Jeremiah 44
44
Israelites Will Be Punished in Egypt
1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at #Ex. 14:2; Jer. 46:14Migdol, at #Jer. 43:7; Ezek. 30:18Tahpanhes, at #Is. 19:13; Jer. 2:16; 46:14; Ezek. 30:13, 16; Hos. 9:6Noph, and in the country of #Is. 11:11; Ezek. 29:14; 30:14Pathros, saying, 2“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are #Is. 6:11; Jer. 4:7; 9:11; 34:22; Mic. 3:12a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went #Jer. 19:4to burn incense and to #Deut. 13:6; 32:17serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. 4However #2 Chr. 36:15; Jer. 7:25; 25:4; 26:5; 29:19; Zech. 7:7I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!” 5But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. 6So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.’
7“Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Why do you commit this great evil #Num. 16:38; Jer. 7:19; (Ezek. 33:11); Hab. 2:10against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain, 8in that you #2 Kin. 17:15–17; Jer. 25:6, 7; 44:3; 1 Cor. 10:21, 22provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be #1 Kin. 9:7, 8; 2 Chr. 7:20; Jer. 42:18a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10They have not been #2 Chr. 36:12; Jer. 6:15; 8:12; Dan. 5:22humbled, to this day, nor have they #(Prov. 28:14)feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.’
11“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, #Lev. 17:10; 20:5, 6; Jer. 21:10; Amos 9:4I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for cutting off all Judah. 12And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and #Jer. 42:15–17, 22they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and #Is. 65:15; Jer. 42:18they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach! 13#Jer. 43:11For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, 14so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they #Jer. 22:26, 27desire to return and dwell. For #(Is. 4:2; 10:20); Jer. 44:28; (Rom. 9:27)none shall return except those who escape.’ ”
15Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who 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 the Lord, #Jer. 6:16we will not listen to you! 17But we will certainly do #Num. 30:12; Deut. 23:23; Judg. 11:36whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the #2 Kin. 17:16; Jer. 7:18queen of heaven and 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 we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. 18But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”
19The women also said, #Jer. 7:18“And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ permission?”
20Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that 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 the Lord remember them, and did it not come into His mind? 22So the Lord could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, #Jer. 25:11, 18, 38as it is this day. 23Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, #1 Kin. 9:9; Neh. 13:18; Jer. 44:2; Dan. 9:11, 12therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.”
24Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! 25Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, “We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!’ 26Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, #Gen. 22:16; Deut. 32:40, 41; Jer. 22:5; Amos 6:8; Heb. 6:13I have sworn by My #Jer. 10:6great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that #Neh. 9:5; Ps. 50:16; Ezek. 20:39My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God lives.” 27Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt #Jer. 1:10; 31:28; Ezek. 7:6shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them. 28Yet #Is. 10:19; 27:12, 13a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs. 29And this shall be a sign to you,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely #(Ps. 33:11)stand against you for adversity.’
30“Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, #Jer. 46:25, 26; Ezek. 29:3; 30:21I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave #2 Kin. 25:4–7; Jer. 39:5Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’ ”
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Jeremiah 44: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 44
44
1 The word that came through Jeremiah to all the Jews who were living in the land of Egypt, living at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying:
2 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You yourselves have seen all this evil that I have led over Jerusalem and over all the cities of Judah. And behold, they are desolate to this day, and there is no inhabitant in them,
3 because of the wickedness which they have done, so that they provoked me to wrath, and because they went to offer sacrifice and worship to strange gods, which neither they, nor you, nor your fathers knew.
4 And I sent to you all my servants, the prophets, rising in the night, and sending, and saying: 'Do not choose to do this abominable word, which I hate.'
5 But they did not listen, nor did they incline their ear, so that they would convert from their evil, and so that they would not sacrifice to strange gods.
6 And so my indignation and my fury was fanned and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they have been turned into desolation and devastation, just as it is this day.
7 And now, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against your own souls, so that, among you, man and woman, child and infant would pass away from the midst of Judah, and so that no remnant at all would be left behind of you?
8 For you have provoked me by the works of your hands, by sacrificing to strange gods in the land of Egypt, into which you have entered in order to live there, and so that you would perish and become a curse and a disgrace before all the nations of the earth.
9 How could you have forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the kings of Judah, and the evils of their wives, and your own evils, and the evils of your own wives, which they have done in the land of Judah and in the regions of Jerusalem?
10 They have not been cleansed, even to this day. And they have not feared, and they have not walked in the law of the Lord and in my precepts, which I have given before you and before your fathers.
11 For this reason, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face upon you for evil. And I will disperse all of Judah.
12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, who had set their faces so that they would enter into the land of Egypt and live there, and they will all be consumed in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword and by famine. And they will be consumed, from the least, even to the greatest. By sword and by famine shall they die. And they will be an oath, and a wonder, and a curse, and a disgrace.
13 And I will visit against those who are living in the land of Egypt, just as I have visited against Jerusalem: with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence.
14 And there will be no one who escapes, of those who remain among the remnant of the Jews, those who have gone to sojourn in the land of Egypt. And they wish to be returned to the land of Judah, for they lift up their souls so that they might return and live there. But there will be no one who may return, except those who will flee."
15 Then all the men, knowing that their wives were sacrificing to strange gods, and all of the women, a great multitude of whom were standing there, and all of the people who were living in the land of Egypt at Pathros, responded to Jeremiah, by saying:
16 "Concerning the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not heed you.
17 But we will continue to do every word which proceeds from our own mouth, so that we sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and we pour out libations to her, just as we and our fathers have done, our kings and our leaders, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For we were filled with bread, and it was well with us, and we saw no evil.
18 But since the time that we ceased to offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to pour out libations to her, we have been in need of all things, and we have been consumed by the sword and by famine.
19 But when we offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, do we make cakes for her worship and offer libations to her without our husbands?"
20 And Jeremiah spoke to all the people, facing the men, and facing the women, and facing all the people who had responded this word to him, saying:
21 "Was this not the sacrifice that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land, which has been called to mind by the Lord and which has entered into his heart?
22 And the Lord could no longer bear this, because of the evil of your intentions, and because of the abominations that you have done. And so, your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, and it is without an inhabitant, even to this day.
23 This is because you have sacrificed to idols, and you have sinned against the Lord. And you have not heeded the voice of the Lord, and you have not walked in his law, and in his precepts, and in his testimonies. It is for this reason that these evils have happened to you, just as it is today."
24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women: "Listen to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt:
25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have spoken it with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying: 'Let us perform our vows that we have made, so that we may offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and pour out libations to her.' You have fulfilled your vows and accomplished their works.
26 Because of this, listen to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who live in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, that my name will never again be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in the land of Egypt, saying: 'As the Lord God lives.'
27 Behold, I will be vigilant over them for harm, and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed, by the sword and by famine, until they are thoroughly consumed.
28 And a few men, who will flee from the sword, will return from the land of Egypt into the land of Judah. And all the remnant of Judah, who had entered into the land of Egypt so as to live there, will know whose word will be completed, mine or theirs.
29 And this will be a sign to you, says the Lord, that I will visit against you in this place, so that truly you may know that my words will be completed against you for harm."
30 Thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will deliver Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who are seeking his life, just as I delivered Zedekiah, the king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, his enemy and the one who was seeking his life."
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