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.
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Jeremias (Jeremiah) 44: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Jeremiah 44
44
Disaster in Egypt
1Jeremiah received a message from the Lord. It was for all the Jews living in Egypt. It was for the Jews in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis and southern Egypt. This was the message: 2“The Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: You saw the terrible things I brought on Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. Those towns are empty ruins today. 3And it is because the people who lived there did evil. Those people burned incense to other gods. And that made me angry! Your people and your ancestors did not worship those gods before. 4I sent my prophets to them again and again. Those prophets were my servants. They spoke my message and said to the people, ‘Don’t do this terrible thing. The Lord hates for you to worship other gods.’ 5But they did not listen to the prophets. They did not pay attention. They did not stop doing evil things. They did not stop burning incense to other gods. 6So I showed my great anger against them. I punished the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. My anger made Jerusalem and the towns of Judah empty. They are only ruins and piles of stones today.
7“So the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves by continuing to worship other gods? You are cutting off the men and women, children and babies from the family of Judah. So you leave yourselves without anyone from the family of Judah. 8Why do you want to make me angry by making idols? Why do you burn incense to the gods of Egypt, where you have come to live? You will destroy yourselves. Other nations will speak evil of you. And all the other nations on the earth will make fun of you. 9Have you forgotten about the evil things your ancestors did? And have you forgotten the evil the kings and queens of Judah did? Have you forgotten about the evil you and your wives did? They did these things in Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. 10Even to this day the people of Judah are still too proud. They have not learned to respect me. And they have not followed my teachings. They have not obeyed the laws I gave you and your ancestors!
11“So this is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: I am determined to bring disasters on you. I will destroy the whole family of Judah. 12There were a few left alive from Judah. They were determined to go to Egypt and settle there. But they will all die in Egypt. They will be killed in war or die from hunger. From the least important to the greatest, they will be killed in war or die from hunger. Other nations will speak evil about them. People will be shocked by what has happened to them. They will become a curse word. People will insult them. 13I will punish those people who have gone to live in Egypt. I will use swords, hunger and terrible diseases to punish them. I will punish them just as I punished Jerusalem. 14Of the people of Judah who were left alive and have gone to Egypt none will escape my punishment. They want to return to Judah and live there. But none of them will live to return to Judah. None of them will return to Judah, except a few people who escape.”
15A large group of the people of Judah, who lived in southern Egypt, were meeting together. Among them were many women of Judah who lived in Egypt. They were burning incense to other gods, and their husbands knew it. All these people said to Jeremiah, 16“We will not listen to the message from the Lord that you spoke to us. 17We promised to make sacrifices to the Queen Goddess! And we will do everything we promised. We will burn incense and pour out drink offerings to worship her. We did that in the past. And our ancestors, kings and officers did that in the past. All of us did those things in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food. We were successful. Nothing bad happened to us. 18But then we stopped making sacrifices to the Queen Goddess. And we stopped pouring out drink offerings to her. Since then we have had problems. Our people have been killed in war and by hunger.”
19The women said, “Our husbands knew what we were doing. We had their permission to burn incense to the Queen Goddess! We had their permission to pour out drink offerings to her. Our husbands knew we were making cakes that looked like her and that we poured out drink offerings to her.”
20Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—men and women—who answered him. 21He said to them, “The Lord remembered that you burned incense. You burned it in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. You and your ancestors, kings and officers did that. And the people of the land did that. The Lord remembered and thought about it. 22Then he could not be patient with you any longer. He hated the terrible things you did. So he made your country an empty desert. No one lives there now. Other people curse that country. 23All this happened because you burned incense to other gods. You sinned against the Lord. You did not obey him. You did not follow his teachings or the laws he gave you. You did not keep your part of the agreement. This disaster has happened. It is there for you to see.”
24Then Jeremiah spoke to all those men and also to the women. He said, “People of Judah who are now in Egypt, hear the word of the Lord: 25The Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: You women did what you said you would do. You said, ‘We will keep the promises we made. We promised to make sacrifices to the Queen Goddess. And we promised to pour out drink offerings to her.’ So, go ahead. Do the things you promised you would do. Keep your promises. 26But hear the word of the Lord. Listen, all you Jews living in Egypt. The Lord says, ‘I use my great name and make this promise: The people of Judah now living in Egypt will never again use my name to make promises. They will never again say, “As surely as the Lord God lives . . .” 27I am watching over them. I am not watching over them to take care of them, but to hurt them. The Jews who live in Egypt will die from swords or hunger until they are all destroyed. 28Some people will escape being killed by the sword. They will come back to Judah from Egypt. But there will only be a very few who escape. Then, of the people of Judah who came to live in Egypt, those who are left alive will know. They will know whether my word or their word came true. 29I will give you a sign that I will punish you here in Egypt,’ says the Lord. ‘Then you will know my promises to hurt you will really happen.’ 30This is what the Lord says: ‘Hophra king of Egypt has enemies who want to kill him. I will hand over King Hophra to his enemies. I will do this just as I handed Zedekiah king of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to kill Zedekiah.’”
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