Jeremiah 44:7–19

7 And now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil tagainst yourselves, to cut off from you uman and woman, uinfant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? 8 mWhy do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, nmaking offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become va curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, wthe evil of the kings of Judah, xthe evil of their1 wives, your own evil, yand the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not humbled themselves even to this day, znor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: aBehold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. 12 I will take the remnant of Judah who have bset their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. cIn the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine cthey shall be consumed. dFrom the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, eand they shall become an oath, a horror, va curse, and a taunt. 13 fI will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, 14 gso that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive hor return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, iexcept some fugitives.”

15 Then all the men who knew that jtheir wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in kPathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, lwe will not listen to you. 17 mBut we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to nthe queen of heaven oand pour out drink offerings to her, pas 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. 18 But since we left off making offerings to nthe queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything qand have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” 19 And the women said,2 “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven rand poured out drink offerings to her, was it swithout our husbands’ approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”