The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who
lived in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis,
and in the land of Pathros, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon
Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they
are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, because of the evil
that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to
make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither
they, nor you, nor your fathers. Yet I persistently sent to you all
my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination
that I hate!’ But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn
from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. Therefore my
wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and
a desolation, as at this day. And now thus says the LORD God of
hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against
yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child,
from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? Why do you provoke
me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other
gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you
may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations
of the earth? Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil
of the kings of Judah, the evil of their wives, your own evil, and
the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah
and in the streets of Jerusalem? They have not humbled themselves
even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my
statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.
“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all
Judah. I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to
come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed.
In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine
they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest, they shall
die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an oath, a
horror, a curse, and a taunt. I will punish those who dwell in the
land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with
famine, and with pestilence, so that none of the remnant of Judah
who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive
or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to
dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives.”
Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to
other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all
the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered
Jeremiah: “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name
of the LORD, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything
that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour
out drink offerings to her, as 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. But since we left off making offerings to the
queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have
lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by
famine.” And the women said, “When we made offerings to the queen
of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our
husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and
poured out drink offerings to her?”
Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the
people who had given him this answer: “As for the offerings that
you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem,
you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people
of the land, did not the LORD remember them? Did it not come into
his mind? The LORD could no longer bear your evil deeds and the
abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a
desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is
this day. It is because you made offerings and because you sinned
against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in
his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this
disaster has happened to you, as at this day.”
Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word
of the LORD, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. Thus
says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have
declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands,
saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, to make
offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to
her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows! Therefore hear
the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of
Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that
my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah
in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord GOD lives.’ Behold,
I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. All the men
of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the
sword and by famine, until there is an end of them. And those who
escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of
Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the
land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or
theirs. This shall be the sign to you, declares the LORD, that I
will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my
words will surely stand against you for harm: 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
Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.”
