Jeremiah 42:5

THE MESSAGE

They said to Jeremiah, "Let God be our witness, a true and faithful witness against us, if we don't do everything that your God directs you to tell us. Whether we like it or not, we'll do it. We'll obey whatever our God tells us. Yes, count on us. We'll do it."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
And they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we don’t act according to every word the Lord your God sends you to tell us.

Hebrew Names Version
Then they said to Yirmeyahu, the LORD be a true and faithful witness among us, if we don't do according to all the word with which the LORD your God shall send you to us.

King James Version
Then they said to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.

English Standard Version
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the Lord your God sends you to us.

New American Standard Bible
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the LORD your God will send you to us.

New Century Version
Then the people said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord be a true and loyal witness against us if we don't do everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us.

Amplified Bible
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to act in accordance with all the things that the LORD your God sends you to tell us.

World English Bible
Then they said to Jeremiah, Yahweh be a true and faithful witness among us, if we don't do according to all the word with which Yahweh your God shall send you to us.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then they said to Ieremiah, The Lord be a witnesse of trueth, and faith betweene vs, if we doe not, euen according to all things for ye which the Lord thy God shall send thee to vs.

Legacy Standard Bible
And they said to Jeremiah, "May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which Yahweh your God will send you to us.

Berean Standard Bible
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act upon every word that the LORD your God sends you to tell us.

Contemporary English Version
They answered, "The Lord himself will be our witness that we promise to do whatever he says,

Complete Jewish Bible
They said to Yirmeyahu, "May Adonai be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do any part of what Adonai your God gives you to tell us.

Darby Translation
And they said to Jeremiah, Jehovah be a true and faithful witness amongst us, if we do not even according to all the word for which Jehovah thy God shall send thee to us.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then the people said to Jeremiah, "If we don't do everything the Lord your God tells us, then we hope the Lord will be a true and faithful witness against us. We know he will send you to tell us what to do.

George Lamsa Translation
Then they said to Jeremiah, May the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us if we do not do according to the word with which the LORD your God shall send you to us.

Good News Translation
Then they said to me, "May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not obey all the commands that the Lord our God gives you for us.

Lexham English Bible
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May Yahweh be against us as a true and faithful witness if we do not do according to all the words that Yahweh sends you for us.

Literal Translation
And they said to Jeremiah, Let Jehovah be a true and faithful witness between us if not according to all things Jehovah your God shall send you to us, so we will do.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And they sayde vnto Ieremy: The LORDE off treuth & faithfulnes be oure recorde, that we wil do all, that the LORDE thy God commaundeth vs,

American Standard Version
Then they said to Jeremiah, Jehovah be a true and faithful witness amongst us, if we do not according to all the word wherewith Jehovah thy God shall send thee to us.

Bible in Basic English
Then they said to Jeremiah, May the Lord be a true witness against us in good faith, if we do not do everything which the Lord your God sends you to say to us.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then they said to Jeremiah: 'The LORD be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not even according to all the word wherewith the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.

King James Version (1611)
Then they sayd to Ieremiah, The Lord be a true and faithfull witnesse betweene vs, if we doe not, euen according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to vs.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And they sayde vnto Ieremie, The Lorde be a true and faithfull witnesse betwixt vs, that we wyll do all that the Lorde thy God commaundeth vs.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I set before them a jar of wine, and cups, and I said, Drink ye wine.

English Revised Version
Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness amongst us, if we do not even according to all the word wherewith the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei seiden to Jeremye, The Lord be witnesse of treuthe and of feith bitwixe vs; if not bi ech word, in which thi Lord God schal sende thee to vs, so we schulen do, whether it be good ether yuel.

Update Bible Version
Then they said to Jeremiah, Yahweh be a true and faithful witness among us, if we do not do according to all the word with which Yahweh your God shall send you to us.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.

New English Translation
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.

New King James Version
So they said to Jeremiah, "Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you.

New Living Translation
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever he tells us to do!

New Life Bible
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord be true and faithful to speak against us if we do not do all that the Lord your God tells you we must do.

New Revised Standard
They in their turn said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to everything that the Lord your God sends us through you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
They, therefore said unto Jeremiah, Yahweh be against us, as a witness true and faithful, - if according to all the word which Yahweh thy God shall send thee unto us, so we do not perform:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they said to Jeremias: The Lord be witness between us of truth and faithfulness, if we do not according to every thing for which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.

Revised Standard Version
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us.

Young's Literal Translation
And they have said to Jeremiah, `Jehovah is against us for a witness true and faithful, if -- according to all the word with which Jehovah thy God doth send thee unto us -- we do not so.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the LORD your God will send you to us.

Contextual Overview

¹All the army officers, led by Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, accompanied by all the people, small and great, came to Jeremiah the prophet and said, "We have a request. Please listen. Pray to your God for us, what's left of us. You can see for yourself how few we are! Pray that your God will tell us the way we should go and what we should do." ⁴ Jeremiah the prophet said, "I hear your request. And I will pray to your God as you have asked. Whatever God says, I'll pass on to you. I'll tell you everything, holding nothing back." ⁵They said to Jeremiah, "Let God be our witness, a true and faithful witness against us, if we don't do everything that your God directs you to tell us. Whether we like it or not, we'll do it. We'll obey whatever our God tells us. Yes, count on us. We'll do it."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

The Lord be: Jeremiah 5:2, Genesis 31:50, Exodus 20:7, Judges 11:10, 1 Samuel 12:5, 1 Samuel 20:42, Micah 1:2, Malachi 2:14, Malachi 3:5, Romans 1:9, Revelation 1:5, Revelation 3:14

if we: Exodus 20:19, Deuteronomy 5:27-29

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 43:4 - obeyed

Cross-References

Genesis 12:10
Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, "Look. We both know that you're a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they're going to say, ‘Aha! That's his wife!' and kill me. But they'll let you live. Do me a favor: tell them you're my sister. Because of you, they'll welcome me and let me live."

Genesis 26:1
There was a famine in the land, as bad as the famine during the time of Abraham. And Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

Acts 7:11
"Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. That's how the Jacob family got to Egypt. "Jacob died, and our fathers after him. They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor. "When the four hundred years were nearly up, the time God promised Abraham for deliverance, the population of our people in Egypt had become very large. And there was now a king over Egypt who had never heard of Joseph. He exploited our race mercilessly. He went so far as forcing us to abandon our newborn infants, exposing them to the elements to die a cruel death. "In just such a time Moses was born, a most beautiful baby. He was hidden at home for three months. When he could be hidden no longer, he was put outside—and immediately rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, who mothered him as her own son. Moses was educated in the best schools in Egypt. He was equally impressive as a thinker and an athlete. "When he was forty years old, he wondered how everything was going with his Hebrew kin and went out to look things over. He saw an Egyptian abusing one of them and stepped in, avenging his underdog brother by knocking the Egyptian flat. He thought his brothers would be glad that he was on their side, and even see him as an instrument of God to deliver them. But they didn't see it that way. The next day two of them were fighting and he tried to break it up, told them to shake hands and get along with each other: ‘Friends, you are brothers, why are you beating up on each other?' "The one who had started the fight said, ‘Who put you in charge of us? Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?' When Moses heard that, realizing that the word was out, he ran for his life and lived in exile over in Midian. During the years of exile, two sons were born to him. "Forty years later, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the guise of flames of a burning bush. Moses, not believing his eyes, went up to take a closer look. He heard God's voice: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Frightened nearly out of his skin, Moses shut his eyes and turned away. "God said, ‘Kneel and pray. You are in a holy place, on holy ground. I've seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I've heard their groans. I've come to help them. So get yourself ready; I'm sending you back to Egypt.' "This is the same Moses whom they earlier rejected, saying, ‘Who put you in charge of us?' This is the Moses that God, using the angel flaming in the burning bush, sent back as ruler and redeemer. He led them out of their slavery. He did wonderful things, setting up God-signs all through Egypt, down at the Red Sea, and out in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to his congregation, ‘God will raise up a prophet just like me from your descendants.' This is the Moses who stood between the angel speaking at Sinai and your fathers assembled in the wilderness and took the life-giving words given to him and handed them over to us, words our fathers would have nothing to do with. "They craved the old Egyptian ways, whining to Aaron, ‘Make us gods we can see and follow. This Moses who got us out here miles from nowhere—who knows what's happened to him!' That was the time when they made a calf-idol, brought sacrifices to it, and congratulated each other on the wonderful religious program they had put together. "God wasn't at all pleased; but he let them do it their way, worship every new god that came down the pike—and live with the consequences, consequences described by the prophet Amos: Did you bring me offerings of animals and grains those forty wilderness years, O Israel? Hardly. You were too busy building shrines to war gods, to sex goddesses, Worshiping them with all your might. That's why I put you in exile in Babylon. "And all this time our ancestors had a tent shrine for true worship, made to the exact specifications God provided Moses. They had it with them as they followed Joshua, when God cleared the land of pagans, and still had it right down to the time of David. David asked God for a permanent place for worship. But Solomon built it. "Yet that doesn't mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote, "Heaven is my throne room; I rest my feet on earth. So what kind of house will you build me?" says God. "Where I can get away and relax? It's already built, and I built it." "And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you're just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn't get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you've kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God's Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!" At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, "Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God's side!" Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them. As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my life." Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Master, don't blame them for this sin"—his last words. Then he died.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then they said to Jeremiah, the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us,.... Which is the form of an oath; a solemn appeal to God, as a witness to what they were about to say, and to the sincerity of their hearts in it; who is true to his word, and faithful to his promises and threatenings; and who bears a true and faithful testimony, and will do what is just and right; and yet these people never intended to perform what they promised; which is a most shocking piece of atheism in a professing people; and who, at this very time, could not but observe the judgments of God upon their nation, city, and temple:

if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us; they promise to do everything the Lord should signify by the prophet as his will; and, if they did not, wish the severest judgments of God might fall upon them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Between us - Against us, as in Jeremiah 42:19 (margin.)

According to all things - literally, “according to the whole word as to which Yahweh thy God shall send thee to us.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 42:5. The Lord be a true and faithful Witness — The Lord is such; and as ye have bound yourselves to obey his voice, he will register the covenant, and bless or curse according as ye shall conduct yourselves in this matter.