Jeremiah 42:20

My Notes

What Does Jeremiah 42:20 Mean?

Jeremiah 42:20 exposes the ugliest kind of spiritual deception — deceiving yourself while pretending to seek God: "For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it."

The backstory is devastating. After Jerusalem's fall, a remnant in Judah asked Jeremiah to pray for God's direction — should they stay in Judah or flee to Egypt? They made a solemn vow: whatever God says, we'll do it (verse 5-6). Jeremiah prayed for ten days. God answered clearly: stay in Judah, don't go to Egypt. And the people immediately rejected the answer and went to Egypt anyway (43:2-7). They asked for God's word with no intention of obeying it.

The marginal note offers a piercing alternate reading: "ye have used deceit against your own souls." They didn't just deceive Jeremiah. They deceived themselves. They thought asking for God's direction was the same as wanting God's direction. They performed the spiritual act — prayer, submission, solemn vow — while their hearts had already decided the answer. The question was never a real question. It was a ritual designed to rubber-stamp a decision they'd already made. And God saw through it completely.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Have you ever asked God for direction while your heart was already committed to a different answer — and were you honest about it?
• 2.How do you distinguish between genuinely seeking God and performing the spiritual act of seeking while the decision is already made?
• 3.What does 'using deceit against your own soul' look like practically in your spiritual life?
• 4.Is there a situation right now where you're asking God for guidance but aren't actually willing to accept an answer you don't want?

Devotional

They asked Jeremiah to pray. They made a vow. They said "whatever God says, we'll do it." And they'd already decided they were going to Egypt. The asking was theater. The vow was hollow. The prayer request was a prop in a performance designed to give their own decision a spiritual stamp of approval.

You've done this. Maybe not with a prophet and a solemn vow. But you've prayed about something you'd already decided. You've asked God for direction while your bags were packed for the destination you'd chosen. You've opened the Bible looking for a verse that confirmed what you wanted to do, not for a word that might redirect you. The dissembling Jeremiah describes isn't ancient. It's the most common form of self-deception in the spiritual life: going through the motions of seeking God while your heart is already committed to a different answer.

The marginal note is the one that should haunt you: "ye have used deceit against your own souls." Not against Jeremiah. Not even primarily against God (though it's that too). Against yourselves. When you ask God for guidance with no real intention of obeying, the person most damaged by the deception is you. You train your soul to perform submission without practicing it. You create the habit of invoking God's name over decisions you've already made without Him. And over time, you lose the ability to distinguish between genuinely seeking God and performing the act of seeking God. The dissembling becomes your normal. And you end up in Egypt, wondering why God feels distant, never realizing that the prayer you prayed ten days ago was the last real conversation you had with Him — and you ignored everything He said.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture