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.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.