Judgment on the Jews in Egypt
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans dwelling in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Migdol and in Tahpanhes and in Noph and in the land of Pathros, saying:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil I brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and see, they are a ruin this day, and there is no inhabitant in them,
because of their evil that they did to provoke me, going to burn incense, to serve other gods that they did not know — they, you and your fathers.
And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending, saying: Do not do this abominable thing that I hate.
But they did not listen and did not incline their ear to turn from their evil, not to burn incense to other gods.
And my wrath and my anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became a ruin, a desolation, as at this day.
And now, thus says the LORD, God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant —
provoking me with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to sojourn, so as to cut yourselves off and so as to become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers and the evils of the kings of Judah and the evils of his wives, and your own evils and the evils of your wives, that they did in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
They have not been crushed to this day, and they have not feared and have not walked in my instruction and in my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: See, I am setting my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.
And I will take the remnant of Judah who set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and all will be finished in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword, by the famine they will be finished, from least to greatest; by the sword and by the famine they will die; and they will become an imprecation, a horror, a curse and a reproach.
And I will attend to those dwelling in the land of Egypt as I attended to Jerusalem — by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence.
And there will be no escapee or survivor for the remnant of Judah who came to sojourn there in the land of Egypt, to return to the land of Judah, to which they lift up their soul to return, to dwell there; for they will not return, except as escapees.
The Stubbornness of the People
And all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women standing there, a great assembly, and all the people dwelling in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying:
The word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD — we are not listening to you.
For we will surely do everything that has gone out of our mouth: to burn incense to the queen of the heavens and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And we were satisfied with bread and were well, and we saw no evil.
But from the time we stopped burning incense to the queen of the heavens and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and by the sword and by the famine we have been finished.
And when we were burning incense to the queen of the heavens and pouring out drink offerings to her — was it apart from our men that we made her cakes to shape her image and poured out drink offerings to her?
Calamity for the Jews
And Jeremiah said to all the people, to the mighty men and to the women and to all the people who answered him a word, saying:
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 the LORD not remember it, and it came up on his heart?
And the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations that you did; and your land became a ruin and a horror and a curse, without inhabitant, as at this day.
Because you burned incense and because you sinned against the LORD, and did not obey the voice of the LORD, and in his instruction and in his statutes and in his testimonies you did not walk — therefore this evil has met you, as at this day.
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.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives — you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying: We will surely do our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the heavens and to pour out drink offerings to her. Raise up, then, your vows, and surely do your vows!
Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: See, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name will no longer be called in the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, As the Lord GOD lives, in all the land of Egypt.
See, I am watching over them for evil and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be finished by the sword and by the famine, until they come to their end.
And escapees of the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, men of number; and all the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to sojourn there will know whose word stands — mine or theirs.
And this will be the sign for you — the utterance of the LORD — that I am attending to you in this place, so that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil:
Thus says the LORD: See, I am giving Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his soul, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, who sought his soul.