Jeremiah 44
44
God’s Judgment against His People in Egypt
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt — at Migdol,#Ex 14:2; Nm 33:7; Jr 46:14; Ezk 29:10 Tahpanhes,#Jr 2:16; 43:7–9; 46:14 Memphis,#Is 19:13; Jr 2:16; 46:14,19; Ezk 30:13,16; Hs 9:6 and in the land of Pathros:#Is 11:11; Ezk 29:14; 30:14 2“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You have seen all the disaster I brought against Jerusalem and all Judah’s cities. Look, they are a ruin today without an inhabitant in them#Jos 8:26; Is 5:9; 6:11; Jr 2:15; 4:29; 6:8; 33:10; 34:22; 44:22; 48:9; 51:37; Zph 3:6 3because of the evil they committed to anger me,#Jr 7:19 by going and burning incense to serve other gods that they, you, and your ancestors did not know.#2Kg 22:17; 2Ch 28:25; 34:25; Jr 1:16; 7:9; 19:4,13; 32:29 4So I sent you all my servants the prophets time and time again,#44:4 Lit prophets, rising up early and sending#Jr 7:13,25; 11:7; 25:3; 26:5; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14,15 saying, ‘Don’t commit this detestable action that I hate.’ 5But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their evil or stop burning incense to other gods. 6So my fierce wrath poured out and burned in Judah’s cities and Jerusalem’s streets#Jr 7:34 so that they became the desolate ruin they are today.
7“So now, this is what the Lord, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such terrible harm to yourselves? You are cutting off man and woman, infant and nursing baby#1Sm 15:3; 22:19 from Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant.#Jr 11:23; 40:15; 44:15; Ezr 9:14 8You are angering me by the work of your hands. You are burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to stay for a while. As a result, you will be cut off and become an example for cursing and insult among all the nations of earth.#Jr 24:9; 42:18; 44:12; 49:13 9Have you forgotten the evils of your ancestors, the evils of Judah’s kings, the evils of their wives, your own evils, and the evils of your wives that were committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10They have not become humble to this day, and they have not feared or followed my instruction or my statutes that I set before you and your ancestors.
11“Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to set my face against you to bring disaster,#Jr 21:10 to cut off all Judah.#1Sm 20:15; Ps 109:13; Is 10:7; Jr 9:21; 47:4; 51:62; Ob 14 12And I will take away the remnant of Judah,#Jr 42:15–18 those who have set their face to go to the land of Egypt to stay there. All of them will meet their end in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword; they will meet their end by famine. From the least to the greatest,#Est 1:20; Jr 6:13; 8:10; 31:34; 42:1; 42:8 they will die by the sword and by famine. Then they will become an example for cursing, scorn,#Jr 18:16 execration, and disgrace.#Dt 28:37; 2Ch 29:8; 30:7; Jr 5:30; 18:16; 19:8; 25:9,18; 29:18; 42:18; 44:22; 49:17; 50:13; Mc 6:16; Zph 2:15 13I will punish those living in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem by sword, famine, and plague. 14Then the remnant of Judah — those going to live for a while there in the land of Egypt — will have no fugitive or survivor to return to the land of Judah where they are longing#44:14 Lit lifting up their soul to return to stay,#Jr 22:26–27 for they will not return except for a few fugitives.”
The People’s Stubborn Response
15However, all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women standing by — a great assembly — and all the people who were living in the land of Egypt at Pathros answered Jeremiah, 16“As for the word you spoke to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you! 17Instead, we will do everything we promised:#44:17 Lit do every word that came from our mouth we will burn incense to the queen of heaven#44:17 = Ashtoreth, or Astarte and offer drink offerings to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our officials did in Judah’s cities#Jr 7:18 and in Jerusalem’s streets. Then we had enough food, we were well off, and we saw no disaster, 18but from the time we ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to offer her drink offerings, we have lacked everything, and through sword and famine we have met our end.”#Jr 14:15; 16:4
19And the women said,#44:19 LXX, Syr; MT omits And the women said “When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it apart from our husbands’ knowledge#Nm 30:6–7 that we made sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”
20But Jeremiah responded to all the people — the men, women, and all the people who were answering him: 21“As for the incense you burned in Judah’s cities#Ezk 8:10–11 and in Jerusalem’s streets — you, your ancestors, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land — did the Lord not remember them? He brought this to mind. 22The Lord can no longer bear your evil deeds and the detestable acts you have committed,#Is 1:14; 7:13; 43:24; Jr 15:6; Mal 2:17 so your land has become a waste, a desolation, and an example for cursing, without inhabitant, as you see today. 23Because you burned incense and sinned against the Lord and didn’t obey the Lord#Jr 40:3 and didn’t follow his instruction, his statutes, and his testimonies, this disaster has come to you, as you see today.”
24Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt.#Jr 43:7 25This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘As for you and your wives, you women have spoken with your mouths, and you men fulfilled it by your deeds, saying, “We will keep our vows that we have made to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings for her.” Go ahead, confirm your vows! Keep your vows!’
26“Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: ‘I have sworn by my great name,#Gn 22:16; 1Sm 3:14; Ps 89:3,35; Is 45:23; 54:9; Jr 22:5; 49:13 says the Lord, that my name will never again be invoked by anyone of Judah in all the land of Egypt,#Ezk 20:39 saying, “As the Lord God lives.” 27I am watching over them for disaster and not for good,#Jr 21:10; 31:28; 39:16; Am 9:4 and everyone from Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine until they are finished off. 28Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah only few in number,#Is 27:12–13 and the whole remnant of Judah, the ones going to the land of Egypt to stay there for a while, will know whose word stands, mine or theirs! 29This will be a sign to you’ — this is the Lord’s declaration — ‘that I will punish you in this place, so you may know that my words of disaster concerning you will certainly come to pass.#Pr 19:21 30This is what the Lord says: I am about to hand over Pharaoh Hophra,#Ezk 29:3; 30:21 Egypt’s king, to his enemies, to those who intend to take his life, just as I handed over Judah’s King Zedekiah#Jr 39:5–7 to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, who was his enemy, the one who intended to take his life.’”
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Jeremiah 44: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
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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