The Anselm Project

Chapter 44

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews dwelling in the land of Egypt—dwelling in Migdol, in Tahpanhes, in Noph, and in the land of Pathros—saying: ² Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah, and they are desolate this day, and there is no inhabitant in them. ³ because of their evil, which they did to provoke me by going to burn incense to serve other gods which they did not know—they, you, and your fathers. ⁴ And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, "Please do not do this abomination which I hate." ⁵ And they did not listen and they did not incline their ear to return from their evil so as not to make smoke-offerings to other gods. ⁶ And my wrath and my anger poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the courts of Jerusalem, and they became a ruin, a desolation, as at this day. ⁷ And now thus says the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing great evil against yourselves, to cut off for yourselves man and woman, suckling infant and nursing child, from the midst of Judah, so as not to leave for yourselves a remnant? ⁸ to anger me by the works of your hands, to make incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you are coming to sojourn, in order to cut you off and in order to make you a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth. ⁹ Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, the evils of the kings of Judah, the evils of their wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they did in the land of Judah and in the courts of Jerusalem? ¹⁰ They have not been crushed to this day. They have not feared, and they have not walked in my Torah or in my statutes, which I set before you and your fathers. ¹¹ Therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I have set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. ¹² And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they will be finished—all who come to the land of Egypt. They will fall by sword; by famine they will be finished, from small even to great. By sword and by famine they will die, and they will be for an oath, for a desolation, and for a curse, and for a reproach. ¹³ And I will visit upon the ones dwelling in the land of Egypt just as I visited upon Jerusalem with sword, with famine, and with pestilence. ¹⁴ And there will not be an escapee or survivor for the remnant of Judah, the ones coming to sojourn there in the land of Egypt and to return to the land of Judah, whom they are bearing their soul to return to dwell there; for they will not return except escapees. ¹⁵ And they answered Jeremiah—all the men who knew that their wives were making incense to other gods, and all the women standing as a great assembly, and all the people dwelling in the land of Egypt at Pathros—saying: ¹⁶ The word that you spoke to us in the name of the LORD—we are not listening to you. ¹⁷ But we have done it; we have done every word that came out of our mouth, to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out libations to her, just as we did—we and our fathers, our kings and our officials—in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And we were filled with bread, we were well, and we did not see evil. ¹⁸ And from then on, when we stopped offering incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we lacked all things, and by the sword and by famine we were finished. ¹⁹ And when we—incense-offering to the Queen of the Heavens and to the Base—for her pouring libations, without our husbands did we make for her cakes for the Idolatry and the Base—for her pouring libations. ²⁰ And Jeremiah said to all the people—concerning the men and the women and all the people, the ones answering him—this word, saying: ²¹ "Was it not the incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the courts of Jerusalem—you and your fathers, your kings, your rulers, and the people of the land—that the LORD remembered, and it came up upon his heart?" ²² And the LORD could bear it no longer because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations that you did. And your land became a wasteland, a desolation, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. ²³ Because you offered incense and sinned against the LORD, and you did not listen to the voice of the LORD, to his Torah, to his statutes, and to his testimonies—you did not walk in them—therefore it has called this evil upon you as on this day. ²⁴ And Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt." ²⁵ Thus says the LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, “We will surely do; we will perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out libations to her.” Stand up, fulfill your vows, and surely do your vows. ²⁶ Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah dwelling in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD—if my name is still called in the mouth of every man of Judah, saying, “As the LORD lives,” in all the land of Egypt. ²⁷ Look, I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the people of Judah who came to the land of Egypt will be finished off by sword and by famine until they are completely destroyed. ²⁸ Survivors of the sword will dwell in the land of Egypt and the land of Judah, few in number. And they will know—all the remnant of Judah, the ones coming to the land of Egypt to sojourn there—this word: "Who will arise from me and from them?" ²⁹ And this is the sign to you, says the LORD, that I will visit upon you in this place, so that you may know that my words will stand upon you for evil. Standing, they will stand. ³⁰ This is what the LORD says: Look, I am handing Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies and to those seeking his life, just as I handed Zedekiah king of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy and the one seeking his life.