Jeremiah 44
โ Jeremiah 43 | Jeremiah | Jeremiah 45 โ
v1
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
v2
โYahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: โYou have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah. Behold, today they are a desolation, and no man dwells in them,
v3
because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods that they didnโt know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.
v4
However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, โOh, donโt do this abominable thing that I hate.โ
v5
But they didnโt listen and didnโt incline their ear. They didnโt turn from their wickedness, to stop burning incense to other gods.
v6
Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is today.โ
v7
โTherefore now Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: โWhy do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the middle of Judah, to leave yourselves no one remaining;
v8
in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live; that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
v9
Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
v10
They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.โ
v11
โTherefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: โBehold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.
v12
I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they will all be consumed. They will fall in the land of Egypt. They will be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine. They will be an object of horror, an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
v13
For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence;
v14
so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will escape or be left to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there; for no one will return except those who will escape.โโ
v15
Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
v16
โAs for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahwehโs name, we will not listen to you.
v17
But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.
v18
But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.โ
v19
The women said, โWhen we burned incense to the queen of the sky, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?โ
v20
Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying,
v21
โThe 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, didnโt Yahweh remember them, and didnโt it come into his mind?
v22
Thus Yahweh could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today.
v23
Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed Yahwehโs voice, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is today.โ
v24
Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, โHear Yahwehโs word, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!
v25
Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, โYou and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, โWe will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her.โ โโEstablish then your vows, and perform your vows.โ
v26
โTherefore hear Yahwehโs word, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: โBehold, I have sworn by my great name,โ says Yahweh, โthat my name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, โAs the Lord Yahweh lives.โ
v27
Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone.
v28
Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah few in number. All the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.
v29
โโThis will be the sign to you,โ says Yahweh, โthat I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil.โ
v30
Yahweh says, โBehold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.โโ