Jeremiah 44

Judgment for Idolatry

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at a Migdol, at b Tahpanhes, at c Noph, 1 2 and in the country of d Pathros, saying, 2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are e a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3 'because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went f to burn incense and to g serve other gods whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. 4 'However h I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, "Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!" 5 'But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. 6 'So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they 3 are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.' 7 "Now therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Why do you commit this great evil i against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to remain, 8 'in that you j provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that you may cut yourselves off and be k a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9 'Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 'They have not been l humbled, 4 to this day, nor have they m feared; they have not walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and your fathers.'

11 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Behold, n I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for 5 cutting off all Judah. 12 'And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and o they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and p they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach! 13 q 'For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, 14 'so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they r desire 6 to return and dwell. For s none shall return except those who escape.' "

15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: 16 "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, t we will not listen to you! 17 "But we will certainly do u whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the v queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of 7 food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. 18 "But since we stopped burning incense 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." 19 The women also said, w "And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands' permission?"

20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people - the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer - saying: 21 "The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and did it not come into His mind? 22 "So the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, x as it is this day. 23 "Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, y therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day."

24 Moreover 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, the God of Israel, saying: 'You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, "We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her." You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!' 26 "Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: 'Behold, z I have sworn by My a great name,' says the LORD, 'that b My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "The Lord GOD lives." 27 'Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt c shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them. 28 'Yet d a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs. 29 'And this shall be a sign to you,' says the LORD, 'that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely e stand against you for adversity.' 30 "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, f 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 g Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.' "

  1. Cross References
    Exodus 14:2
    Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea.
    Jeremiah 46:14
    "Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; Proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes; Say, 'Stand fast and prepare yourselves, For the sword devours all around you.'
  2. Cross References
    Jeremiah 43:7
    So they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they went as far as Tahpanhes.
    Ezekiel 30:18
    At Tehaphnehes the day shall also be darkened, When I break the yokes of Egypt there. And her arrogant strength shall cease in her; As for her, a cloud shall cover her, And her daughters shall go into captivity.
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 19:13
    The princes of Zoan have become fools; The prin...
    Jeremiah 2:16
    Also the people of Noph and Tahpanhes Have brok...
    Jeremiah 46:14
    "Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; Proc...
    Ezekiel 30:13
    Thus says the Lord GOD: "I will also destroy th...
    Ezekiel 30:16
    And set a fire in Egypt; Sin shall have great p...
    Hosea 9:6
    For indeed they are gone because of destruction...
  4. Cross References
    Isaiah 11:11
    It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
    Ezekiel 29:14
    I will bring back the captives of Egypt and cause them to return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom.
    Ezekiel 30:14
    I will make Pathros desolate, Set fire to Zoan, And execute judgments in No.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 6:11
    Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered: "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate.
    Jeremiah 4:7
    The lion has come up from his thicket, And the destroyer of nations is on his way. He has gone forth from his place To make your land desolate. Your cities will be laid waste, Without inhabitant.
    Jeremiah 9:11
    "I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant."
    Jeremiah 34:22
    'Behold, I will command,' says the LORD, 'and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.'"
    Micah 3:12
    Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest.
  6. Cross References
    Jeremiah 19:4
    Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents
  7. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 13:6
    If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers.
    Deuteronomy 32:17
    They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear.
  8. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 36:15
    And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings...
    Jeremiah 7:25
    Since the day that your fathers came out of the...
    Jeremiah 25:4
    And the LORD has sent to you all His servants t...
    Jeremiah 26:5
    To heed the words of My servants the prophets w...
    Jeremiah 29:19
    Because they have not heeded My words, says the...
    Zechariah 7:7
    ' Should you not have obeyed the words which th...
  9. Cross References
    Numbers 16:38
    "The censers of these men who sinned against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar. Because they presented them before the LORD, therefore they are holy; and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel."
    Jeremiah 7:19
    "Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the LORD. " Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?"
    Ezekiel 33:11
    "Say to them: ' As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'
    Habakkuk 2:10
    You give shameful counsel to your house, Cutting off many peoples, And sin against your soul.
  10. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:15 - 17
    And they rejected His statutes and His covenant...
    Jeremiah 25:6
    'Do not go after other gods to serve them and w...
    Jeremiah 25:7
    Yet you have not listened to Me," says the LORD...
    Jeremiah 44:3
    Because of their wickedness which they have com...
    1 Corinthians 10:21
    You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cu...
    1 Corinthians 10:22
    Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we s...
  11. Cross References
    1 Kings 9:7
    Then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
    1 Kings 9:8
    "And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?'
    2 Chronicles 7:20
    Then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
    Jeremiah 42:18
    "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'As My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.'
  12. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 36:12
    He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD.
    Jeremiah 6:15
    Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down," says the LORD.
    Jeremiah 8:12
    Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment They shall be cast down," says the LORD.
    Daniel 5:22
    But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this.
  13. Cross References
    Proverbs 28:14
    Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
  14. Cross References
    Leviticus 17:10
    And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
    Leviticus 20:5
    Then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.
    Leviticus 20:6
    And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
    Jeremiah 21:10
    "For I have set My face against this city for adversity and not for good," says the LORD. "It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire."'
    Amos 9:4
    Though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword, And it shall slay them. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.
  15. Cross References
    Jeremiah 42:15 - 17
    Then hear now the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there.
    Jeremiah 42:22
    "Now therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to dwell."
  16. Cross References
    Isaiah 65:15
    You shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen; For the Lord GOD will slay you, And call His servants by another name.
    Jeremiah 42:18
    "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'As My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.'
  17. Cross References
    Jeremiah 43:11
    When he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt and deliver to death those appointed for death, and to captivity those appointed for captivity, and to the sword those appointed for the sword.
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 22:26
    So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die.
    Jeremiah 22:27
    But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 4:2
    In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing For those of Israel who have escaped.
    Isaiah 10:20
    And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel, And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, Will never again depend on him who defeated them, But will depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
    Jeremiah 44:28
    Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs.
    Romans 9:27
    Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved.
  20. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:16
    Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.
  21. Cross References
    Numbers 30:12
    But if her husband truly made them void on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeded from her lips concerning her vows or concerning the agreement binding her, it shall not stand; her husband has made them void, and the LORD will release her.
    Deuteronomy 23:23
    That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.
    Judges 11:36
    So she said to him, "My father, if you have given your word to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.
  22. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:16
    So they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
    Jeremiah 7:18
    The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.
  23. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:18
    The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.
  24. Cross References
    Jeremiah 25:11
    And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
    Jeremiah 25:18
    Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day.
    Jeremiah 25:38
    He has left His lair like the lion; For their land is desolate Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor, And because of His fierce anger.
  25. Cross References
    1 Kings 9:9
    "Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.'"
    Nehemiah 13:18
    "Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath."
    Jeremiah 44:2
    Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them.
    Daniel 9:11
    Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.
    Daniel 9:12
    And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
  26. Cross References
    Genesis 22:16
    And said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LOR...
    Deuteronomy 32:40
    For I raise My hand to heaven, And say, " As I ...
    Deuteronomy 32:41
    If I whet My glittering sword, And My hand take...
    Jeremiah 22:5
    "But if you will not hear these words, I swear ...
    Amos 6:8
    The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, The LORD God...
    Hebrews 6:13
    For when God made a promise to Abraham, because...
  27. Cross References
    Jeremiah 10:6
    Inasmuch as there is none like You, O LORD (You are great, and Your name is great in might).
  28. Cross References
    Nehemiah 9:5
    And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said: "Stand up and bless the LORD your God Forever and ever! "Blessed be Your glorious name, Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
    Psalms 50:16
    But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth.
    Ezekiel 20:39
    As for you, O house of Israel," thus says the Lord GOD: "Go, serve every one of you his idols - and hereafter - if you will not obey Me; but profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols.
  29. Cross References
    Jeremiah 1:10
    See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.
    Jeremiah 31:28
    And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD.
    Ezekiel 7:6
    An end has come, The end has come; It has dawned for you; Behold, it has come!
  30. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:19
    Then the rest of the trees of his forest Will be so few in number That a child may write them.
    Isaiah 27:12
    And it shall come to pass in that day That the LORD will thresh, From the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.
    Isaiah 27:13
    So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, And shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
  31. Cross References
    Psalms 33:11
    The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.
  32. Cross References
    Jeremiah 46:25
    The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I will bring punishment on Amon of No, and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings - Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
    Jeremiah 46:26
    And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old," says the LORD.
    Ezekiel 29:3
    "Speak, and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers, Who has said, 'My River is my own; I have made it for myself.'
    Ezekiel 30:21
    Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and see, it has not been bandaged for healing, nor a splint put on to bind it, to make it strong enough to hold a sword.
  33. Cross References
    2 Kings 25:4 - 7
    Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And the king went by way of the plain.
    Jeremiah 39:5
    But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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