102. Two confirming visions 1:11-19II. Prophecies about Judah chs. 2-45A. Warnings of judgment on...
  • Most of the prophetical books begin with some indication of authorship and date to put them in their historical contexts, and this is true of the Book of Jeremiah.1:1 The words (Heb. debarim, writings, prophecies, deeds, and ...
  • 1:4 The prophet now began speaking to his readers and telling them what the Lord had said to him. Throughout this book, an indication that the Lord had told Jeremiah something is often the sign of a new pericope, as here (cf....
  • This pericope contains two instances in which Jeremiah faced crushing discouragement in his ministry (vv. 10-14, 15-21). He confessed his frustration to the Lord, and the Lord responded with encouragement.15:10 Jeremiah addre...
  • This section consists of four parts: a summary of Jeremiah's Temple Sermon (vv. 2-6), the prophet's arrest and trial (vv. 7-16), the elders' plea for his life (vv. 17-19, 24), and the incident involving Uriah and his executio...
  • The Book of Consolation contained messages of future hope for Judah (chs. 30-33). Now Jeremiah returned to document her present judgment. Chapters 34-45 continue the theme of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem from chapters 2-29...
  • "While ch. 36 is, in a sense, an independent unit, it is at the same time the last segment in a tradition complex' which begins at ch. 26, where Jeremiah is vindicated as a true prophet of Yahweh by Jerusalem's highest court ...
  • One of the important theological lessons of this segment of the book, especially chapters 40-44, is that disobedience leads to judgment."One would think that the fall of Jerusalem would have taught Judah a lesson she would ne...
  • This chapter continues the narrative begun at 41:4. The remnant leaders asked Jeremiah to obtain the Lord's word concerning their proposed flight to Egypt (vv. 1-6).42:1-3 Then Johanan and his fellow leaders of the refugees a...
  • This chapter records an incident late in Jeremiah's ministry. How much later than chapter 43 is unknown. Many commentators suppose it dates from about 580 B.C. because it would have taken some time for the Judean refugees to ...
  • This chapter belongs after chapter 36 chronologically, either after 36:8 or 36:32. It serves as an appendix to the historical incidents recorded there. Perhaps the writer or final editor placed it here to show that Yahweh exe...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers; and New York: Macmillan Publishers Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The Archaeology of Palestine. Revis...
  • 33:23-24 The Lord informed the prophet about the attitude of the Jews still in the land. The few Jews who still lived in the waste places of the Promised Land were claiming that since God had promised that land to Abraham the...
  • These persecuted Christians did not need to fear their adversaries or death since they would live forever with Jesus Christ. "Behold"signals an oracular declaration (cf. 2:22; 3:8, 9, 20).96The devil would incite their foes t...
  • 6:1 "I saw"marks the continuation of what John had seen that chapters 4 and 5 record, but also the commencement of revelation concerning future events on earth. Chapters 1-5 have introduced this revelation. John was an eyewit...
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