‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I will relent of the disaster I have brought upon you.
He now adds, If remaining ye will remain in this land, I will build you up and plant you, I will not pull you down nor root you up Here the Prophet testifies that the counsel he gave them in God’s name would be for their good; and what is good or useful is deemed by men, when they theorize, as they say, to be of great value.
We have here the answer which Jeremiah was sent to deliver to those who employed him to ask counsel of God. I. It did not come immediately, not till ten days after, Jer 42:7. They were thus long held in suspense, perhaps, to punish them for their hypocrisy or to show that Jeremiah did not speak of himself, nor what he would, for he could...
Commenting on Jeremiah 42:7-22
Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid,.... Lest he should revenge the death of Gedaliah upon them, which was a groundless fear; see Jer 41:18; or that they should be dealt hardly with by him, and be cruelly oppressed, and not able to live in subjection to him; see Jer 40:9; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord...