Jeremiah 44
44
The LORD's Message to the Israelites in Egypt
1The LORD spoke to me concerning all the Israelites living in Egypt, in the cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the southern part of the country. 2The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, said, “You yourselves have seen the destruction I brought on Jerusalem and all the other cities of Judah. Even now they are still in ruins, and no one lives in them 3because their people had done evil and had made me angry. They offered sacrifices to other gods and served gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever worshipped. 4I kept sending you my servants the prophets, who told you not to do this terrible thing that I hate. 5But you would not listen or pay any attention. You would not give up your evil practice of sacrificing to other gods. 6So I poured out my anger and fury on the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, and I set them on fire. They were left in ruins and became a horrifying sight, as they are today.
7“And so I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, now ask why you are doing such an evil thing to yourselves. Do you want to bring destruction on men and women, children and babies, so that none of your people will be left? 8Why do you make me angry by worshipping idols and by sacrificing to other gods here in Egypt, where you have come to live? Are you doing this just to destroy yourselves, so that every nation on earth will treat you with scorn and use your name as a curse? 9Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their wives, and by you and your wives? 10But to this day you have not humbled yourselves. You have not honoured me or lived according to all the laws that I gave you and your ancestors.
11“So then, I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will turn against you and destroy all Judah. 12As for the people of Judah who are left and are determined to go and live in Egypt, I will see to it that all of them are destroyed. All of them, great and small, will die in Egypt, either in war or of starvation. They will be a horrifying sight; people will treat them with scorn and use their name as a curse. 13I will punish those who live in Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem — with war, starvation, and disease. 14None of the people of Judah who are left and have come to Egypt to live will escape or survive. Not one of them will return to Judah, where they long to live once again. No one will return except a few refugees.”
15Then all the men who knew that their wives offered sacrifices to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, including the Israelites who lived in southern Egypt — a large crowd in all — said to me, 16“We refuse to listen to what you have told us in the name of the LORD. 17We will do everything that we said we would. We will offer sacrifices to our goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out wine offerings to her, just as we and our ancestors, our king and our leaders, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we were prosperous, and had no troubles. 18But ever since we stopped sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and stopped pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing, and our people have died in war and of starvation.”
19And the women added, “When we baked cakes shaped like the Queen of Heaven, offered sacrifices to her, and poured out wine offerings to her, our husbands approved of what we were doing.”
20Then I said to all the men and the women who had answered me in this way, 21“As for the sacrifices which you and your ancestors, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land offered in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem — do you think that the LORD did not know about them or that he forgot them? 22This very day your land lies in ruins and no one lives in it. It has become a horrifying sight, and people use its name as a curse because the LORD could no longer endure your wicked and evil practices. 23This present disaster has come on you because you offered sacrifices to other gods and sinned against the LORD by not obeying all his commands.”
24-25I told all the people, especially the women, what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, was saying to the people of Judah living in Egypt: “Both you and your wives have made solemn promises to the Queen of Heaven. You promised that you would offer sacrifices to her and pour out wine offerings to her, and you have kept your promises. Very well, then! Keep your promises! Carry out your vows! 26But now listen to the vow that I, the LORD, have made in my mighty name to all you Israelites in Egypt: never again will I let any of you use my name to make a vow by saying, ‘I swear by the living Sovereign LORD!’ 27I will see to it that you will not prosper, but will be destroyed. All of you will die, either in war or of disease, until not one of you is left. 28But a few of you will escape death and return from Egypt to Judah. Then the survivors will know whose words have come true, mine or theirs. 29I, the LORD, will give you proof that I will punish you in this place and that my promise to bring destruction on you will come true. 30#2 Kgs 25.1–7I will hand over King Hophra of Egypt to his enemies who want to kill him, just as I handed over King Zedekiah of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, who was his enemy and wanted to kill him.”
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 44: GNBDK
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 44
44
A Message of Rebuke for the Rebellious Remnant
1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, who were living at Migdol, and Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying,#Literally “to say” 2“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the towns of Judah. And look, they are a site of ruins this day, and there is not in them an inhabitant, 3because of#Literally “from the face of” their wickedness that they committed to provoke me to anger by going to make smoke offerings, serving other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, or your ancestors.#Or “fathers” 4And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending over and over again,#Literally “doing early and sending” saying,#Literally “to say” “Please, you must not do this detestable thing that I hate.” 5But they did not listen and they did not incline their ears#Hebrew “ear” to turn back from their wickedness, to not make smoke offerings to other gods. 6So my wrath and my anger were poured out#The Hebrew verb is singular and burned#The Hebrew verb is singular in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became as a site of ruins, as a desolation, as they are this day.’
7So then, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Why are you doing great harm to yourselves,#Literally “your lives” to cut off for yourselves man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah, to not leave over for yourselves a remnant, 8provoking me to anger with the works of your hands, to make smoke offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to dwell as aliens, so as to cut off yourselves, and so that you are becoming as a curse, and as a disgrace among all the nations of the earth? 9Have you forgotten the wicked things of your ancestors,#Or “fathers” and the wicked things of the kings of Judah, and the wicked things of their wives, and your wicked things, and the wicked things of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10They have not shown contrition up to this day, and they have not shown reverence, and they have not walked in my law and in my statutes that I set before you#Literally “to the face of you” and before#Literally “to the face of” your ancestors.’#Or “fathers”
11Therefore#Literally “To thus” thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Look, I am determined to bring disaster on you,#Literally “I am setting my face against you for disaster” even to exterminate all Judah.12And I will take away the remnant of Judah who are determined#Literally “who set their faces” to come to the land of Egypt to dwell as aliens there, and everyone will perish. They will fall in the land of Egypt by the sword; they will perish by the famine, from the smallest to the greatest. By the sword and by the famine they will die and become as a curse, as a horror, and as a curse, and as a disgrace. 13So I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt just as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague. 14And there will not be a survivor or an escapee of the remnant of Judah, those who have come to dwell as an alien there in the land of Egypt, to return to the land of Judah where they are longing#Literally “lifting up their soul” to return to dwell there, for they will not turn back, but only#Literally “but if” some survivors.’ ”
15Then all the men who knew that their wives were making smoke offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, and all the people who lived in the land of Egypt in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,#Literally “to say” 16“Concerning the word that you have spoken to us in the name of Yahweh, we are not going to listen to you! 17But certainly we will do everything#Literally “all the word” that went out from our mouths,#Hebrew “mouth” to make smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out to her libations just as we did, we, and our ancestors,#Or “fathers” our kings, and our officials, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for then we had enough to eat,#Literally “we satisfied ourselves with food” and we were well-off, and we did not see disaster. 18But since#Literally “from” we stopped making smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything, and by the sword and by the famine we have perished. 19And indeed, when we were making smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out#Literally “to pour out” to her libations, was it not with the consent of#Literally “from apart from” our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes marked with her image,#Literally “to the copying of her” and we poured out to her libations?”
20Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women, and to all the people who answered him a word, saying,#Literally “to say” 21“The offering that you made, smoke offerings in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your ancestors,#Or “fathers” your kings, and your officials, and the people of the land, did not Yahweh remember them, and did it not come to his mind?#Literally “heart” 22And Yahweh was no longer able to bear#Or “endure” it, because of#Literally “from the face of” the evil of your deeds, because of#Literally “from the face of” the detestable things that you committed. Thus your land became as a site of ruins, and as a horror, and as a curse, without#Literally “from there is not” inhabitants, as it is this day. 23Because of#Literally “From the face of” the fact that you made smoke offerings, and that you sinned against Yahweh, and you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you have not walked in his law, and in his statute, and in his legal provisions, therefore#Literally “unto thus” this disaster has happened to you, as it is this day.”
24Then Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt. 25Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying,#Literally “to say” ‘You and your wives have promised with your mouths#Hebrew “mouth” and with your hands#Hebrew “hand” you have fulfilled, saying,#Literally “to say” “We certainly will carry out our vows that we vowed, to make smoke offerings to the queen of the heavens,#Hebrew “heaven” and to pour out to her libations.” You must certainly keep your vows and you must certainly carry out your vows.’ 26Therefore#Literally “To thus” hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah, those who live in the land of Egypt: ‘Look, I hereby swear by my great name,’ says Yahweh, ‘surely my name will no longer be called in the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, “as the Lord Yahweh lives,”#Literally “the life of Lord Yahweh” in all the land of Egypt. 27Look, I am going to watch over them for harm and not for good, and all people#Or “men” of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will perish by the sword and by the famine until their perishing. 28And the survivors of the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number.#Literally “males of number” And all the remnant of Judah who have come to the land of Egypt to dwell as aliens there will know whose word will endure, from me or from them. 29And this will be to you the sign,’ declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that surely my words will endure against you for evil.’ 30Thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, I am going to give Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah the king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, his enemy and the one who sought his life.’ ”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
2010 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software