44 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah about the people of Judah who were now living in Egypt. They were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis and places in the south part of Egypt. 2 This was the Lord 's message to them:
‘The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, “You saw the great trouble that I sent to the people of Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah. Their towns have become heaps of stones and nobody lives in them. 3 That happened because of the wicked things that the people did in those places. They offered sacrifices to other gods. They worshipped gods that they never knew before. You and your ancestors did not know those gods either. That made me very angry. 4 Many times I sent my servants the prophets to speak to them. They warned them, ‘Do not do this disgusting thing that the Lord hates!’ 5 But the people there did not listen to my message. They refused to obey me. They did not stop doing wicked things. They did not stop offering sacrifices to other gods. 6 So I became very angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I sent them terrible trouble, like a fire that burned their towns and their streets. That is why their towns have become heaps of stones, as they still are today.”
7 Now the Lord God Almighty, Israel's God, says, “You are causing more trouble for yourselves. Why are you doing that? All the men, women, children and babies will disappear from Judah. None of your people will remain alive. 8 You continue to make me angry because of the things that you are doing. You are offering sacrifices to the gods of Egypt, where you now live. As a result, you will destroy yourselves. The people of all the other nations will use your name as a curse. They will all laugh at you. 9 Do not forget about all the wicked things that your ancestors did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. I punished them, as well as their kings and their kings' wives. And I punished you and your wives too. 10 Even now your people are still proud. They have not respected my authority. They have not obeyed the laws and commands that I gave to you and to your ancestors.”
11 So the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, “Listen to me! I will certainly cause you to have great trouble. I will destroy all Judah's people. 12 I will remove the people who remained in Judah and who decided to come here to live in Egypt. They will all die here. War or famine will kill them. All of them will die here in Egypt, important people and ordinary people. Other people will think that they are disgusting. They will insult them. They will use their name as a curse, because God has cursed them. 13 I will punish the people who have come to live in Egypt. War, famine or disease will kill them, in the way that I punished the people of Jerusalem. 14 None of the people who remained in Judah and who came to live here in Egypt will escape. They will not remain alive to return to Judah. They may want very much to return, but only a few will be able to run away and go home.” ’
15 A large crowd of Judah's people listened to Jeremiah. They came from the places where they now lived in the north and the south of Egypt. Some men were there who knew that their wives were offering sacrifices to other gods. Those men and their wives said to Jeremiah, 16 ‘We do not believe that your message really comes from the Lord . 17 So we will continue to do what we have promised to do. We will make sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven. We will pour out drink offerings to her. [ a ] That is what our ancestors, our kings and our leaders did when we lived in Jerusalem and in the other towns of Judah. When we did that, we had plenty of food to eat. We enjoyed a good life and we had no troubles. 18 But since we stopped offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven, we have not had those good things. War and famine have been killing our people.’
19 The women said, ‘It is true that we offered sacrifices and drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven. We also made cakes that were like her image. But our husbands knew what we were doing and they helped us.’
20 Then Jeremiah said this to all those men and women who had answered him:
21 ‘The Lord saw everything that you were doing. You must surely realize that! He knew about the things that you, your ancestors, your kings, your leaders and all the people were doing. He remembered all the sacrifices that you offered to other gods in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. 22 Finally, he had to punish you for the wicked and disgusting things that you were doing. Because of that, your land has become an empty place, like a desert. Its towns are heaps of stones where nobody lives. People use its name as a curse. 23 That happened because you have offered sacrifices to other gods. You have done many sins against the Lord . You have refused to obey him. You have not obeyed his laws, his teaching or his commands. That is why all this trouble has happened to you now.’
24 Then Jeremiah said this to all the people, including the women:
‘Listen to the Lord 's message, all you people of Judah who are now living in Egypt. 25 The Lord God Almighty, Israel's God, says, “You and your wives have certainly done the things that you said you would do. You said, ‘We will continue to do what we have promised to do. We will make sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven. We will pour out drink offerings to her.’ So do all those things that you promised to do!”
26 But listen to the Lord 's message to all you people of Judah who are living in Egypt. The Lord says, “I now promise this to you, with the authority of my own name. None of you who live in Egypt will ever use my name again when you make a promise. You will not say, ‘I promise you I will do this, as surely as the Lord God lives.’ 27 Listen to me! I will choose to hurt you and not to help you. War or famine will kill all the people of Judah who are living in Egypt. None of them will remain alive. 28 But a few of them will escape death and return to Judah from Egypt. They will be very few people. Then all the people of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know who speaks the truth. Do I speak the truth, or do they speak the truth? I do!”
29 The Lord also says, “I will show you that I will surely punish you in this place. I will tell you something that will soon happen. Then you will know that my promise to punish you will certainly become true. 30 I tell you now that I will put Hophra, king of Egypt, under the power of his enemies, who want to kill him. That is the same thing that I did to King Zedekiah of Judah. I put him under the power of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who wanted to kill him.” ’
44 Jeremiah received a message from the Lord for all the people of Judah living in Egypt. The message was for the people of Judah living in the towns of Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and southern Egypt. This was the message: 2 “This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘You people saw the disasters that I brought on the city of Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. The towns are empty piles of stones today. 3 They were destroyed because the people living in them did evil. They gave sacrifices to other gods, and that made me angry! Your people and your ancestors did not worship those gods in the past. 4 I sent my servants, the prophets, to those people again and again. They spoke my message and said to the people, “Don’t do this terrible thing. I hate for you to worship idols.” 5 But they didn’t listen to the prophets or pay attention to them. They didn’t stop doing wicked things. They didn’t stop making sacrifices to other gods. 6 So I showed my anger against them. I punished the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. My anger made Jerusalem and the towns of Judah the empty piles of stone they are today.’
7 “So this is what the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘Why are you hurting yourselves by continuing to worship idols? You are separating the men and women, the children and babies from the family of Judah. And so you leave yourselves without anyone left from the family of Judah. 8 Why do you people want to make me angry by making idols? Now you are living in Egypt. And now you are making me angry by offering sacrifices to the false gods of Egypt. You will destroy yourselves, and it will be your own fault. The people of all the other nations on the earth will say bad things about you and make fun of you. 9 Have you forgotten about the wicked things your ancestors did? And have you forgotten about the wicked things the kings and queens of Judah did? Have you forgotten about the wicked things you and your wives did in Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 Even to this day the people of Judah have not made themselves humble. They have not shown any respect for me, and they have not followed my teachings. They have not obeyed the laws I gave you and your ancestors.’
11 “So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have decided to make terrible things happen to you. I will destroy the whole family of Judah. 12 There were a few survivors from Judah. They came here to Egypt. But I will destroy the few survivors from the family of Judah. They will be killed with swords or die from hunger. The people of other nations will point at them and wish evil for them. People will be shocked and frightened by what has happened to them. The name Judah will become a curse word and an insult. 13 I will punish those who have gone to live in Egypt. I will use war, hunger, and disease to punish them. I will punish them just as I punished the city of Jerusalem. 14 Not one of the few survivors of Judah who have gone to live in Egypt will escape my punishment. None of them will survive to come back to Judah. They want to come back to Judah and live there. But not one of them will go back to Judah, except a few people who escape.’”
15 There were many people from Judah living in southern Egypt. Many of the women from Judah were meeting together in a large group and making sacrifices to other gods, and their husbands knew what they were doing. Those men said to Jeremiah, 16 “We will not listen to the message from the Lord that you spoke to us. 17 We promised to make sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven, and we will do everything we promised. We will offer sacrifices and pour out drink offerings in worship to her. We did that in the past. Our ancestors, our kings, and our officials did that in the past. All of us did those things in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. When we worshiped the Queen of Heaven, we had plenty of food. We were successful. Nothing bad happened to us. 18 But then we stopped making sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven, and we stopped pouring out drink offerings to her. And we have had problems ever since we stopped worshiping her. Our people have been killed by war and hunger.”
19 Then the women spoke up [ a ] and said to Jeremiah, “Our husbands knew what we were doing. We had their permission to make sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven. We had their permission to pour out drink offerings to her. Our husbands also knew that we were making cakes that looked like her.”
20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the men and women who told him these things. 21 He said, “The Lord remembered that you made sacrifices in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. You and your ancestors, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land did that. He remembered what you had done and thought about it. 22 The Lord hated the terrible things you did, and he could not be patient with you any longer. So he made your country an empty desert. No one lives there now. Other people say bad things about that country. 23 The reason all those bad things happened to you is that you made sacrifices to other gods. You sinned against the Lord . You didn’t obey him or follow his teachings or the laws he gave you. You didn’t keep your part of the agreement. [ b ] ”
24 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the men and women. He said, “All you people of Judah who are now in Egypt, listen to this message from the Lord . 25 This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: ‘You women did what you said you would do. You said, “We will keep the promises we made. We promised to make sacrifices and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.” So go ahead. Do what you promised you would do. Keep your promises.’ 26 But listen to this message from the Lord , all you people of Judah who are living in Egypt: ‘I, the Lord , use my own great name to make this promise: None of the people of Judah who are now living in Egypt will ever again use my name to make promises. They will never again say, “As surely as the Lord God lives ….” 27 I am watching over the people of Judah, but I am not watching over them to take care of them. I am watching over them to bring them harm. The people of Judah who live in Egypt will die from hunger or be killed in war until they are completely destroyed. 28 Some people of Judah will escape being killed by the sword. They will come back to Judah from Egypt. But only a few people of Judah will escape. Then the survivors of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word proves to be true. They will know whether it was my word or their word that came true. 29 I will give you people proof,’ says the Lord , ‘that I will punish you here in Egypt. Then you will know for sure that my promises to harm you will really happen. 30 This will be your proof that I will do what I say.’ This is what the Lord says: ‘Pharaoh Hophra is the king of Egypt. His enemies want to kill him. I will give Pharaoh Hophra to his enemies. Just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah to his enemy Nebuchadnezzar, in the same way I will give Pharaoh Hophra to his enemies.’”
44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
3 Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.
4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.
6 Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.
7 Therefore now thus saith the Lord , the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
8 In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
9 Have ye 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 have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10 They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.
12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:
14 So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.
15 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord , we will not hearken unto thee.
17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto 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 victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,
21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and came it not into his mind?
22 So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.
23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the Lord , and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord , nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.
24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the Lord , all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:
25 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.
26 Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord , all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord , that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord God liveth.
27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.
28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or their's.
29 And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord , that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:
30 Thus saith the Lord ; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.
44 The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who were living in ( A ) Migdol, ( B ) Tahpanhes, ( C ) Memphis, and the land of ( D ) Pathros, saying, 2 “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are in ( E ) ruins and no one lives in them, 3 ( F ) because of their wickedness which they committed to ( G ) provoke Me to anger by continuing to ( H ) burn [ a ] sacrifices and to ( I ) serve other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, nor your fathers. 4 Yet I ( J ) sent you all My servants the prophets again and again, saying, “Oh, do not do this ( K ) abominable thing which I hate.” 5 But ( L ) they did not listen or incline their ears to turn from their wickedness, so as not to burn [ b ] sacrifices to other gods. 6 Therefore My ( M ) wrath and My anger gushed out and burned in the ( N ) cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so they have become ruins and a ( O ) desolation as it is this day. 7 Now then, this is what the Lord God of armies, the God of Israel says: “Why are you ( P ) doing great harm to yourselves, to ( Q ) eliminate from yourselves man and woman, child and infant from among Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant, 8 ( R ) provoking Me to anger with the works of your hands, ( S ) burning [ c ] sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt where you are entering to reside, so that you may be eliminated and become a ( T ) curse and a disgrace among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the ( U ) wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah and the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 Yet they ( V ) have not become [ d ] contrite even to this day, nor have they feared, nor ( W ) walked in My Law or My statutes, which I placed before you and before your fathers.”’
11 “Therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to ( X ) set My face against you for a disaster, even to eliminate all Judah. 12 And I will ( Y ) take away the remnant of Judah who have set their [ e ] minds on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all [ f ] ( Z ) meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword or meet their end by famine. From the small to the great, they will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a ( AA ) curse, an object of horror, [ g ] an imprecation, and a disgrace. 13 And I will ( AB ) punish those who live in the land of Egypt, just as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with plague. 14 So there will be ( AC ) no survivor or refugee for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are [ h ] ( AD ) longing to return to live; for none will ( AE ) return except a few refugees.’”
15 Then ( AF ) all the men who were aware that their wives were burning [ i ] sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, [ j ] including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, 16 “As for the [ k ] ( AG ) message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord , ( AH ) we are not going to listen to you! 17 But we will certainly ( AI ) carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, [ l ] by burning [ m ] sacrifices to the ( AJ ) queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as ( AK ) we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had ( AL ) plenty of [ n ] food and were well off and saw no [ o ] misfortune. 18 But since we stopped burning [ p ] sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have ( AM ) lacked everything, and have met our end by the sword and by famine.” 19 “And,” said the women , “when we were ( AN ) burning [ q ] sacrifices to the queen of heaven and [ r ] pouring out drink offerings to her, was it ( AO ) without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes [ s ] in her image, and poured out drink offerings to her?”
20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and women—even to all the people who were giving him such an answer—saying, 21 “As for the [ t ] ( AP ) smoking sacrifices that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the ( AQ ) streets of Jerusalem, you and your forefathers, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land, did the Lord not ( AR ) remember them, and did all of this not come into His [ u ] mind? 22 So the Lord was ( AS ) no longer able to endure it , ( AT ) because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations which you have committed; so your land has become a ( AU ) place of ruins, an object of horror, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 Since you have burned [ v ] sacrifices and have sinned against the Lord and ( AV ) not obeyed the voice of the Lord nor ( AW ) walked in His Law, His statutes, or His testimonies, therefore this ( AX ) disaster has happened to you, as it has this day.”
24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “ ( AY ) Hear the word of the Lord , all Judah who are ( AZ ) in the land of Egypt! 25 This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel [ w ] says: ‘As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, “We will ( BA ) certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn [ x ] sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” ( BB ) By all means fulfill your vows, and be sure to perform your vows!’ 26 [ y ] In return, hear the word of the Lord , all Judah who are living in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have ( BC ) sworn by My great name,’ says the Lord , ‘that My name shall ( BD ) never be invoked again by the mouth of anyone of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “ ( BE ) As the Lord [ z ] God lives.” 27 Behold, I am watching over them ( BF ) for harm and not for good, and ( BG ) all the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will [ aa ] meet their end by the sword or by famine until they [ ab ] are completely gone. 28 ( BH ) Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah [ ac ] ( BI ) few in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know ( BJ ) whose word will stand, Mine or theirs. 29 And this will be the ( BK ) sign to you,’ declares the Lord , ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that ( BL ) My words will assuredly stand against you for harm.’ 30 This is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am going to hand ( BM ) Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies, to those who seek his life, just as I handed ( BN ) Zedekiah king of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life.’”
44 This word came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in Lower Egypt ( A ) —in Migdol, ( B ) Tahpanhes ( C ) and Memphis ( D ) —and in Upper Egypt: ( E ) 2 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You saw the great disaster ( F ) I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. ( G ) Today they lie deserted and in ruins ( H ) 3 because of the evil ( I ) they have done. They aroused my anger ( J ) by burning incense ( K ) to and worshiping other gods ( L ) that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ( M ) ever knew. 4 Again and again ( N ) I sent my servants the prophets, ( O ) who said, ‘Do not do this detestable ( P ) thing that I hate!’ 5 But they did not listen or pay attention; ( Q ) they did not turn from their wickedness ( R ) or stop burning incense ( S ) to other gods. ( T ) 6 Therefore, my fierce anger was poured out; ( U ) it raged against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem and made them the desolate ruins ( V ) they are today.
7 “Now this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Why bring such great disaster ( W ) on yourselves by cutting off from Judah the men and women, ( X ) the children and infants, and so leave yourselves without a remnant? ( Y ) 8 Why arouse my anger with what your hands have made, ( Z ) burning incense ( AA ) to other gods in Egypt, ( AB ) where you have come to live? ( AC ) You will destroy yourselves and make yourselves a curse [ a ] and an object of reproach ( AD ) among all the nations on earth. 9 Have you forgotten the wickedness committed by your ancestors ( AE ) and by the kings ( AF ) and queens ( AG ) of Judah and the wickedness committed by you and your wives ( AH ) in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? ( AI ) 10 To this day they have not humbled ( AJ ) themselves or shown reverence, ( AK ) nor have they followed my law ( AL ) and the decrees ( AM ) I set before you and your ancestors. ( AN )
11 “Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, ( AO ) the God of Israel, says: I am determined to bring disaster ( AP ) on you and to destroy all Judah. 12 I will take away the remnant ( AQ ) of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt; they will fall by the sword or die from famine. From the least to the greatest, ( AR ) they will die by sword or famine. ( AS ) They will become a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach. ( AT ) 13 I will punish ( AU ) those who live in Egypt with the sword, ( AV ) famine and plague, ( AW ) as I punished Jerusalem. 14 None of the remnant of Judah who have gone to live in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, to which they long to return and live; none will return except a few fugitives.” ( AX )
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives ( AY ) were burning incense ( AZ ) to other gods, along with all the women ( BA ) who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, ( BB ) said to Jeremiah, 16 “We will not listen ( BC ) to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord ! ( BD ) 17 We will certainly do everything we said we would: ( BE ) We will burn incense ( BF ) to the Queen of Heaven ( BG ) and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials ( BH ) did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. ( BI ) At that time we had plenty of food ( BJ ) and were well off and suffered no harm. ( BK ) 18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings ( BL ) to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine. ( BM ) ”
19 The women added, “When we burned incense ( BN ) to the Queen of Heaven ( BO ) and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands ( BP ) know that we were making cakes ( BQ ) impressed with her image ( BR ) and pouring out drink offerings to her?”
20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him, 21 “Did not the Lord remember ( BS ) and call to mind the incense ( BT ) burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ( BU ) by you and your ancestors, ( BV ) your kings and your officials and the people of the land? ( BW ) 22 When the Lord could no longer endure ( BX ) your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse ( BY ) and a desolate waste ( BZ ) without inhabitants, as it is today. ( CA ) 23 Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed ( CB ) his law or his decrees ( CC ) or his stipulations, this disaster ( CD ) has come upon you, as you now see.” ( CE )
24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women, ( CF ) “Hear the word of the Lord , all you people of Judah in Egypt. ( CG ) 25 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives ( CH ) have done what you said you would do when you promised, ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’ ( CI )
“Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows! ( CJ ) 26 But hear the word of the Lord , all you Jews living in Egypt: ( CK ) ‘I swear ( CL ) by my great name,’ says the Lord , ‘that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, “As surely as the Sovereign ( CM ) Lord lives.” ( CN ) 27 For I am watching ( CO ) over them for harm, ( CP ) not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish ( CQ ) by sword and famine ( CR ) until they are all destroyed. ( CS ) 28 Those who escape the sword ( CT ) and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. ( CU ) Then the whole remnant ( CV ) of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand ( CW ) —mine or theirs. ( CX )
29 “‘This will be the sign ( CY ) to you that I will punish ( CZ ) you in this place,’ declares the Lord , ‘so that you will know that my threats of harm against you will surely stand.’ ( DA ) 30 This is what the Lord says: ‘I am going to deliver Pharaoh ( DB ) Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies who want to kill him, just as I gave Zedekiah ( DC ) king of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the enemy who wanted to kill him.’” ( DD )
