The prophet's admonition to the Jews in Egypt against idolatry is not
regarded: he denounces to them their destruction.
44:1. The word that came to Jeremias, concerning all the Jews that
dwelt in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Magdal, and in Taphnis, and in
Memphis, and in the land of Phatures, saying:
44:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: You have seen all
this evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities
of Juda: and behold they are desolate this day, and there is not an
inhabitant in them:
44:3. Because of the wickedness which they have committed, to provoke
me to wrath, and to go and offer sacrifice, and worship other gods,
which neither they, nor you, nor your fathers knew.
44:4. And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and
sending, and saying: Do not commit this abominable thing, which I hate.
44:5. But they heard not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their
evil ways, and not to sacrifice to strange gods.
44:6. Wherefore my indignation and my fury was poured forth, and was
kindled in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and
they are turned to desolation and waste, as at this day.
44:7. And now thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Why do
you commit this great evil against your own souls, that there should
die of you man and woman, child and suckling out of the midst of Juda,
and no remnant should be left you:
44:8. In that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, by
sacrificing to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which you are come
to dwell there: and that you should perish, and be a curse, and a
reproach to all the nations of the earth?
44:9. Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of
the kings of Juda, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and
the evils of your wives, that they have done in the land of Juda, and
in the streets of Jerusalem?
44:10. They are not cleansed even to this day: neither have they
feared, nor walked in the law of the Lord, nor in my commandments,
which I set before you and your fathers.
44:11. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold
I will set my face upon you for evil: and I will destroy all Juda.
44:12. And I will take the remnant of Juda that have set their faces to
go into the land of Egypt, and to dwell there; and they shall be all
consumed in the land of Egypt: they shall fall by the sword, and by the
famine: and they shall be consumed from the least even to the greatest,
by the sword, and by the famine shall they die: and they shall be for
an execration, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach.
44:13. And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have
visited Jerusalem by the sword, and by famine and by pestilence.
44:14. And there shall be none that shall escape, and remain of the
remnant of the Jews that are gone to sojourn in the land of Egypt: and
that shall return into the land of Juda, to which they have a desire to
return to dwell there: there shall none return but they that shall
flee.
44:15. Then all the men that knew that their wives sacrificed to other
gods: and all the women of whom there stood by a great multitude, and
all the people of them that dwelt in the land of Egypt in Phatures,
answered Jeremias, saying:
44:16. As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the
Lord, we will not hearken to thee:
44:17. But we will certainly do every word that shall proceed out of
our own mouth, to sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to pour out
drink offerings to her, as we and our fathers have done, our kings, and
our princes in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and
we were filled with bread, and it was well with us, and we saw no evil.
The queen of heaven. . .The moon, which they worshipped under this name.
44:18. But since we left off to offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven,
and to pour out frank offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and
have been consumed by the sword, and by famine.
44:19. And if we offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and pour out
drink offerings to her: did we make cakes to worship her, to pour out
drink offerings to her, without our husbands?
44:20. And Jeremias spoke to all the people, to the men, and to the
women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying:
44:21. Was it not the sacrifice that you offered in the cities of Juda,
and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings, and
your princes, and the people of the land, which the Lord hath
remembered, and hath it not entered into his heart?
44:22. So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of
your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed:
therefore your land is become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a
curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.
44:23. Because you have sacrificed to idols, and have sinned against
the Lord: and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have not
walked in his law, and in his commandments, and in his testimonies:
therefore are these evils come upon you, as at this day.
44:24. And Jeremias said to all the people and to all the women: Hear
ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell in the land of Egypt:
44:25. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, saying: You and
your wives have spoken with your mouth, and fulfilled with your hands,
saying: Let us perform our vows which we have made, to offer sacrifice
to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her: you
have fulfilled your vows, and have performed them indeed.
44:26. Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell
in the land of Egypt: Behold I have sworn by my great name, saith the
Lord: that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of
Juda, in the land of Egypt, saying: The Lord God liveth.
44:27. Behold I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and
all the men of Juda that are in the land of Egypt, shall be consumed,
by the sword, and by famine, till there be an end of them.
44:28. And a few men that shall flee from the sword, shall return out
of the land of Egypt into the land of Juda: and all the remnant of Juda
that are gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose
word shall stand, mine, or theirs.
44:29. And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I will
punish you in this place: that you may know that my words shall be
accomplished indeed against you for evil.
44:30. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver Pharao Nechao king of
Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek
his life: as I delivered Sedecias king of Juda into the land of
Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon his enemy, and that sought his life.