Jeremiah 44 — Septuagint (LXX)

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt — those settled at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros:

This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You yourselves have seen all the disaster I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah.

This happened because of the evil they committed to provoke me — going to burn incense and serve other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors had known.

Yet I sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying: Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!

But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their evil, to stop burning incense to other gods.

So my wrath and my anger poured out and blazed in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a ruin and a wasteland, as they are today.

So now, this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves — cutting off from Judah man and woman, child and infant, leaving yourselves no remnant?

You provoke me with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to settle — so that you bring destruction on yourselves and become a curse and a disgrace among all the nations of the earth.

Have you forgotten the evil deeds of your ancestors, the evil deeds of the kings of Judah, the evil deeds of their wives, your own evil deeds, and the evil deeds of your wives — all that was done in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

They have not been crushed with remorse to this day. They have not feared, and they have not walked in my instruction or in my statutes that I set before you and before your ancestors.

Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am setting my face against you for destruction, to cut off all of Judah.

I will take hold of the remnant of Judah who set their faces to enter the land of Egypt to settle there, and they will all meet their end in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword and be consumed by famine — from the least to the greatest, they will die by sword and by famine. They will become an object of horror, a desolation, a curse, and a disgrace.

I will punish those living in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem — by sword, by famine, and by plague.

There will be no fugitive or survivor among the remnant of Judah who came to settle in the land of Egypt, to return to the land of Judah where they long to go back and live. None will return — except a few refugees.

Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women standing there — a large assembly — and all the people living in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah:

As for the word you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD — we will not listen to you.

Instead, we will certainly carry out every word that has come from our mouths — to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. We had plenty of food then, we prospered, and we saw no disaster.

But from the time 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 sword and famine.

And when we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her — did we make cakes stamped with her image and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands' knowledge?

Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people — to the men, to the women, and to all the people who had answered him — saying:

The incense you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem — you, your ancestors, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land — did the LORD not remember it? Did it not rise into his mind?

The LORD could no longer endure it because of the evil of your actions and the detestable things you committed. That is why your land has become a ruin, a wasteland, and a curse — without an inhabitant — as it is today.

It was because you burned incense and sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his instruction, his statutes, and his decrees — that is why this disaster has come upon you, as it has today.

Then Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women: Hear the word of the LORD, all of Judah who are in the land of Egypt.

This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You women and your husbands have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, 'We will certainly carry out the vows we made — to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.' Go ahead then — fulfill your vows! Carry out your vows!

Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all of Judah living in the land of Egypt: I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name will never again be invoked by any person of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, 'As the Lord GOD lives.'

I am watching over them for harm and not for good. All the people of Judah in the land of Egypt will be consumed by sword and by famine until they are finished.

Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to settle will know whose word stands — mine or theirs.

This will be the sign to you, declares the LORD, that I am punishing you in this place, so that you may know that my words will certainly stand against you for harm:

This is what the LORD says: I am going to hand over Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, to his enemies and to those who seek his life — just as I handed Zedekiah king of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.