Jeremiah 42:5

³ Pray that the LORD your God will tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.”

⁴ “I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will surely pray to the LORD your God as you request, and I will tell you everything that the LORD answers; I will not withhold a word from you.”

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.

⁶ Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us, for we will obey the voice of the LORD our God!”

⁷ After ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah,

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: 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.
KJV: 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.
WEB: Then they said to Jeremiah, “May 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 sends you to tell us.
ASV: 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.
DARBY: 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.
BLB: And they said to Jeremiah: “May YHWH be against us as a true and faithful witness, if according to every word that YHWH your God sends you to us, we do not thus.

ÅB: Da sa de til Jeremias: Herren være et sant og trofast vitne imot oss, dersom vi ikke gjør etter hvert ord som Herren din Gud sender deg til oss med!
OTB: Da sa de til Jeremias: «Måtte Herren være et sant og trofast vitne mot oss hvis vi ikke handler i samsvar med hvert ord Herren din Gud sender deg for å si til oss.
B1930: Da sa de til Jeremias: Herren være et sant og trofast vidne imot oss, dersom vi ikke gjør efter hvert ord som Herren din Gud sender dig til oss med!

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Genesis 31:50
If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
Read in context
Judges 11:10
And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”
Read in context
Malachi 2:14
Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
Read in context
Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
Read in context
Revelation 1:5
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood,
Read in context
Revelation 3:14
To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation.
Read in context
Micah 1:2
Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
Read in context
1 Samuel 20:42
And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.
Read in context