Jeremiah 44

1 [This is] the message that Yahweh gave me concerning the Jews who were living in [northern] Egypt—in Migdol, Tahpenes, and Memphis [cities], and in the Pathros [region in southern Egypt]:

This is the message that came to Jeremiah regarding all the people of Judah living in Egypt—in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis—and in Upper Egypt.

2 “This is what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], say: ‘You saw the disaster that I caused [the people in] Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah to experience. Those towns are now ruined and deserted.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You saw the complete disaster that I brought down on Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah. You can see how today they're ruined and abandoned

3 [That happened] because I was extremely angry with them on account of their being very wicked. They burned incense to other gods and worshiped them. They were gods that you [previously] did not know about, and your ancestors also [did not know about them].

because of the evil they did. They made me angry by burning incense and serving other gods that they hadn't ever known, and you and your forefathers hadn't known either.

4 Many times I sent my prophets who served me, to say to them, “Do not do those abominable things that I hate!”

I sent you all my servants the prophets time and again to warn you: “Don't do these offensive things that I hate.”

5 But my people would not pay any attention [DOU] [to what I said to them]. They would not turn away from their wicked behavior, or stop burning incense to [worship/honor] other gods.

But you refused to listen or to pay attention. You didn't stop their wickedness or burning incense in worship of other gods.

6 So I poured out my anger [MTY] on them. I punished people on the streets of Jerusalem and on the [other] towns in Judah. It caused those towns to be ruined and deserted, and they are still like that.’

That's why my furious anger poured out and set fire to the towns of Judah and burned in the streets of Jerusalem, making them the abandoned ruins they still are today.

7 So now [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], ask you: ‘Why are you causing yourselves to experience these disasters? [Do you not realize that because of what you are doing], soon there will be no more men or women or children or infants left among you [who have come here to Egypt] from Judah?

So this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Why are you hurting yourselves so badly by removing from Judah every man, woman, child, infant, so you don't have anyone left?

8 Why are you [RHQ] provoking me and causing me to be very angry by burning incense to the idols that you have made here in Egypt? [If you continue doing this, ] you will destroy yourselves, and you will cause yourselves to be people whom all the nations on the earth will curse and despise.

Why are you making me angry by what you do, burning incense to other gods in Egypt where you have come to live? Because if this you will be destroyed, and will you will become a curse word, an expression of condemnation among all the nations on earth.

9 Have you forgotten [how I punished] your ancestors for the wicked things that they did, and [how I punished] the kings and queens of Judah for what they did, and you and your wives for the sins that you committed in the streets of Jerusalem and [the other towns] in Judah?

Have you forgotten the evil of your forefathers and the evil of the kings of Judah and the evil of their wives, as well as your own evil and the evil your wives, all practiced in the country of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

10 Up until this day you have not humbled yourselves or revered me. You have not obeyed the laws and decrees [DOU] that I gave to you and your ancestors.’

Even up to now you haven't shown any remorse or reverence. You haven't followed my rules and regulations I gave you and your forefathers.

11 Therefore, this is what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], say: ‘I am determined to cause all of you to experience disasters and to get rid of every one of you.

So this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am determined to bring disaster and to wipe out everyone from Judah.

12 [You] people from Judah who have survived were determined to come and live here in Egypt. So I will get rid of all of you here in Egypt. Every one of you will die, including those who are important and those who are not important. [Some of] you will be killed by [your enemies’] swords, [some will die] from famines. You will become [people whom others] curse, be horrified about, and make fun of.

I'm going to destroy you who are left who decided to go to Egypt to live there. You will die there, killed by the sword or by famine. Whoever you are, from the least to the most important, you're going to die by sword or by famine; and you will become a curse word, something horrible, an insult, an expression of condemnation.

13 I will punish you here in Egypt like I punished [others in] Jerusalem, [some of whom were killed] by [their enemies’] swords and [some of whom] died from famines or diseases.

I'm going to punish you who live in Egypt like I punished Jerusalem, by war and famine and disease.

14 You people who did not die in Judah fled here to Egypt, hoping that [some day] you would return to Judah. But very few [HYP] of you will survive and escape. You are longing/wanting to remain alive and return to Judah, but only a very few of you will escape and be able to do that.’”

Nobody who is left from Judah who has gone to live in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the country of Judah. You long to go back and live there, but nobody will return except a few stragglers.

15 Then a large group of the people who had started to live in northern Egypt and southern Egypt, including all the men who knew that their wives had been burning incense to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, said this to me:

All the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women who were there, a great crowd of people, those living in Egypt and Upper Egypt all told Jeremiah,

16 “You are saying that [MTY] Yahweh gave messages to you, but we will not pay any attention to your messages!

“Even though you say this message is from the Lord, we're not going to listen to you”

17 We will certainly do everything that we said that we would do. We will burn incense to [worship our goddess Astarte, ] the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out offerings [of wine] to her, just like we and our ancestors and our kings and [their] officials have [always] done in the streets of Jerusalem and in the [other] towns in Judah. At that time, we had plenty of food, and we were prosperous and we did not have any troubles.

In fact we're going to do everything we said we would. We'll burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to worship her as we did before, just like our fathers, our kings, and our officials who did the same things in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Back then we had plenty of food and we were well off and nothing bad happened to us.

18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and giving her offerings [of wine], we have had many troubles, and [some of our people] have been killed by [our enemies’] swords and [some have died] from hunger.”

But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to worship her, we've lost everything and have been dying as a result of war and famine.

19 And [the women said], “[Furthermore], we burned incense and poured out [wine] offerings to the Queen of Heaven, and we also made small cakes that resembled her idol, to offer to her. But our husbands certainly knew about [and approved of] [RHQ] what we were doing!”

“On top of that,” the women added, “when we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to worship her, did we do this without our husbands knowing about it, that we baked cakes stamped with her image and poured out drink offerings to worship her?”

20 Then I said to all the men and women who had answered me,

Jeremiah replied to all the people, both men and women, who were responding to him,

21 “Do not think [RHQ] that Yahweh did not know that you and your ancestors and your kings and their officials and all the other people in Judah were burning incense to [worship/honor] idols in the streets of Jerusalem and in the [other] towns in Judah!

“About that incense you burned to other gods in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, as well as your fathers, your kings, your officials, and the ordinary people—don't you think the Lord wouldn't remember and think about it?

22 It was because Yahweh could no longer endure/tolerate your wicked actions and the detestable things that you were doing that he caused your land to be [a place whose name people say when they] curse someone, a land that is ruined and which has no one living in it. And your land is still like that.

The Lord couldn't take it anymore—the evil things you did and your disgusting acts—so your country was turned into an uninhabited wasteland, a place of horror and a curse word to others, as it still is today.

23 It is because you burned incense to [worship/honor] idols and committed [other] sins against Yahweh that you experienced [all] those disasters. It is because you have not obeyed him or his laws and decrees and commandments.”

As you can see today, the disaster you've experienced happened because you burned incense to other gods and sinned against the Lord, refusing to listen to the Lord or to follow his instructions, his rules, and his regulations.”

24 [Then] I said to all of them, including the women, “All you [people of] Judah who are [here] in Egypt, listen to this message from Yahweh.

Then Jeremiah told everyone, including all the women, “Listen to the Lord's message, all you people from Judah living here in Egypt.

25 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says [to you Israeli men]: ‘You and your wives have said that you would continue to do what you promised, to burn incense and pour out wine to the [goddess whom you call] the Queen of Heaven. [And you have proved by your actions that you intend to continue to do that]. So go ahead and continue doing what you have promised to do [for her].’

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives, you've said what you're going to do, and you've done what you said! You said, ‘We're going to keep our promise to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink offerings to worship her.’ So go ahead! Do what you've said! Keep your promises!

26 But now, all you people from Judah who are [now] living [here] in Egypt, listen to this message from Yahweh. He says, ‘I have solemnly declared, using my great name, that [soon] none of [you] people from Judah who are here in Egypt will ever again use my name. [There will be none of you who, when you solemnly promise to do something, ] will ever again say, “[I will do it as surely] as Yahweh lives.”

But even so, listen to what the Lord says, all you people from Judah living here in Egypt: I guarantee by all that I am, says the Lord, that none of you living in the Egypt will ever use my name or swear, ‘As the Lord God lives.’

27 Because I will be watching over you, not to cause good things to happen to you but to cause things to happen that will harm you. [Almost] everyone [HYP] from Judah who is [now here] in Egypt will experience being [killed by their enemies’] swords, or dying from famine.

I will take care of them in the bad sense, and not in the good sense. All the people from Judah who are in Egypt will die by sword or famine, until they are wiped out.

28 [Only a very] few [of you] will not die, and will return to Judah. [When that happens], all those who came to Egypt will find out whose words (were true/were fulfilled), theirs or mine.’

Those who manage to avoid being killed by the sword will go back to Judah from Egypt. But there will only be a few of them, and then all who were left from Judah and went to live in Egypt will know who's telling the truth—me or them!

29 And Yahweh [also] says, ‘I will do something that will prove to you that everything that I have said will happen, and that I will punish you [here] in this place.

This is your sign to prove that I'm going to punish you here, declares the Lord, so that you'll know for certain that my threats against you will really happen.

30 I will cause Hophra, the king of Egypt, to be captured by his enemies who want to kill him, just like I caused King Zedekiah of Judah to be captured by [the soldiers of] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.’” [And that is what happened several years later].

This is what the Lord says: Look! I'm going to hand over Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt to his enemies who are trying to kill him, in the same way that I handed over Zedekiah king of Judah to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who was trying to kill him.”