¹¹This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to bring disaster on you and destroy all of Judah. ¹²I will take away from Judah those who are left, those who were determined to go to live in Egypt. They will die in Egypt. All of them, from the least important to the most important, will die in wars or be brought to an end by famines. They will become something cursed, ridiculed, and disgraced. ¹³I will punish those living in Egypt as I punished Jerusalem with wars, famines, and plagues. ¹⁴None of the people of Judah who went to live in Egypt will survive or return to Judah, where they long to return and live. Only a few refugees will return there.

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women who were standing there, and all the people who lived at Pathros in Egypt answered Jeremiah. They said, ¹⁶“We won’t listen to the message that you have spoken to us in the Lord’s name. ¹⁷We will do everything we said we would do. We will burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out wine offerings to her as our ancestors, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem. We had plenty to eat then, and we lived comfortably and saw no disaster. ¹⁸But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing but wars and famines.”

¹⁹The women added, “When we burned incense to the queen of heaven, poured out wine offerings to her, and made cakes for her with her image on them, do you think our husbands didn’t approve?”

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, to everyone who answered him, ²¹“Doesn’t the Lord remember that you burned incense in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem along with your ancestors, your kings and your officials, and the people in the land? ²²The Lord could no longer bear the wicked and detestable things you did. That is why your land has become something ruined, destroyed, and cursed. No one lives in that land today. ²³You burned incense as offerings to other gods, sinned against the Lord, and wouldn’t obey him. You didn’t live by his teachings, decrees, or written instructions. That is why you have met with this disaster as it is today.”

²⁴Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women, “Listen to the Lord’s word, all you people of Judah who are in Egypt. ²⁵This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives made promises, and you have kept them. You said, ‘We will certainly do what we vow. We will burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out wine offerings to her.’

“So go ahead. Keep your vows, and do what you vow. ²⁶But listen to the Lord’s word, all you people of Judah who live in Egypt. ‘I swear by my great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that no one from Judah who lives anywhere in Egypt will ever again call on my name and take the oath, “As the Almighty Lord lives …” ²⁷I am going to watch over them. I am going to watch over them to bring disasters, not blessings. In Egypt the people from Judah will die in wars and famines until everyone is gone.

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