Jeremiah 44–46

The Lord’s Message to the Israelites in Egypt

44The Lord spoke to me concerning all the Israelites living in Egypt, in the cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the southern part of the country. ²The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, said, “You yourselves have seen the destruction I brought on Jerusalem and all the other cities of Judah. Even now they are still in ruins, and no one lives in them ³because their people had done evil and had made me angry. They offered sacrifices to other gods and served gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever worshipped. ⁴I kept sending you my servants the prophets, who told you not to do this terrible thing that I hate. ⁵But you would not listen or pay any attention. You would not give up your evil practice of sacrificing to other gods. ⁶So I poured out my anger and fury on the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, and I set them on fire. They were left in ruins and became a horrifying sight, as they are today.

⁷“And so I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, now ask why you are doing such an evil thing to yourselves. Do you want to bring destruction on men and women, children and babies, so that none of your people will be left? ⁸Why do you make me angry by worshipping idols and by sacrificing to other gods here in Egypt, where you have come to live? Are you doing this just to destroy yourselves, so that every nation on earth will treat you with scorn and use your name as a curse? ⁹Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their wives, and by you and your wives? ¹⁰But to this day you have not humbled yourselves. You have not honoured me or lived according to all the laws that I gave you and your ancestors.

¹¹“So then, I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, will turn against you and destroy all Judah. ¹²As for the people of Judah who are left and are determined to go and live in Egypt, I will see to it that all of them are destroyed. All of them, great and small, will die in Egypt, either in war or of starvation. They will be a horrifying sight; people will treat them with scorn and use their name as a curse. ¹³I will punish those who live in Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem—with war, starvation, and disease. ¹⁴None of the people of Judah who are left and have come to Egypt to live will escape or survive. Not one of them will return to Judah, where they long to live once again. No one will return except a few refugees.”

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives offered sacrifices to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, including the Israelites who lived in southern Egypt—a large crowd in all—said to me, ¹⁶“We refuse to listen to what you have told us in the name of the Lord. ¹⁷We will do everything that we said we would. We will offer sacrifices to our goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out wine offerings to her, just as we and our ancestors, our king and our leaders, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we were prosperous, and had no troubles. ¹⁸But ever since we stopped sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and stopped pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing, and our people have died in war and of starvation.”

¹⁹And the women added, “When we baked cakes shaped like the Queen of Heaven, offered sacrifices to her, and poured out wine offerings to her, our husbands approved of what we were doing.”

²⁰Then I said to all the men and the women who had answered me in this way, ²¹“As for the sacrifices which you and your ancestors, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land offered in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—do you think that the Lord did not know about them or that he forgot them? ²²This very day your land lies in ruins and no one lives in it. It has become a horrifying sight, and people use its name as a curse because the Lord could no longer endure your wicked and evil practices. ²³This present disaster has come on you because you offered sacrifices to other gods and sinned against the Lord by not obeying all his commands.”

^24–25I told all the people, especially the women, what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, was saying to the people of Judah living in Egypt: “Both you and your wives have made solemn promises to the Queen of Heaven. You promised that you would offer sacrifices to her and pour out wine offerings to her, and you have kept your promises. Very well, then! Keep your promises! Carry out your vows! ²⁶But now listen to the vow that I, the Lord, have made in my mighty name to all you Israelites in Egypt: never again will I let any of you use my name to make a vow by saying, ‘I swear by the living Sovereign Lord!’ ²⁷I will see to it that you will not prosper, but will be destroyed. All of you will die, either in war or of disease, until not one of you is left. ²⁸But a few of you will escape death and return from Egypt to Judah. Then the survivors will know whose words have come true, mine or theirs. ²⁹I, the Lord, will give you proof that I will punish you in this place and that my promise to bring destruction on you will come true. ^30*I will hand over King Hophra of Egypt to his enemies who want to kill him, just as I handed over King Zedekiah of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, who was his enemy and wanted to kill him.”

God’s Promise to Baruch

45^*In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, Baruch wrote down what I had dictated to him. Then I told him ²that the Lord, the God of Israel, had said, “Baruch, ³you are saying, ‘I give up! The Lord has added sorrow to my troubles. I am worn out from groaning, and I can’t find any rest!’

⁴“But I, the Lord, am tearing down what I have built and pulling up what I have planted. I will do this to the entire earth. ⁵Are you looking for special treatment for yourself? Don’t do it. I am bringing disaster on the whole human race, but you will at least escape with your life wherever you go. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Egypt’s Defeat at Carchemish

46The Lord spoke to me about the nations, ^2*beginning with Egypt. This is what he said about the army of King Neco of Egypt, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia defeated at Carchemish near the River Euphrates in the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah:

^3*“The Egyptian officers shout,

‘Get your shields ready

and march into battle!

^4*Harness your horses and mount them!

Fall in line and put on your helmets!

Sharpen your spears!

Put on your armour!’

^5*“But what do I see?” asks the Lord.

“They are turning back in terror.

Their soldiers are beaten back;

overcome with fear, they run as fast as they can

and do not look back.

^6*Those who run fast cannot get away;

the soldiers cannot escape.

In the north, by the Euphrates,

they stumble and fall.

^7*Who is this that rises like the Nile,

like a river flooding its banks?

^8*It is Egypt, rising like the Nile, like a river flooding its banks.

Egypt said, ‘I will rise and cover the world;

I will destroy cities and the people who live there.

^9*Command the horses to go

and the chariots to roll!

Send out the soldiers:

men from Ethiopia^d and Libya, carrying shields,

and skilled archers from Lydia.’ ”

^10*This is the day of the Sovereign Lord Almighty:

today he will take revenge;

today he will punish his enemies.

His sword will eat them until it is full,

and drink their blood until it is satisfied.

Today the Almighty sacrifices his victims in the north, by the Euphrates.

^11*People of Egypt, go to Gilead^e

and look for medicine!

All your medicine has proved useless;

nothing can heal you.

^12*Nations have heard of your shame;

everyone has heard you cry.

One soldier trips over another,

and both of them fall to the ground.

The Coming of Nebuchadnezzar

^13*When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia came to attack Egypt, the Lord spoke to me. He said,

^14*“Proclaim it in the towns of Egypt,

in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes:

‘Get ready to defend yourselves;

all you have will be destroyed in war!

^15*Why has your mighty god Apis fallen?

The Lord has struck him down!’

^16*Your soldiers have stumbled and fallen;^f

each one says to the other,

‘Hurry! Let’s go home to our people

and escape the enemy’s sword!’

^17*“Give the king of Egypt a new name—

‘Noisy Braggart who Missed his Chance’.

^18*I, the Lord Almighty, am king.

I am the living God.

As Mount Tabor towers above the mountains

and Mount Carmel stands high above the sea,

so will be the strength of the one who attacks you.

^19*Get ready to be taken prisoner,

you people of Egypt!

Memphis will be made a desert,

a ruin where no one lives.

^20*Egypt is like a splendid cow,

attacked by a stinging fly from the north.

^21*Even her hired soldiers

are helpless as calves.

They did not stand and fight;

all of them turned and ran.

The day of their doom had arrived,

the time of their destruction.

^22*Egypt runs away, hissing like a snake,

as the enemy’s army approaches.

They attack her with axes,

like men cutting down trees

^23*and destroying a thick forest.

Their men are too many to count;

their soldiers outnumber the locusts.

^24*The people of Egypt are put to shame;

they are conquered by the people of the north.

I, the Lord, have spoken.”

^25*The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says, “I am going to punish Amon, the god of Thebes, together with Egypt and its gods and kings. I am going to take the king of Egypt and all who put their trust in him, ^26*and hand them over to those who want to kill them, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army. But later on, people will live in Egypt again, as they did in times past. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The Will Save His People

²⁷“My people, do not be afraid,

people of Israel, do not be terrified.

I will rescue you from that distant land,

from the land where you are prisoners.

You will come back home and live in peace;

you will be secure, and no one will make…