Jeremiah 42:20-22 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

For ye dissembled in your hearts Hebrew, התעתום, have used deceit. They acted deceitfully, either toward God, calling him to bear witness to their sincerity in a matter in which they were not sincere; or toward the prophet, sending him to inquire of God for them, and promising to act according as God should direct, when they never intended it; or, toward their own souls, as the margin reads it. Thus Blaney, Surely ye have practised deceit against your own souls, following the Masoretic reading of the margin, confirmed by twenty-two MSS. and five editions. The LXX. read οτι επονηρευσασθε εν ψυχαις υμων; for you have acted wickedly in your souls, and the Vulgate, because you have deceived your souls. Now I have this day declared it to you I went, according to your desire, to inquire of God for you; he revealed his will to me respecting you, and now I have as faithfully told you what it is. But ye have not obeyed, &c. Or, will not obey. If it be asked how Jeremiah knew they would not obey God's will in this instance, inasmuch as they had not yet declared their minds to him, it must be answered, God had made their intentions known to him. Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, &c. You think to avoid death by going to Egypt to sojourn for a little time, but you shall perish there, and that by those very deaths which, by going thither, you seek to avoid. Observe, reader, we must expect disappointment, misery, and ruin to follow actions done in disobedience to the revealed will of God.