Jeremiah 44
44
Jeremiah’s final words to Judeans in Egypt
1Jeremiah received the LORD’s word for the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, those living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis and in the land of Pathros. 2The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: You have seen the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. They are now a wasteland with no one left 3because of their evil ways. They have angered me by making offerings and worshipping other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors knew. 4Yet time and again I sent you all my servants the prophets, saying, “Don’t do these detestable things that I hate.” 5But they wouldn’t listen or pay attention or turn from their evil ways. They continued making offerings to other gods. 6So my fierce anger poured out and blazed against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. And they were reduced to an utter wasteland, as they are today.
7Now the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Why are you committing this huge mistake that will cost you your lives? Every man, woman, child, and infant will be eliminated from the midst of Judah, and no one will be left. 8Why do you anger me by what you do: by burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live? You will be eliminated and become an object of cursing and disgrace among all the nations of the earth. 9Have you forgotten the sins of your ancestors and the sins of the kings of Judah and their wives?#44.9 Heb his wives Have you forgotten the sins that you and your wives committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10To this day you#44.10 Or they haven’t shown any sorrow for what you have done. And you haven’t revered me or followed my Instruction and my laws that I set before you and your ancestors.
11Therefore, the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I’m determined to bring disaster on you, to eliminate all of Judah. 12I will take the few remaining Judeans who were determined to go to the land of Egypt to live. They will all perish there. They will fall by the sword and perish due to famine. The least to the greatest will die by the sword and by famine. They will become an object of cursing, scorn, contempt, and disgrace. 13I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem with war, famine, and disease. 14From the few remaining in Judah, no fugitive or survivor who came to live here in the land of Egypt will be able to return to the land of Judah. Even though they want to return and live there, they won’t be able to return, except for some fugitives.
15Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, along with the great crowd of women who were present, as well as the people living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, all answered Jeremiah: 16“We’re not going to listen to a word you have said to us in the LORD’s name! 17No, we’re going to do exactly what we want: We’re going to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, have done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty to eat and we were thriving; we didn’t have any troubles. 18But ever since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring drink offerings to her, we have been destroyed by the sword and by famine.”
19And the women added,#44.19 Syr; MT lacks and the women added. “Do you think that we burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour drink offerings to her without our husbands’ support when we make cakes in her image and pour drink offerings to her?”
20Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women alike, in fact everyone who had spoken this way: 21“Do you really think the LORD was unaware of what you were up to in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? Don’t you think the LORD knew that you and your ancestors were making offerings to other gods#44.21 Heb lacks to other gods.—along with your kings and officials, and the people of the land? 22It got so bad that the LORD could no longer bear your evil and shameless acts; it was at that point that your land was reduced to an utter wasteland and a curse, as it is today. 23The current dire situation occurred because you made offerings to other gods#44.23 Heb lacks to other gods. and sinned against the LORD—because you wouldn’t obey the LORD or follow the LORD’s instruction, laws, or warnings.”
24Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women: Listen to the LORD’s word, all you Judeans in the land of Egypt. 25The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: You and your wives have done exactly what you said you would do. You said, “We will definitely fulfill our promise to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” Go ahead and keep your promises! 26But listen to the LORD’s word, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt. I swear by my great name, says the LORD, that no one from Judah living in Egypt will utter my name again, even in the solemn pledge: “As surely as the LORD God lives.” 27I’m watching over them for harm and not for good. Everyone from Judah who is living in the land of Egypt will die by the sword and by famine, until all are gone. 28Those who actually survive war and return from Egypt to the land of Judah will be very few. Then the few remaining Judeans living in Egypt will know for certain whose word is true—mine or theirs! 29And this will be a sign for you, declares the LORD: I will punish you here so that you know my threats against you will surely be fulfilled. 30The LORD proclaims: I will hand Pharaoh Hophra, Egypt’s king, over to his enemies who seek to kill him, just as I delivered Judah’s King Zedekiah over to his enemy King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who sought to kill him.
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Jeremiah 44: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. 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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