Jeremiah 44
44
The Lord Will Destroy the People of Judah
1The Lord told me to speak with the Jews who were living in the towns of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis in northern Egypt, and also to those living in southern Egypt. He told me to tell them:
2I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel. You saw how I destroyed Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. They lie empty and in ruins today, 3because the people of Judah made me angry by worshiping gods that had never helped them or their ancestors.
4Time after time I sent my servants the prophets to tell the people of Judah how much I hated their disgusting sins. The prophets warned them to stop sinning, 5but they refused to listen and would not stop worshiping other gods. 6Finally, my anger struck like a raging flood, and today Jerusalem and the towns of Judah are nothing but empty ruins.
7Why do you now insist on heading for another disaster? A disaster that will destroy not only you, but also your children and babies. 8You have made me angry by worshiping idols and burning incense to other gods after you came here to Egypt. You will die such a disgusting death, that other nations will use the name of Judah as a curse word. 9When you were living in Jerusalem and Judah, you followed the example of your ancestors in doing evil things, just like your kings and queens. 10Even now, your pride keeps you from respecting me and obeying the laws and teachings I gave you and your ancestors.
11I, the Lord All-Powerful, have decided to wipe you out with disasters. 12There were only a few of you left in Judah, and you decided to go to Egypt. But you will die such horrible deaths in war or from starvation, that people of other countries will use the name of Judah as a curse word. 13I punished Jerusalem with war, hunger, and disease, and that's how I will punish you. 14None of you will survive. You may hope to return to Judah someday, but only a very few of you will escape death and be able to go back.
The People Refuse To Worship the Lord
15A large number of Jews from both northern and southern Egypt listened to me as I told them what the Lord had said. Most of the men in the crowd knew that their wives often burned incense to other gods. So they and their wives shouted:
16Jeremiah, what do we care if you speak in the Lord's name? We refuse to listen! 17We have promised to worship the goddess Astarte, the Queen of Heaven,#44.17 the goddess Astarte, the Queen of Heaven: The Hebrew text has “the queen of heaven,” which probably refers to the goddess Astarte. and that is exactly what we are going to do. We will burn incense and offer sacrifices of wine to her, just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did when we lived in Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah. We had plenty of food back then. We were well off, and nothing bad ever happened to us. 18But since the time we stopped burning incense and offering wine sacrifices to her, we have been dying from war and hunger.
19Then the women said, “When we lived in Judah, we worshiped the Queen of Heaven and offered sacrifices of wine and special loaves of bread shaped like her. Our husbands knew what we were doing, and they approved of it.”
20Then I told the crowd:
21Don't you think the Lord knew that you and your ancestors, your leaders and kings, and the rest of the people were burning incense to other gods in Jerusalem and everywhere else in Judah? 22And when he could no longer put up with your disgusting sins, he placed a curse on your land and turned it into a desert, as it is today. 23This disaster happened because you worshiped other gods and rebelled against the Lord by refusing to obey him or follow his laws and teachings.
24-25Then I told the men and their wives, that the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, had said:
Here in Egypt you still keep your promises to burn incense and offer sacrifices of wine to the so-called Queen of Heaven. 26Keep these promises! But let me tell you what will happen. As surely as I am the Lord God, I swear that I will never again accept any promises you make in my name. 27Instead of watching over you, I will watch for chances to harm you. Some of you will die in war, and others will starve to death. 28Only a few will escape and return to Judah. Then everyone who went to live in Egypt will know that when I say something will happen, it will—no matter what you say.
29And here is how you will know that I will keep my threats to punish you in Egypt. 30#2 K 25.1-7. I will hand over King Hophra of Egypt to those who want to kill him,#44.30 King Hophra … kill him: Hophra, also known as Apries, ruled Egypt from 589 to 570 b.c., when he was killed by Ahmosis II, who then became king of Egypt and ruled until 526 b.c. just as I handed Zedekiah#44.30 Zedekiah: See the note at 1.3. over to Nebuchadnezzar,#44.30 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. who wanted to kill him.
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 44: CEVDCI
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremias (Jeremiah) 44
44
1The word that came to Jeremias, concerning all the Jews that dwelt in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Magdal and in Taphnis and in Memphis and in the land of Phatures, saying:
2Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all this evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Juda. And, behold, they are desolate this day, and there is not an inhabitant in them:
3Because of the wickedness which they have committed, to provoke me to wrath, and to go and offer sacrifice and worship other gods which neither they, nor you nor your fathers knew.
4And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending, and saying: Do not commit this abominable thing which I hate.
5But they heard not nor inclined their ear to turn from their evil ways and not to sacrifice to strange gods.
6Wherefore my indignation and my fury was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Juda and in the streets of Jerusalem: and they are turned to desolation and waste, as at this day.
7And now thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against your own souls, that there should die of you man and woman, child and suckling, out of the midst of Juda, and no remnant should be left you:
8In that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, by sacrificing to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which you are come to dwell there: and that you should perish and be a curse and a reproach to all the nations of the earth?
9Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers and the evils of the kings of Juda and the evils of their wives and your evils and the evils of your wives, that they have done in the land of Juda and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10They are not cleansed even to this day: neither have they feared nor walked in the law of the Lord nor in my commandments which I set before you and your fathers.
11Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face upon you for evil: and I will destroy all Juda.
12And I will take the remnant of Juda that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt and to dwell there: and they shall be all consumed in the land of Egypt. They shall fall by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be consumed from the least even to the greatest. By the sword, and by the famine shall they die: and they shall be for an execration and for a wonder and for a curse and for a reproach.
13And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have visited Jerusalem, by the sword and by famine and by pestilence.
14And there shall be none that shall escape and remain of the remnant of the Jews that are gone to sojourn in the land of Egypt, and that shall return into the land of Juda, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there. There shall none return but they that shall flee.
15Then all the men that knew that their wives sacrificed to other gods, and all the women of whom there stood by a great multitude, and all the people of them that dwelt in the land of Egypt in Phatures, answered Jeremias, saying:
16As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken to thee:
17But we will certainly do every word that shall proceed out of our own mouth, to sacrifice to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we and our fathers have done, our kings, and our princes in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and we were filled with bread, and it was well with us, and we saw no evil.
18But since we left off to offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink-offerings to her, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.
19And if we offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven and pour out drink-offerings to her: did we make cakes to worship her, to pour out drink-offerings to her, without our husbands?
20And Jeremias spoke to all the people, to the men and to the women and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying:
21Was it not the sacrifice that you offered in the cities of Juda and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, which the Lord hath remembered: and hath it not entered into his heart?
22So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land is become a desolation and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.
23Because you have sacrificed to idols and have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have not walked in his law and in his commandments and in his testimonies: therefore are these evils come upon you, as at this day.
24And Jeremias said to all the people and to all the women: Hear ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell in the land of Egypt.
25Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have spoken with your mouth and fulfilled with your hands, saying: Let us perform our vows which we have made, to offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink-offerings to her. You have fulfilled your vows and have performed them indeed.
26Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Juda, in the land of Egypt, saying: The Lord God liveth.
27Behold, I will watch over them for evil and not for good: and all the men of Juda that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine till there be an end of them.
28And a few men that shall flee from the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Juda: and all the remnant of Juda that are gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs.
29And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place: that you may know that my words shall be accomplished indeed against you for evil.
30Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will deliver Pharao Ephree king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of them that seek his life: as I delivered Sedecias king of Juda into the hand of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon his enemy and that sought his life.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.