Jeremiah 44
44
Judgment for Idolatry
1This is the message Jeremiah received concerning the Judeans living in northern Egypt in the cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis,#44:1a Hebrew Noph. and in southern Egypt#44:1b Hebrew in Pathros. as well: 2“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: You saw the calamity I brought on Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah. They now lie deserted and in ruins. 3They provoked my anger with all their wickedness. They burned incense and worshiped other gods—gods that neither they nor you nor any of your ancestors had ever even known.
4“Again and again I sent my servants, the prophets, to plead with them, ‘Don’t do these horrible things that I hate so much.’ 5But my people would not listen or turn back from their wicked ways. They kept on burning incense to these gods. 6And so my fury boiled over and fell like fire on the towns of Judah and into the streets of Jerusalem, and they are still a desolate ruin today.
7“And now the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, asks you: Why are you destroying yourselves? For not one of you will survive—not a man, woman, or child among you who has come here from Judah, not even the babies in your arms. 8Why provoke my anger by burning incense to the idols you have made here in Egypt? You will only destroy yourselves and make yourselves an object of cursing and mockery for all the nations of the earth. 9Have you forgotten the sins of your ancestors, the sins of the kings and queens of Judah, and the sins you and your wives committed in Judah and Jerusalem? 10To this very hour you have shown no remorse or reverence. No one has chosen to follow my word and the decrees I gave to you and your ancestors before you.
11“Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am determined to destroy every one of you! 12I will take this remnant of Judah—those who were determined to come here and live in Egypt—and I will consume them. They will fall here in Egypt, killed by war and famine. All will die, from the least to the greatest. They will be an object of damnation, horror, cursing, and mockery. 13I will punish them in Egypt just as I punished them in Jerusalem, by war, famine, and disease. 14Of that remnant who fled to Egypt, hoping someday to return to Judah, there will be no survivors. Even though they long to return home, only a handful will do so.”
15Then all the women present and all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to idols—a great crowd of all the Judeans living in northern Egypt and southern Egypt#44:15 Hebrew in Egypt, in Pathros.—answered Jeremiah, 16“We will not listen to your messages from the Lord! 17We will do whatever we want. We will burn incense and pour out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven just as much as we like—just as we, and our ancestors, and our kings and officials have always done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For in those days we had plenty to eat, and we were well off and had no troubles! 18But ever since we quit burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and stopped worshiping her with liquid offerings, we have been in great trouble and have been dying from war and famine.”
19“Besides,” the women added, “do you suppose that we were burning incense and pouring out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven, and making cakes marked with her image, without our husbands knowing it and helping us? Of course not!”
20Then Jeremiah said to all of them, men and women alike, who had given him that answer, 21“Do you think the Lord did not know that you and your ancestors, your kings and officials, and all the people were burning incense to idols in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 22It was because the Lord could no longer bear all the disgusting things you were doing that he made your land an object of cursing—a desolate ruin without inhabitants—as it is today. 23All these terrible things happened to you because you have burned incense to idols and sinned against the Lord. You have refused to obey him and have not followed his instructions, his decrees, and his laws.”
24Then Jeremiah said to them all, including the women, “Listen to this message from the Lord, all you citizens of Judah who live in Egypt. 25This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You and your wives have said, “We will keep our promises to burn incense and pour out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven,” and you have proved by your actions that you meant it. So go ahead and carry out your promises and vows to her!’
26“But listen to this message from the Lord, all you Judeans now living in Egypt: ‘I have sworn by my great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that my name will no longer be spoken by any of the Judeans in the land of Egypt. None of you may invoke my name or use this oath: “As surely as the Sovereign Lord lives.” 27For I will watch over you to bring you disaster and not good. Everyone from Judah who is now living in Egypt will suffer war and famine until all of you are dead. 28Only a small number will escape death and return to Judah from Egypt. Then all those who came to Egypt will find out whose words are true—mine or theirs!
29“‘And this is the proof I give you,’ says the Lord, ‘that all I have threatened will happen to you and that I will punish you here.’ 30This is what the Lord says: ‘I will turn Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, over to his enemies who want to kill him, just as I turned King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar#44:30 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar. of Babylon.’”
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Jeremiah 44: NLT
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Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 44
44
1The word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the Yehuḏim who were dwelling in the land of Mitsrayim – who were dwelling at Miḡdol, and at Taḥpanḥes, and at Noph, and in the land of Pathros, saying,
2“Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘You yourselves have seen all the evil that I have brought on Yerushalayim and on all the cities of Yehuḏah. And see, this day they are a ruin, and no one dwells in them,
3because of their evil which they have done to provoke Me, by going to burn incense by serving other mighty ones whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers.
4And I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Please do not do this abominable matter that I hate!”
5But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil, not to burn incense to other mighty ones.
6So My wrath and My displeasure were poured out and burned in the cities of Yehuḏah and in the streets of Yerushalayim, and they became a ruin and a wasteland, as it is this day.’
7“And now, thus said יהוה, the Elohim of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Why are you doing this great evil against your lives, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, from the midst of Yehuḏah, leaving none to remain,
8by provoking Me with the works of your hands, by burning incense to other mighty ones in the land of Mitsrayim where you have gone to dwell, to cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
9Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the sovereigns of Yehuḏah, and the evils of their wives, and your own evils, and the evils of your wives, which they have done in the land of Yehuḏah and in the streets of Yerushalayim?
10To this day they have not been humbled, nor have they feared, nor have they walked in My Torah and in My laws that I set before you and your fathers.’
11“Therefore thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘See, I am setting My face against you for evil and for cutting off all Yehuḏah.
12And I shall take the remnant of Yehuḏah who have set their faces to go into the land of Mitsrayim to sojourn there. And they shall all be consumed in the land of Mitsrayim – fall by the sword, consumed by scarcity of food. From the least to the greatest they shall die, by the sword and by scarcity of food. And they shall be an oath and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach!
13And I shall punish those dwelling in the land of Mitsrayim, as I have punished Yerushalayim, by the sword, by scarcity of food, and by pestilence.
14And none of the remnant of Yehuḏah who have gone into the land of Mitsrayim to sojourn there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Yehuḏah, to which they are longing to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except those who escape.’ ”
15Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other mighty ones, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim, in Pathros, answered Yirmeyahu, saying,
16“We are not going to listen to you in the matter about which you spoke to us in the Name of יהוה!
17“But we shall do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our sovereigns and our heads, in the cities of Yehuḏah and in the streets of Yerushalayim. And we had plenty of food, and were well-off, and saw no evil.
18“But since we ceased burning incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all and have been consumed by the sword and by scarcity of food.
19“And when we burned incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to idolize her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?”
20Then Yirmeyahu spoke to all the people – to the men and to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,
21“As for the incense that you burned in the cities of Yehuḏah and in the streets of Yerushalayim, you and your fathers, your sovereigns and your heads, and the people of the land, did not יהוה remember them? And it came into His heart!
22“And יהוה could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your deeds and because of the abominations which you did. Therefore your land is a ruin, an object of astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day.
23“Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against יהוה, and did not obey the voice of יהוה or walk in His Torah, in His laws or in His witnesses, therefore this evil did befall you, as at this day.”
24And Yirmeyahu said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of יהוה, all Yehuḏah who are in the land of Mitsrayim!
25“Thus spoke יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths, and have filled with your hands, saying, “We shall perform our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and pour out drink offerings to her.” Then confirm your vows and perform your vows!’
26“Therefore hear the word of יהוה, all Yehuḏah who are dwelling in the land of Mitsrayim, ‘See, I have sworn by My great Name,’ declares יהוה, ‘My Name shall no longer be called upon by the mouth of any man of Yehuḏah in all the land of Mitsrayim, saying, “As the Master יהוה lives...”
27See, I am watching over them for evil and not for good. And all the men of Yehuḏah who are in the land of Mitsrayim shall be consumed by the sword and by scarcity of food, until they come to an end.
28And those who escape the sword, few in number, shall return from the land of Mitsrayim to the land of Yehuḏah. And all the remnant of Yehuḏah, who came into the land of Mitsrayim to sojourn there, shall know whose word is established, Mine or theirs.
29And this is the sign to you,’ declares יהוה, ‘that I am punishing you in this place, so that you know that My words are certainly established against you for evil.’
30“Thus said יהוה, ‘See, I am giving Pharaoh Ḥophra sovereign of Mitsrayim into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Tsiḏqiyahu sovereign of Yehuḏah into the hand of Neḇuḵaḏretstsar sovereign of Baḇel, his enemy who sought his life.’ ”
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