Jeremiah 44

¹ The word that was addressed to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt with homes in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph and the land of Pathros[*a].

² ‘Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: You have seen all the misery I have brought down on Jerusalem and the towns of Judah; today they lie in ruins and uninhabited.

³ This was because of the wicked deeds which they committed to provoke me, offering incense and serving alien gods which neither they, nor you, nor your ancestors ever knew.

⁴ I persistently sent you all my servants the prophets; I sent them to say, “Do not commit this abomination that I find so hateful”.

⁵ But they would not listen, would not pay attention and so turn from their wicked deeds and no longer offer incense to alien gods.

⁶ And so my fury and my anger overflowed, burning down the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, which were reduced to ruins and wasteland, as they still are today.

⁷ And now, Yahweh, the God of Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: Why bring the same disaster on yourselves? Do you want to destroy all the men, women, children and babes in arms, out of Judah, and leave yourselves no remnant,

⁸ by provoking me with the work of your own hands, offering incense to alien gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to settle, thus working for your own destruction, to become a curse and a laughing-stock for all the nations of the earth?

⁹ Have you forgotten the crimes of your ancestors, of the kings of Judah and of their wives, your own crimes, the crimes of your own wives, committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰ To this day they have felt neither contrition nor fear; they have not observed my Law nor the statutes I proclaimed before you, as before your ancestors.

¹¹ Therefore – Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: Now I mean to turn my face against you to bring disaster, and to exterminate the whole of Judah.

¹² The remnant of Judah who resolved to come to the land of Egypt and settle there, I will remove: they will all perish in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword or perish by famine, from least to greatest; by sword and famine they will die; they will be an object of execration and horror, a curse, a laughing stock.

¹³ I will deal as severely with these who have made their home in the land of Egypt, as I dealt with Jerusalem, with sword, famine and plague.

¹⁴ Of the remnant of Judah settled in the land of Egypt, not one survivor is going to escape to return to the land of Judah where they long to live once again. For none of them are going to return, except for a few refugees.’

¹⁵ At this, all the men who knew that their wives offered incense to alien gods, and all the women who were standing there, a large assembly (with all the people living in Pathros in the land of Egypt), answered Jeremiah as follows,

¹⁶ ‘We have no intention of listening to this word you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name,

¹⁷ but intend to go on doing all we have vowed to do: offering incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring libations in her honour, as we used to do, we and our fathers, our kings and our leaders, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: we had food in plenty then, we lived well, we suffered no disasters.

¹⁸ But since we gave up offering incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring libations in her honour, we have been destitute and have perished either by sword or by famine.’

¹⁹ The women added, ‘When we offer incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour libations in her honour, do you think we make cakes for her with her features on them, and pour libations to her, without our husbands’ knowledge?’

²⁰ To all the people, men and women; all those who had made this answer, Jeremiah retorted,

²¹ ‘The incense you offered in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, your fathers, your kings, your leader, and the people of the country – is not this what Yahweh remembered, what came to his mind?

²² Yahweh could no longer endure your misdeeds and your detestable practices; this is why your country has today become a desert, an object of horror and a curse, uninhabited.

²³ And this has happened because you offered incense, because you sinned against Yahweh, refusing to listen to the voice of Yahweh, or to observe his Law, his statutes and his decrees; this is the cause of the disaster that has overtaken you – as is the case today.’

²⁴ Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people, and particularly to all the women, ‘Listen to the word of Yahweh:

²⁵ Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this, “You women, what your mouth promises, your hands should certainly perform! You have said: We will perform the vows we have made without fail and offer incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour libations in her honour. Very well, keep your vows, make your libations!

²⁶ But listen to the word of Yahweh, all you Judaeans living in the land of Egypt: I swear by my great name, Yahweh says, that my name shall be spoken no more by any man of Judah throughout the land of Egypt; not one shall say: As the lord Yahweh lives[*b].

²⁷ Yes, I will watch over them for their ruin, not for their good; all the men of Judah in the land of Egypt shall perish either by sword or by famine until they are wiped out.

²⁸ Yet, though few in number, those who escape the sword will return to the land of Judah from the land of Egypt. Then the entire remnant of Judah who have come to settle in the land of Egypt will know whose word came true, mine or theirs.

²⁹ “And here is the proof for you – it is Yahweh who speaks – that I mean to deal with you in this place: so that you may know that the words with which I threaten you will come true:

³⁰ Yahweh says this: I will hand the pharaoh Hophra[*c], king of Egypt, over to his enemies and to those determined to kill him, just as I handed Zedekiah king of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who was bent on killing him.”‘