Jeremiah 42:2-5

42:2 They said to him, “Please grant our request ¹  and pray to the Lord your God for all those of us who are still left alive here. ²  For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before. ³  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! ⁴  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. ⁵  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 ⁶  the Lord sends you to tell us to do.

Jeremiah 42:20

42:20 You are making a fatal mistake. ⁷  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.’ ⁸ 

Jeremiah 42:1

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 ⁹  and all the people of every class, ¹⁰  went to the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 3:17-18

3:17 At that time the city of Jerusalem ¹¹  will be called the Lord’s throne. All nations will gather there in Jerusalem to honor the Lord’s name. ¹²  They will no longer follow the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. ¹³  3:18 At that time ¹⁴  the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be reunited. ¹⁵  Together they will come back from a land in the north to the land that I gave to your ancestors as a permanent possession. ” ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 3:1

3:1 “If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,

he may not take her back again. ¹⁷ 

Doing that would utterly defile the land. ¹⁸ 

But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. ¹⁹ 

So what makes you think you can return to me?” ²⁰ 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 22:16

22:16 He upheld the cause of the poor and needy.

So things went well for Judah.’ ²¹ 

The Lord says,

‘That is a good example of what it means to know me.’ ²² 

Jeremiah 22:2

22:2 Say: ‘Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David’s succession. ²³  You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to what the Lord says. ²⁴ 

Jeremiah 18:15

18:15 Yet my people have forgotten me

and offered sacrifices to worthless idols!

This makes them stumble along in the way they live

and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. ²⁵ 

They have left them to walk in bypaths,

in roads that are not smooth and level. ²⁶ 

[42:2]  ¹ tn Heb “please let our petition fall before you.” For the idiom here see 37:20 and the translator’s note there.

[42:2]  ² tn Heb “on behalf of us, [that is] on behalf of all this remnant.”

[42:2]  ³ tn Heb “For we are left a few from the many as your eyes are seeing us.” The words “used to be” are not in the text but are implicit. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English style.

[42:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “I have heard” = “I agree.” For this nuance of the verb see BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע Qal.1.j and compare the usage in Gen 37:27 and Judg 11:17 listed there.

[42:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “all the word which the Lord will answer you.

[42:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “do according to all the word which.”

[42:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “you are erring at the cost of your own lives” (BDB 1073 s.v. תָּעָה Hiph.3 and HALOT 1626 s.v. תָּעָה Hif 4, and cf. BDB 90 s.v. בְּ 3 and see parallels in 1 Kgs 2:23; 2 Sam 23:17 for the nuance of “at the cost of your lives”). This fits the context better than “you are deceiving yourselves” (KBL 1035 s.v. תָּעָה Hif 4). The reading here follows the Qere הִתְעֵיתֶם (hit’etem) rather than the Kethib which has a metathesis of י (yod) and ת (tav), i.e., הִתְעֵתֶים. The Greek text presupposes הֲרֵעֹתֶם (hare’otem, “you have done evil”), but that reading is generally rejected as secondary.

[42:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “According to all which the Lord our God says so tell us and we will do.” The restructuring of the sentence is intended to better reflect contemporary English style.

[42:1]  ⁹ sn Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah may have been the same as the Jezaniah son of the Maacathite mentioned in 40:8. The title “the Maacathite” would identify the locality from which his father came, i.e., a region in northern Transjordan east of Lake Huleh. Many think he is also the same man who is named “Azariah” in Jer 43:2 (the Greek version has Azariah both here and in 43:2). It was not uncommon for one man to have two names, e.g., Uzziah who was also named Azariah (compare 2 Kgs 14:21 with 2 Chr 26:1).

[42:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “without distinction,” or “All the people from the least important to the most important”; Heb “from the least to the greatest.” This is a figure of speech that uses polar opposites as an all-inclusive designation of everyone without exception (i.e., it included all the people from the least important or poorest to the most important or richest.)

[3:17]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:17]  ¹² tn Heb “will gather to the name of the Lord.”

[3:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “the stubbornness of their evil hearts.”

[3:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “In those days.”

[3:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the house of Judah will walk together with the house of Israel.”

[3:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the land that I gave your [fore]fathers as an inheritance.”

[3:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[3:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[3:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”

[3:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.

[22:16]  ²¹ tn The words “for Judah” are not in the text, but the absence of the preposition plus object as in the preceding verse suggests that this is a more general statement, i.e., “things went well for everyone.”

[22:16]  ²² tn Heb “Is that not what it means to know me.” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer. It is translated in the light of the context.

[22:2]  ²³ tn Heb “who sits on David’s throne.”

[22:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah who sits on the throne of David, you, and your officials and your people who pass through these gates.”

[18:15]  ²⁵ sn Heb “the ancient path.” This has already been referred to in Jer 6:16. There is another “old way” but it is the path trod by the wicked (cf. Job 22:15).

[18:15]  ²⁶ sn Heb “ways that are not built up.” This refers to the built-up highways. See Isa 40:4 for the figure. The terms “way,” “by-paths,” “roads” are, of course, being used here in the sense of moral behavior or action.