Jeremiah 44

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who are dwelling in the land of Egypt, those dwelling in Migdol, and in Tahpanhes, and in Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying,

²“Thus says YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah. And behold, they are a desolation this day, and no one is dwelling in them.

³Because of their evil that they have done, provoking Me to anger by going to burn incense to serve other gods whom they had not known—they, you, and your fathers.

⁴And I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying: ‘I implore you, do not do the thing of this abhorrence that I hate!’

⁵And they did not listen and they did not stretch out their ear to turn back from their evil, so as not to burn incense other to gods.

⁶My fury and My anger was poured out, and it burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became as a ruin and as a desolation, as this day.

⁷And now, thus says YHWH, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, from the midst of Judah, so as not to leave behind for you a remnant,

⁸by provoking Me to anger by the works of your hands, burning incense other to gods in the land of Egypt, where you are going in to dwell there, so as to cut off yourselves and to become as a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

⁹Have you 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 wives, which they did in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰They have not been broken to this day, and they have not feared, and they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

¹¹Therefore, thus says YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am setting My face against you for disaster, and to cut off all Judah!

¹²And I will take the remnant of Judah, those who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they will all finished off in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword, by the famine. They will be finished off from the small even to the great. By the sword and by the famine they will die, and they will be as an object of cursing, as a horror, and as a curse, and as a taunt!

¹³For I will visit punishment upon those dwelling in the land of Egypt, as I visited upon Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by pestilence.

¹⁴And will there be no escapee or survivor for the remnant of Judah having gone in the land of Egypt to dwell there, that they should return to the land of Judah, to which they are lifting their soul to return to dwell there; for none will return, except a few escapees.

¹⁵And they answered Jeremiah—all the men knowing that their wives had been burning incense other to gods, and all the women standing by, a great assembly, and all the people dwelling in the land of Egypt, in Pathros—saying,

¹⁶“The word that you have spoken to us in the name of YHWH—we will not listen to you.

¹⁷For we will surely do will we do every word that has gone forth from our mouth, burning incense to the queen of the heavens, and pouring out to her drink offerings, as we have done—we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. And we were satisfied with food, and we were well, and we did not see evil.

¹⁸And from the time we stopped burning incense to the queen of the heavens and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and by the sword and by the famine have been finished off!

¹⁹And when we, burning incense to the queen of the heavens and pouring out drink offerings to her, was it not without our husbands that we made for her cakes to worship her and pour out to her drink offerings?”

²⁰And Jeremiah spoke to all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people answering him that word, 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—was it not them who YHWH remembered, and they came up upon His heart?

²²And YHWH could no longer bear it, from the face of the evil of your deeds, and from the face of the abominations that you have done! And your land has become as a desolation, and as a horror, and as a curse, from there being no one dwelling there, as this day.

²³Before the face of that you have burned incense, and that you have sinned against YHWH, and you have not listened to the voice of YHWH, and by His law, and by His statutes, and by His testimonies you have not walked—upon thus this disaster has met you, as this day.”

²⁴And Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women: “Hear the word of YHWH, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!

²⁵Thus says YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have indeed spoken with your mouths, and with your hands you have fulfilled it, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of the heavens—to pour out to her drink offerings.’ You will surely make stand your vows, and you will surely perform your vows!

²⁶Therefore hear the word of YHWH, all Judah who are dwelling in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great name, says YHWH, that My name will no more be called in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘By the life of the Lord YHWH!’

²⁷Behold, I am watching over them for evil and not for good, and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be finished off by the sword and by the famine, until they are finished off!

²⁸And those escaping the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah small in number, and they will know—all the remnant of Judah having gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there—whose word will stand, from Me or from them!

²⁹And this is a sign for you, a declaration of YHWH, that I will visit punishment on you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for harm,

³⁰thus says YHWH: Behold, I am giving Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those seeking his soul, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy and one seeking his soul!”