Jeremiah 44

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1. 1This is the message that came to Jeremiah about all the Jews living in Egypt — those settled at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and throughout the region of Pathros.
2. 2"This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'You saw with your own eyes all the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and every city in Judah. Look at them today — they lie in ruins, and no one lives there anymore.
3. 3This happened because of their wickedness. They provoked me to anger by burning incense and worshiping other gods — gods that neither they, nor you, nor your ancestors ever knew.
4. 4Again and again I sent my servants the prophets to warn them, saying, "Please, don't do this disgusting thing that I hate!"
5. 5But they refused to listen. They wouldn't pay attention. They wouldn't turn from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods.
6. 6So my fury and anger poured out and blazed through the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, turning them into the wasteland and ruins you see today.'
7. 7Now the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, asks: 'Why are you committing this great evil against your souls? You are cutting off every man, woman, child, and infant from Judah, leaving no one to survive.
8. 8You provoke me to anger with the things you make with your own hands, burning incense to other gods here in Egypt where you've come to live. You will destroy yourselves and become an object of cursing and disgrace among every nation on earth.
9. 9Have you forgotten the wickedness of your ancestors? The wickedness of Judah's kings and their wives? Your own wickedness and the wickedness of your wives — all committed in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?
10. 10Even to this day, no one has shown any humility. No one has feared me or followed my law and the statutes I set before you and your ancestors.
11. 11Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Look, I will set my face against you for harm, and to cut off all Judah.
12. 12I will take hold of the remnant of Judah — those who were determined to go to Egypt and settle there — and they will all perish. They will fall in the land of Egypt, destroyed by war and famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by the sword and by starvation. They will become an object of horror, a shocking example, a curse word, and a disgrace.
13. 13I will punish those living in Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem — with war, famine, and plague.
14. 14None of the remnant of Judah who went to live in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah. Though they long to go back and live there, none of them will return — except for a few who manage to escape.'"
15. 15Then all the men who knew their wives had been burning incense to other gods, along with all the women standing nearby — a huge crowd — and all the people living in Egypt and Pathros, answered Jeremiah:
16. 16"As for the message you've given us in the name of the LORD, we refuse to listen to you.
17. 17We are going to do everything we said we would. We will burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Back then we had plenty of food, we were doing well, and nothing bad happened to us.
18. 18But ever since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we've had nothing but trouble — destroyed by war and famine."
19. 19And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our men?
20. 20Jeremiah then spoke to all the people — the men, the women, and everyone who had given him that answer:
21. 21The incense you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, your ancestors, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land—did the LORD not remember them, and did it not come to his mind?
22. 22The LORD could no longer endure it — not with all the evil you were doing and the disgusting things you committed. That is why your land became a wasteland, a horror, and a curse with no one living in it, just as it is today.
23. 23This disaster struck you — as you can see today — because you burned incense, because you sinned against the LORD, and because you refused to obey his voice or follow his law, his commands, or his testimonies.
24. 24Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, "Listen to the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah living in Egypt!
25. 25The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, "We will surely perform our vows to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her." You will surely accomplish your vows and perform them.'
26. 26"But hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah living in Egypt: 'I swear by my great name,' declares the LORD, 'that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, "As surely as the Lord GOD lives."
27. 27I am watching over them — not to help them, but to harm them. Every person from Judah who is in Egypt will be destroyed by war and famine until they are completely wiped out.
28. 28Only a handful who escape the sword will make it back from Egypt to the land of Judah. Then the entire remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word came true — mine or theirs.
29. 29And this will be a sign to you,' declares the LORD, 'that I will punish you in this place, so you will know that my words will surely stand against you for harm.'
30. 30The LORD says: 'I am going to hand Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, over to his enemies — to those who want him dead — just as I handed King Zedekiah of Judah over to his enemy Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, who wanted him dead.'"