Jeremiah 44
Revised Geneva Translation
44 The Word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt and remained at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
2 “Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You have seen all the misery that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah. And behold, this day they are desolate, and no one dwells in it,
3 ‘because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense to serve other gods whom they did not know, neither they nor you nor your fathers.
4 ‘However, I sent all my servants, the Prophets, to you, rising early and sending, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!”
5 ‘But they would not hear or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and to no longer burn incense to other gods.
6 ‘Therefore, My wrath and My anger was poured forth, and was kindled, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they were desolate and wasted, as they are this day.
7 “Therefore, now, thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Why do you commit great evil against yourselves—to cut off man and woman from you, child and infant from out of Judah, leaving no one remaining—
8 in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, so that you might bring destruction to yourselves, and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all nations of the Earth?
9 ‘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 have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10 ‘They are not humbled to this day, nor have they feared or walked in My Law or in My Statutes, which I set before you and before your fathers.’
11 “Therefore, thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will set My Face against you to misery, and to destroy all Judah.
12 ‘And I will take the remnant of Judah that has set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell. And they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die, from the least to the most, by the sword, and by the famine. And they shall be a detestation and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach.
13 ‘For I will visit those who dwell in the land of Egypt as I have visited Jerusalem—by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence—
14 ‘so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they should return to the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return, to dwell there. For no one shall return but those who shall escape.’”
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had burnt incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by (a great multitude), all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
16 “The Word that you have spoken to us in the Name of the LORD, we will not hear it from you.
17 “But we will do whatever thing goes out of our own mouth—to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, both we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—for then we had plenty of rations and were well and felt no misery.
18 “But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had scarceness of all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.”
19 And the women said, “And when we burnt incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to make her glad and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands?”
20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,
21 “Did not the LORD remember the incense that you burnt 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? And has He not considered it?
22 “So the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the wickedness of your inventions, because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore, your land was desolate and an astonishment and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.
23 “Because you have burnt incense, and because you 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 plague has come upon you, as it is this day.”
24 Moreover, Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, “Hear the Word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!
25 “Thus speaks the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, ‘You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, “We will perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.” You will perform your vows and do the things that you have vowed.’
26 “Therefore, hear the Word of the LORD, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great Name,’ says the LORD, ‘that My Name shall no longer be called upon by the mouth of any man of Judah, in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The LORD God lives.”
27 ‘Behold, I will watch over them for misery, and not for prosperity. And all men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword, and by the famine, until they are utterly destroyed.
28 ‘Still, a small number who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt, into the land of Judah. And all the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall know Whose Words shall stand, Mine or theirs.
29 ‘And this shall be a sign to you,’ says the LORD, ‘when I visit you in this place, so that you may know that My Words shall surely stand against you for misery.’
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 Babel, his enemy, who also sought his life.’”
Jeremiah 44
EasyEnglish Bible
God will punish the people of Judah
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.” ’
Footnotes
- 44:17 The Queen of Heaven was a female god that some people worshipped. They thought that she had the power to give them success in their lives.
Jeremiah 44
King James Version
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.
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