“ ‘But if you say, “We will not dwell in this land;” so that you don’t obey Yahweh your God’s voice,
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘But if you say, “We will not dwell in this land;” so that you don’t obey Yahweh your God’s voice,
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But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
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But if ye say: We will not abide in this land; so that ye hearken not to the voice of the LORD your God;
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 42:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 44:16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you.
- Exodus 5:2 Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”
- Jeremiah 42:10 ‘If you will still live in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I grieve over the distress that I have brought on you.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain God having promised, that the counsel he gave to…
God having promised, that the counsel he gave to the Jews would be good and safe, now, on the other hand, threatens them, that if they disobeyed, everything they would attempt would end miserably. They had not expressly asked whether it would be for their good to go into Egypt, or whether it would be pleasing to God; but God, who penetrates into all hidden purposes, anticipated them, and declared that their going would be unhappy, if they fled into Egypt. We hence see how the Prophet, or rather God himself, who spoke by his servant, tried by all means to keep them in the way of duty.
He then says, If ye say, We shall not dwell in this land, it shall be ill with you, he says: but before he denounced punishment, he shewed that they deserved to be destroyed, if they went to Egypt; for had the thing been in itself lawful, yet to attempt such a thing against the express will of God was, as we know, an impious and a diabolical presumption and rashness. God had forbidden them specifically in his Law ever to set their hearts on Egypt, (Deuteronomy 17:16;) and he had often confirmed the same thing by his Prophets, (Isaiah 30:2; Isaiah 31:1;) and now again he seals the former prophecies, as he expressly forbids them to go to Egypt. The Prophet then sets this crime before their eyes: “If ye flee into Egypt, what is it that compels you? even because ye will not obey God.” There is then great weight in these words, Nor obey the voice of Jehovah your God; as though he had said, that they could not think of Egypt, except they designedly, as it were, rejected the authority of God, and resisted his counsel.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 42:13 But if ye say, We will not…
Jer 42:13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
Ver. 13. But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land.] Because more barren than Egypt, and besides beset with many and mighty enemies
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Neither obey the voice of the Lord your God.] Which you ought to do, whatever come of it, since rebellion is as witchcraft. {1Sa 15:22-23}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Our translation a little darkens the sense, translating the…
Our translation a little darkens the sense, translating the Hebrew particle בלתי
neither, which signifies no more than not, or by no means, Num 14:16; 1Sa 2:2; 20:26; Hos 13:4; and it is certain here is but one thing spoken of, for the thing wherein they disobeyed the voice of the Lord was not continuing in their own land, but going into the land of Egypt.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Saying, no, but we will go into the land…
Saying, no, but we will go into the land of Egypt,.... It was all one as if they had said, no, we will not obey the voice of the Lord to continue in our own land; we are determined to go into Egypt, induced by the following reasons:
where we shall see no war; either internal, or with a foreign enemy; as both of late in their own land, and which they feared would be again; but promised themselves exemption from both in the land of Egypt, and therefore coveted to dwell there:
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nor hear the sound of the trumpet; neither hear of wars nor rumours of wars; not the sound of the trumpet in the armies of the enemy, or among themselves, to gather together and prepare for battle; or, as Jarchi thinks, the sound of the trumpet blown by the watchman, giving notice to the people of the approach of an enemy:
nor have hunger of bread; as they had had while Judea was invaded and Jerusalem besieged, and a foreign army in the land; and though they had no reason to fear this now, yet they thought they should be more out of the danger of it in Egypt, a fruitful country, overflowed by the Nile:
and there will we dwell; in peace, prosperity, and safety: this was their resolution, to go and abide there; and this their confidence, that such would be their happy state.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 42:13-18. But if ye say, We will not…
Jer 42:13-18. But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey — Hebrew, לבלתי שׁמע, so as not to obey. If they did not continue in their own land, they disobeyed the voice of the Lord. Saying, No; we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, &c. — Their great sin was unbelief: they would not take the promise of God as a security to them for a quiet and peaceable abode, and a supply of all their wants, in Judea: but they resolved to go into Egypt, where they expected to have a greater certainty of peace and plenty. Therefore the Lord declares by his prophet, that the evils which they feared in Canaan should overtake them with double violence in Egypt, namely, both the sword and famine, by which they should die, and that they should be an execration and an astonishment: a curse and a reproach: (Jer 42:18,) as God had threatened to make the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Jer 24:9; Jer 29:18, where see the notes. And ye shall see this place no more — And in this, saith God, will I deal worse with you than with those who were carried captive to Babylon; many of them shall return, after the time fixed for the duration of their captivity is expired, but you shall return into this land no more. There was this aggravation in the sin of those Jews to whom God was now speaking by his prophet, that they had lately seen his words, by the same prophet, fully verified; yet would not take warning, but ran into the same sin of unbelief.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain if ye say, &c.--avowed rebellion against God, who had…
if ye say, &c.--avowed rebellion against God, who had often (Deu 17:16), as now, forbidden their going to Egypt, lest they should be entangled in its idolatry.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 13-18. A land to be avoided.
Vers. 13-18. A land to be avoided.
How solemn and urgent this warning! Let us ask why it was needed, why God seemed thus to cast doubt on the power of the people to obey him.
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I THE PERILOUS LAND WAS NEAR. They were right in the way to Egypt, having, indeed, moved Egyptwards rather than in any other direction. (Jer_41:17)
II IT HAD OBVIOUS ATTRACTIONS.
1. It seemed to be a land of peace. Egypt had been locked to as a friend and ally. The desolation of Jerusalem had come from the north. When people have been going through a time of war and siege, peace is naturally the blessing put in front of their thoughts. And is not this a good thing, it may be asked? Yes, surely, if peace be desired on high grounds, and from a horror of discord among men. But men may seek it simply to escape from disturbance and from loss of life and property. Their seeking of peace may be a sign of cowardice and altogether groveling aims. Danger may be escaped by the outer man, only to be concentrated more effectually on the man within.
2. It would be a land of bread. Another recommendation of a land which it was unquestionably right, for men to attend to. Egypt was one of the great granaries of the ancient world. But it did not therefore follow that it was a land to live in. Israelites, in particular, needed to recollect how their fathers, beginning by going to Egypt for bread, ended by sinking into most oppressive bondage. Besides, even the land of bread was at times a land of famine.
3. It consequently looked a land to dwell in. God is the God of his people only when they are in their proper place. He was God of the exiles in Babylon, because their going into Babylon was of his operation. But those who went to Egypt in search of mere immunity from toil and inglorious ease could not expect to have the Divine favour. They wanted to get the great ends of life without discipline, sacrifice, and endurance.
III THE VAIN PURPOSE TO ESCAPE FROM EVIL. God tries to make the people understand that they take the germs and principles of evil with them. What we find in any place depends on what we bring; and what we bring we must, in process of time, inevitably find. What had there been to hinder the land of Israel from being a land of peace and a land of bread? Nothing but the faithlessness and general wickedness of the people. We cannot sow wickedness in one place, and then hope to go and reap only good things in some other place. God can turn any place, however fruitful, into a wilderness; and, on the other hand, we know how Jesus made a wilderness a place to feed five thousand men. Jehovah spoke with all this severity to these people to make them understand how hard a thing real obedience was. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 if you do not listen to my voice, the…
if you do not listen to my voice, the voice of Yahweh your God
Here "voice" represents a command. To not obey is like the people did not hear Yahweh's command. AT: "if you do not obey my commands, even though I am Yahweh, your God" (See: Metonymy)
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where we will not see any war, where we will not hear the sound of the trumpet
Both of these phrases describe being at war by the ability to see or hear it. AT: "where we will not experience the hardships of war" (See: Parallelism)
we will not go hungry for food
Being hungry for food is used to describe famine. (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
voice
Egypt
trumpet
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 42:13-22 Jeremiah had already prophesied Egypt’s destiny; it would…
42:13-22 Jeremiah had already prophesied Egypt’s destiny; it would be destroyed by the Babylonians (46:2-26). This remnant of Judah would walk into the path of the Lord’s judgment if they continued on to Egypt.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.