Jeremiah 44:11–27

¹¹“Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty,^g the God of Israel, says: I am determined to bring disaster^h on you and to destroy all Judah. ¹²I will take away the remnantⁱ 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,^j they will die by sword or famine.^k They will become a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach.^{l 13}I will punish^m those who live in Egypt with the sword,ⁿ famine and plague,^o as I punished Jerusalem. ¹⁴None 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.”^p

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives^q were burning incense^r to other gods, along with all the women^s who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt,^t said to Jeremiah, ¹⁶“We will not listen^u to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord!^{v 17}We will certainly do everything we said we would:^w We will burn incense^x to the Queen of Heaven^y and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials^z did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.^a At that time we had plenty of food^b and were well off and suffered no harm.^{c 18}But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings^d to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.^e”

¹⁹The women added, “When we burned incense^f to the Queen of Heaven^g and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands^h know that we were making cakesⁱ impressed with her image^j and pouring out drink offerings to her?”

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him, ²¹“Did not the Lord remember^k and call to mind the incense^l burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem^m by you and your ancestors,ⁿ your kings and your officials and the people of the land?^{o 22}When the Lord could no longer endure^p your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse^q and a desolate waste^r without inhabitants, as it is today.^{s 23}Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed^t his law or his decrees^u or his stipulations, this disaster^v has come upon you, as you now see.”^w

²⁴Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women,^x “Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah in Egypt.^{y 25}This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives^z 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.’^a

“Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!^{b 26}But hear the word of the Lord, all you Jews living in Egypt:^c ‘I swear^d 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^e Lord lives.”^{f 27}For I am watching^g over them for harm,^h not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perishⁱ by sword and famine^j until they are all destroyed.^k