Jeremiah 44

This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and the land of Pathros: “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah. Look, today they lie in ruins, with no one living in them, because of the evil they did to provoke me to anger, going to burn incense and serve other gods whom neither they nor you nor your fathers had known. I sent you all my servants the prophets, sending them early and persistently, saying, ‘Please do not do this abominable thing that I hate.’ But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their evil and stop burning incense to other gods. So my wrath and anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. They became ruins and a desolation, as they are today. Now thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, cutting off man and woman, child and nursing infant from Judah, leaving yourselves no remnant, provoking me to anger with the works of your hands by burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have come to reside? Why bring about your own destruction and become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of his wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? To this day they have not humbled themselves or feared, nor have they walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and your fathers. Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I am setting my face against you for disaster and to cut off all Judah. I will take the remnant of Judah who determined to enter the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all perish in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword and perish by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword and famine and become an object of imprecation, horror, cursing, and reproach. I will punish those living in the land of Egypt as I punished Jerusalem, by sword, famine, and pestilence. None of the remnant of Judah who have come to reside in the land of Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, where they long to return and live. They will not return, except for fugitives.” Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women standing there, a great assembly, and all the people living in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah: “As for the word you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. We will certainly do everything we have promised with our mouths: burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we and our fathers, our kings and officials did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of bread, were well, and saw no disaster. But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have perished by sword and famine. When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes bearing her image and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands?” Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer: “The incense you burned in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—you and your fathers, your kings and officials, and the people of the land—did the LORD not remember it, and did it not come to his mind? The LORD could no longer bear the evil of your deeds and the abominations you committed. So your land became a ruin, a horror, and a curse, without inhabitants, as it is today. Because you burned incense and sinned against the LORD, did not obey the voice of the LORD, and did not walk in his law, his statutes, and his testimonies, this disaster has come upon you, as it has today.” Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah in the land of Egypt: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and carried it out with your hands, saying, “We will certainly fulfill the vows we made to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” Go ahead, confirm your vows! Carry out your vows! Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah living in the land of Egypt. Look, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name will no longer be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord GOD lives.” Look, I am watching over them for disaster, not for good. All the men of Judah in the land of Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are consumed. Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number. All the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. This will be the sign to you, declares the LORD, that I am punishing you in this place, so that you may know that my words against you for disaster will surely stand. Thus says the LORD: Look, I am giving Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’”

Rights and attribution