Jeremiah 42:20
“For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for you sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God says, so declare to us, and we will do it.’”
What does Jeremiah 42:20 mean?
Jeremiah is calling out a painful contradiction: the people asked him to seek God's guidance and promised they would obey, but they were never genuinely committed to following through. He's saying they deceived themselves by making that promise while already harboring other plans and desires. This speaks to something many of us recognize in our own lives, the gap between what we say we want and what we actually intend to do. When we ask for wisdom or guidance but have already decided on our own course, we're not really seeking God, we're just looking for permission. Jeremiah is inviting them (and us) to honest self-examination: are we truly open to being changed, or are we going through the motions?