Jer 44
1
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews that dwelt in the land of Egypt,
that dwelt at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros,
saying,
2
Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I have
brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they
are a desolation, and no man dwells therein,
3
because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that
they went to burn incense, [and] to serve other gods, that they knew not, neither
they, nor you, nor your fathers.
4
Nevertheless I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending
them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
5
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn
no incense to other gods.
6
Wherefore my anger and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities
of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it
is this day.
7
Therefore now thus says YHWH, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Wherefore commit
you [this] great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant
and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, to leave you none remaining;
8
in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other
gods in the land of Egypt, where you are gone to sojourn; that you may be cut off,
and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
9
Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings
of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness
of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10
They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my
law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.
11
Therefore thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against
you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.
12
And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land
of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall
they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they shall die,
from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall
be an execration, [and] an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
13
For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem,
by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence;
14
so that none of the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn
there, shall escape or be left, to return into the land of Judah, to which they have
a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save such as shall escape.
15
Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the
women that stood by, a great assembly, even all the people that dwelt in the land
of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
16
As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of YHWH, we will not hearken
to you.
17
But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn
incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we have
done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in
the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw
no evil.
18
But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out drink-offerings
to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the
famine.
19
And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink-offerings
to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink-offerings to her,
without our husbands?
20
Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the
people that had given him whom answer, saying,
21
The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem,
you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did
not YHWH remember them, and came it not into his mind?
22
so that YHWH could not longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because
of the abominations which you have committed; therefore is your land become a desolation,
and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.
23
Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against YHWH, and have
not obeyed the voice of YHWH, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his
testimonies; therefore this evil is happened to you, as it is this day.
24
Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of YHWH,
all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:
25
Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, You and your wives have both spoken
with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, We will surely perform
our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out
drink-offerings to her: establish then your vows, and perform your vows.
26
Therefore hear you the word of YHWH, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold,
I have sworn by my great name, says YHWH, that my name shall no more be named in the
mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the Lord YHWH lives.
27
Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah that
are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there
be an end of them.
28
And they that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land
of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land
of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, or theirs.
29
And this shall be the sign to you, says YHWH, that I will punish you in this place,
that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:
30
Thus says YHWH, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of
his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king
of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought
his life.