Jeremiah 44

New International Reader’s Version

1 A message from the LORD came to Jeremiah. It was about all the Jews living in Lower Egypt. They were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes and Memphis. It was also about all the Jews living in Upper Egypt.2 The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He said, ‘You saw all the trouble I brought on Jerusalem. I also brought it on all the towns in Judah. Today they lie there deserted and destroyed.3 That’s because of the evil things their people did. They made me very angry. They burned incense to other gods. And they worshipped them. They and you and your people of long ago never knew those gods.4 Again and again I sent my servants the prophets. They said, “Don’t worship other gods! The LORD hates it!”5 But the people didn’t listen. They didn’t pay any attention. They didn’t turn from their sinful ways. They didn’t stop burning incense to other gods.6 So my burning anger was poured out. It blazed out against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. It made them the dry and empty places they are today.’7 The LORD God who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘Why do you want to bring all this trouble on yourselves? You are removing from Judah its men and women, its children and babies. Not one of you will be left.8 Why do you want to make me angry with the gods your hands have made? Why do you burn incense to the gods of Egypt, where you now live? You will destroy yourselves. All the nations on earth will use your name as a curse. They will say you are shameful.9 Have you forgotten the evil things done by your people of long ago? The kings and queens of Judah did those same things. So did you and your wives. They were done in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem.10 To this day the people of Judah have not made themselves humble in my sight. They have not shown any respect for me. They have not obeyed my law. They have not followed the rules I gave you and your people of long ago.’11 The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, ‘I have decided to bring horrible trouble on you. I will destroy the whole land of Judah.12 I will destroy the people of Judah who are left. They had decided to go to Egypt and make their homes there. But all of them will die in Egypt. They will die of war or hunger. All of them will die, from the least important of them to the most important. They will die of war or hunger. People will use their name as a curse. They will be shocked at them. They will say bad things about them. And they will say they are shameful.13 I will use war, hunger and plague to punish the Jews who live in Egypt. I punished Jerusalem in the same way.14 None of the people of Judah who have gone to live in Egypt will escape. Not one of them will live to return to Judah. They long to return and live there. But only a few will escape from Egypt and go back.’15 All the Jews who were living in Lower and Upper Egypt gathered to give Jeremiah their answer. A large crowd had come together. It included men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods. Their wives were there with them. All of them said to Jeremiah,16 ‘We won’t listen to the message you have spoken to us in the LORD’s name!17 We will certainly do everything we said we would. We’ll burn incense to the female god called the Queen of Heaven. We’ll pour out drink offerings to her. We’ll do just as we and our people of long ago have done. Our kings and our officials also did it. All of us did it in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food. We were well off. We didn’t suffer any harm.18 But then we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven. We stopped pouring out drink offerings to her. And ever since that time we haven’t had anything. Instead, we’ve been dying of war and hunger.’19 The women added, ‘We burned incense to the Queen of Heaven. We poured out drink offerings to her. And our husbands knew we were making cakes that looked like her. They knew we were pouring out drink offerings to her.’20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people who were answering him. He spoke to men and women alike. He said,21 ‘Didn’t the LORD know you were burning incense in the towns of Judah? Didn’t he care that you were also doing it in the streets of Jerusalem? You and your people of long ago were doing it. Your kings and officials were doing it too. So were the rest of the people in the land.22 The LORD couldn’t put up any longer with the evil things you were doing. He hated the things you did. So your land became a curse. It became a dry and empty desert. No one lived there. And that’s the way it still is today.23 You have burned incense to other gods. You have sinned against the LORD. You haven’t obeyed him or his law. You haven’t followed his rules. You haven’t lived up to the terms of the covenant he made with you. That’s why all this trouble has come on you. You have seen it with your own eyes.’24 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people. That included the women. He said, ‘All you people of Judah in Egypt, listen to the LORD’s message.25 The LORD who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “You and your wives have done what you promised you would do. You said, ‘We will certainly keep the promises we made to the Queen of Heaven. We’ll burn incense to her. We’ll pour out drink offerings to her.’ ” ‘Go ahead then. Do what you said you would! Keep your promises!26 But listen to the LORD’s message. Listen, all you Jews living in Egypt. “I make a promise by my own great name,” says the LORD. “Here is what I promise. ‘No one from Judah who lives anywhere in Egypt will ever again pray in my name. None of them will ever make this promise. They will never say, “You can be sure that the LORD and King is alive.” ’27 I am watching over them to do them harm and not good. The Jews in Egypt will die of war and hunger until all of them are destroyed.28 Some will not be killed. They will return to Judah from Egypt. But they will be very few. Then all the people of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know the truth. They will know whether what I say or what they say will come true.29 ‘ “I will give you a sign that I will punish you in this place,” announces the LORD. “Then you can be sure that my warnings of harm against you will come true.”30 The LORD says, “I am going to hand over Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt. I will hand him over to his enemies who want to kill him. In the same way, I handed over King Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He was the enemy who wanted to kill Zedekiah.” ’

Jeremiah 44

English Standard Version

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, (Ex 14:2; Isa 11:11; Jer 43:7; Jer 44:15; Jer 46:14)2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, (Jer 44:6)3 because of the evil that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. (De 6:14; Jer 1:16; Jer 7:18; Jer 19:4; Jer 44:8)4 Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ (2Ch 36:15)5 But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. (Jer 34:14)6 Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day. (Jer 7:20; Jer 7:34; Jer 9:11)7 And now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? (Nu 16:38; Pr 20:2; Jer 38:23; La 2:11; Hab 2:10)8 Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? (Jer 18:16; Jer 42:18; Jer 44:3)9 Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of their[1] wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? (1Ki 11:1; 1Ki 11:8; 1Ki 15:13; 2Ki 11:1; Jer 15:4; Jer 44:15; Jer 44:25)10 They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers. (Pr 28:14)11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. (Jer 21:10)12 I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. (Jer 6:13; Jer 18:16; Jer 42:15; Jer 42:16; Jer 44:8)13 I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, (Jer 43:11)14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives.” (Jer 22:27; Jer 42:17; Jer 44:28)15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: (Jer 44:1; Jer 44:9; Jer 44:25)16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you. (Jer 6:16; Jer 42:13)17 But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. (Jud 11:36; 1Ki 11:33; 2Ki 21:3; Jer 7:18; Jer 19:13)18 But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” (Jer 44:17; La 3:22)19 And the women said,[2] “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands’ approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?” (Nu 30:6; Jer 7:18)20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer: (Jer 43:6)21 “As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them? Did it not come into his mind? (Jer 44:17; Eze 8:10; Eze 21:24)22 The Lord could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. (Jer 4:7; Jer 5:9; Jer 5:29; Jer 7:34; Jer 18:16; Eze 8:6)23 It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.” (De 31:29; Jer 40:3)24 Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. (Jer 43:5; Jer 44:15)25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows! (Jer 44:16; Jer 44:17)26 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord God lives.’ (Jer 4:2; Jer 22:5; Jer 44:24; Eze 20:39)27 Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them. (Jer 31:28; Jer 42:16)28 And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. (Isa 27:13; Jer 44:14; Jer 44:17; Jer 44:25; Eze 6:8)29 This shall be the sign to you, declares the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for harm: (Pr 19:21)30 Thus says the Lord, Behold, 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.” (Jer 39:5; Jer 46:17; Jer 46:26; Eze 29:2; Eze 30:21)