Jeremiah 44
44
The Same Fate Will Fall upon All
1-6The Message that Jeremiah received for all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, who had their homes in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and the land of Pathros: “This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You saw with your own eyes the terrible doom that I brought down on Jerusalem and the Judean cities. Look at what’s left: ghost towns of rubble and smoking ruins, and all because they took up with evil ways, making me angry by going off to offer sacrifices and worship the latest in gods—no-gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors knew the first thing about. Morning after morning and long into the night I kept after you, sending you all those prophets, my servants, begging you, “Please, please—don’t do this, don’t fool around in this loathsome gutter of gods that I hate with a passion.” But do you think anyone paid the least bit of attention or repented of evil or quit offering sacrifices to the no-gods? Not one. So I let loose with my anger, a firestorm of wrath in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, and left them in ruins and wasted. And they’re still in ruins and wasted.’
7-8“This is the Message of God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘So why are you ruining your lives by amputating yourselves—man, woman, child, and baby—from the life of Judah, leaving yourselves isolated, unconnected? And why do you deliberately make me angry by what you do, offering sacrifices to these no-gods in the land of Egypt where you’ve come to live? You’ll only destroy yourselves and make yourselves an example used in curses and an object of ridicule among all the nations of the earth.
9-11a “‘Have you so soon forgotten the evil lives of your ancestors, the evil lives of the kings of Judah and their wives, to say nothing of your own evil lives, you and your wives, the evil you flaunted in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? And to this day, there’s not a trace of remorse, not a sign of reverence, nobody caring about living by what I tell them or following my instructions that I’ve set out so plainly before you and your parents! So this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies decrees:
11b-14 “‘Watch out! I’ve decided to bring doom on you and get rid of everyone connected with Judah. I’m going to take what’s left of Judah, those who have decided to go to Egypt and live there, and finish them off. In Egypt they will either be killed or starve to death. The same fate will fall upon both the obscure and the important. Regardless of their status, they will either be killed or starve. You’ll end up cursed, reviled, ridiculed, and mocked. I’ll give those who are in Egypt the same medicine I gave those in Jerusalem: massacre, starvation, and disease. None of those who managed to get out of Judah alive and get away to Egypt are going to make it back to the Judah for which they’re so homesick. None will make it back, except maybe a few fugitives.’”
Making Goddess Cakes
15-18The men who knew that their wives had been burning sacrifices to the no-gods, joined by a large crowd of women, along with virtually everyone living in Pathros of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: “We’re having nothing to do with what you tell us is God’s Message. We’re going to go right on offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, keeping up the traditions set by our ancestors, our kings and government leaders in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem in the good old days. We had a good life then—lots of food, rising standard of living, and no bad luck. But the moment we quit sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her, everything fell apart. We’ve had nothing but massacres and starvation ever since.”
19And then the women chimed in: “Yes! Absolutely! We’re going to keep at it, offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her. Aren’t our husbands behind us? They like it that we make goddess cakes and pour out our offerings to her.”
* * *
20-23Then Jeremiah spoke up, confronting the men and the women, all the people who had answered so insolently. He said, “The sacrifices that you and your parents, your kings, your government officials, and the common people of the land offered up in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—don’t you think God noticed? He noticed, all right. And he got fed up. Finally, he couldn’t take your evil behavior and your disgusting acts any longer. Your land became a wasteland, a death valley, a horror story, a ghost town. And it continues to be just that. This doom has come upon you because you kept offering all those sacrifices, and you sinned against God! You refused to listen to him, wouldn’t live the way he directed, ignored the covenant conditions.”
24-25a Jeremiah kept going, but now zeroed in on the women: “Listen, all you who are from Judah and living in Egypt—please, listen to God’s Word. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You women! You said it and then you did it. You said, “We’re going to keep the vows we made to sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out offerings to her, and nobody’s going to stop us!”’
25b-27a “Well, go ahead. Keep your vows. Do it up big. But also listen to what God has to say about it, all you who are from Judah but live in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name, backed by everything I am—this is God speaking!—that never again shall my name be used in vows, such as “As sure as the Master, God, lives!” by anyone in the whole country of Egypt. I’ve targeted each one of you for doom. The good is gone for good.
27b-28 “‘All the Judeans in Egypt will die off by massacre or starvation until they’re wiped out. The few who get out of Egypt alive and back to Judah will be very few, hardly worth counting. Then that ragtag bunch that left Judah to live in Egypt will know who had the last word.
29-30“‘And this will be the evidence: I will bring punishment right here, and by this you’ll know that the decrees of doom against you are the real thing. Watch for this sign of doom: I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies, those who are out to kill him, exactly as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah to his enemy Nebuchadnezzar, who was after him.’”
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Jeremiah 44: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
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.’ ”
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