Judgement Because of Idolatry
Jeremiah 44The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying, “YHWH Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Y’all have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah. Look, today they are a desolation, and no one lives in them, because of the disaster that they committed to provoke me to anger by going to burn incense and serve other gods that they nor y’all nor y’all’s ancestors did not know. However I sent to y’all all my servants the prophets, again and again, saying, “Please y’all! Don’t do this disgusting thing that I hate.” But they wouldn’t listen or incline their ear. They didn’t turn from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods. Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a ruin and desolate, as they are today.’
“Therefore now YHWH, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Why do y’all commit great disaster against your* own souls? Y’all are cutting of every man and woman, infant and nursing baby from Judah to leave yourselves* without a remnant. Y’all provoke me to anger with the works of your* hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where y’all have gone to live. Y’all will be cut off and y’all will become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth. Have y’all forgotten the wickedness of your* ancestors, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, y’all’s own wickedness, and the wickedness of your* wives which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before y’all and before your* ancestors.’
“Therefore YHWH Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Look! I am going to set my face against y’all for evil, even to cut off all Judah. I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they will all be consumed. They will fall in the land of Egypt. They will be consumed by the sword and famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and famine. They will be an object of horror, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach. For I will punish those living in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, famine, and plague. None of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there will escape or be left to return into the land of Judah where they want to return to live there. For no one will return except those who will escape.’”
Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a large assembly, and all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, “As for the message that you told us in the name of YHWH, we will not listen to you! But we will perform-perform every word that has come out of our mouth. We will burn incense to the queen of the sky and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no disaster. But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and famine.”
The women said, “When we burned incense to the queen of the sky and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?”
Then Jeremiah said to all the people—to the men and to the women, and all the people who were answering him, “The incense that y’all burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—y’all and y’all’s ancestors, kings, officials, and the people of the land—didn’t YHWH remember them and didn’t it come into ʜɪꜱ mind? When YHWH could no longer endure y’all’s disastrous deeds and the abominations that y’all have committed, your* land became a desolation, an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today. Because y’all have burned incense and because y’all have sinned against YHWH, and have not obeyed YHWH’s voice, or walked in ʜɪꜱ law, statutes, and testimonies, this disaster has happened to y’all, as it is today.”
Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Y’all must listen to the word of YHWH, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! YHWH Almighty, the God of Israel, says, ‘Y’all and y’all’s wives have fulfilled with your* hand what y’all said with your* mouths, “We will perform-perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of the sky and to pour out drink offerings to her.”
“‘Go-go ahead then! Perform-perform y’all’s vows!’
“But y’all must listen to the word of YHWH, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Look! I have sworn by my great name,’ says YHWH, ‘that my name will no more be invoked in the mouth of anyone from Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As Lord YHWH lives.” Look, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone. Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah few in number. All the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.
“‘This will be the sign to y’all,’ says YHWH, ‘that I will punish y’all in this place, so that y’all will know that my words of disaster will rise-rise against y’all.’ YHWH says, ‘I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.’”