Jeremiah 42:1-3
New English Translation
The Survivors Ask the Lord for Advice but Refuse to Follow It
42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah[a] and all the people of every class,[b] went to the prophet Jeremiah. 2 They said to him, “Please grant our request[c] and pray to the Lord your God for all those of us who are still left alive here.[d] For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before.[e] 3 Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Jeremiah 42:1 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).
- Jeremiah 42:1 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.)
- Jeremiah 42:2 tn Heb “please let our petition fall before you.” For the idiom here see 37:20 and the translator’s note there.
- Jeremiah 42:2 tn Heb “on behalf of us, [that is] on behalf of all this remnant.”sn This refers to the small remnant of people who were left of those from Mizpah who had been taken captive by Ishmael after he had killed Gedaliah and who had been rescued from him at Gibeon. There were other Judeans still left in the land of Judah who had not been killed or deported by the Babylonians.
- Jeremiah 42:2 tn Heb “For we are left a few from the many, as your eyes are seeing us.” The words “were before” are not in the text but are implicit. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness of English style.
Jeremiah 42:1-3
New International Version
42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan(A) son of Kareah and Jezaniah[a] son of Hoshaiah,(B) and all the people from the least to the greatest(C) approached 2 Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “Please hear our petition and pray(D) to the Lord your God for this entire remnant.(E) For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few(F) are left. 3 Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”(G)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 42:1 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also 43:2) Azariah
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