Conquest of Egypt Predicted

44 The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who were living in ^(A)Migdol, ^(B)Tahpanhes, ^(C)Memphis, and the land of ^(D)Pathros, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are in ^(E)ruins and no one lives in them, ^3 (F)because of their wickedness which they committed so as to ^(G)provoke Me to anger by continuing to ^(H)burn ^[a]sacrifices and to ^(I)serve other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, nor your fathers. ⁴ Yet I ^(J)sent you all My servants the prophets, ^[b]again and again, saying, “Oh, do not do this ^(K)abominable thing which I hate.” ⁵ But ^(L)they did not listen or incline their ears to turn from their wickedness, so as not to burn ^[c]sacrifices to other gods. ⁶ Therefore My ^(M)wrath and My anger were poured out and burned in the ^(N)cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so they have become a ruin and a ^(O)desolation as it is this day. ⁷ Now then thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, “Why are you ^(P)doing great harm to yourselves, so as to ^(Q)cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, from among Judah, leaving yourselves without remnant, ^8 (R)provoking Me to anger with the works of your hands, ^(S)burning ^[d]sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you are entering to reside, so that you might be cut off and become a ^(T)curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? ⁹ Have you forgotten the ^(U)wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and 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 But they ^(V)have not become ^[e]contrite even to this day, nor have they feared nor ^(W)walked in My law or My statutes, which I have set before you and before your fathers.”’

¹¹ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am going to ^(X)set My face against you for ^[f]woe, even to cut off all Judah. ¹² And I will ^(Y)take away the remnant of Judah who have set their ^[g]mind on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all ^[h](Z)meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword and meet their end by famine. Both small and great will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a ^(AA)curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach. ¹³ And I will ^(AB)punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine and with pestilence. ¹⁴ So there will be ^(AC)no refugees or survivors for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are ^[i](AD)longing to return and live; for none will ^(AE)return except a few refugees.’”

¹⁵ Then ^(AF)all the men who were aware that their wives were burning ^[j]sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, ^[k]including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, ¹⁶ “As for the ^[l](AG)message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, ^(AH)we are not going to listen to you! ¹⁷ But rather we will certainly ^(AI)carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, ^[m]by burning ^[n]sacrifices to the ^(AJ)queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as ^(AK)we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had ^(AL)plenty of ^[o]food and were well off and saw no ^[p]misfortune. ¹⁸ But since we stopped burning ^[q]sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have ^(AM)lacked everything and have ^[r]met our end by the sword and by famine.” ¹⁹ “And,” said the women, “when we were ^(AN)burning ^[s]sacrifices to the queen of heaven and ^[t]were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it ^(AO)without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes ^[u]in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

Calamity for the Jews

²⁰ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and women—even to all the people who were giving him such an answer—saying, ²¹ “As for the ^[v](AP)smoking sacrifices that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the ^(AQ)streets of Jerusalem, you and your forefathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord ^(AR)remember them and did not all this come into His ^[w]mind? ²² So the Lord was ^(AS)no longer able to endure it, ^(AT)because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations which you have committed; thus your land has become a ^(AU)ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day. ²³ Because you have burned ^[x]sacrifices and have sinned against the Lord and ^(AV)not obeyed the voice of the Lord or ^(AW)walked in His law, His statutes or His testimonies, therefore this ^(AX)calamity has befallen you, as it has this day.”

²⁴ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “^(AY)Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are ^(AZ)in the land of Egypt, ²⁵ thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: ‘As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, “We will ^(BA)certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn ^[y]sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” ^[z](BB)Go ahead and confirm your vows, and certainly perform your vows!’ ^26 [aa]Nevertheless hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are living in the land of Egypt, ‘Behold, I have ^(BC)sworn by My great name,’ says the Lord, ‘^(BD)never shall My name be invoked again by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “^(BE)As the Lord ^[ab]God lives.” ²⁷ Behold, I am watching over them ^(BF)for harm and not for good, and ^(BG)all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will ^[ac]meet their end by the sword and by famine until they ^[ad]are completely gone. ^28 (BH)Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah ^[ae](BI)few in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know ^(BJ)whose word will stand, Mine or theirs. ²⁹ This will be the ^(BK)sign to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that ^(BL)My words will surely stand against you for harm.’ ³⁰ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am going to give over ^(BM)Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt to the hand of his enemies, to the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave over ^(BN)Zedekiah king of Judah to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life.’”

Resh.

Be Imitators of God

5 ^(A)Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; ² and ^(B)walk in love, just as Christ also ^(C)loved ^[a]you and ^(D)gave Himself up for us, an ^(E)offering and a sacrifice to God ^[b]as a ^(F)fragrant aroma.

³ But ^(G)immorality ^[c]or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among ^[d]saints; ⁴ and there must be no ^(H)filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which ^(I)are not fitting, but rather ^(J)giving of thanks. ⁵ For this you know with certainty, that ^(K)no ^[e]immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom ^(L)of Christ and God.

^6 (M)Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things ^(N)the wrath of God comes upon ^(O)the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be ^(P)partakers with them; ⁸ for ^(Q)you were formerly ^(R)darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as ^(S)children of Light ⁹ (for ^(T)the fruit of the Light consists in all ^(U)goodness and righteousness and truth), ^10 [f](V)trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. ^11 (W)Do not participate in the unfruitful ^(X)deeds of ^(Y)darkness, but instead even ^[g](Z)expose them; ¹² for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. ¹³ But all things become visible ^(AA)when they are ^[h]exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. ¹⁴ For this reason ^[i]it says,

¹⁵ Therefore ^[j]be careful how you ^(AE)walk, not ^(AF)as unwise men but as wise, ^16 [k](AG)making the most of your time, because ^(AH)the days are evil. ¹⁷ So then do not be foolish, but ^(AI)understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And ^(AJ)do not get drunk with wine, ^[l]for that is ^(AK)dissipation, but be ^(AL)filled with the Spirit, ^19 (AM)speaking to ^[m]one another in ^(AN)psalms and ^(AO)hymns and spiritual ^(AP)songs, ^(AQ)singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; ^20 (AR)always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to ^[n](AS)God, even the Father; ^21 [o](AT)and be subject to one another in the ^[p](AU)fear of Christ.

Marriage Like Christ and the Church

^22 (AV)Wives, ^(AW)be subject to your own husbands, ^(AX)as to the Lord. ²³ For ^(AY)the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the ^(AZ)head of the church, He Himself ^(BA)being the Savior of the body. ²⁴ But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

^25 (BB)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and ^(BC)gave Himself up for her, ^26 (BD)so that He might sanctify her, having ^(BE)cleansed her by the ^(BF)washing of water with ^(BG)the word, ²⁷ that He might ^(BH)present to Himself the church ^[q]in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be ^(BI)holy and blameless. ²⁸ So husbands ought also to ^(BJ)love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; ²⁹ for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, ³⁰ because we are ^(BK)members of His ^(BL)body. ^31 (BM)For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. ³² This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to ^(BN)love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she ^[r](BO)respects her husband.