Jeremiah 44:16-28

English Standard Version

¹⁶“As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, ^(A)we will not listen to you. ¹⁷^(B)But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to ^(C)the queen of heaven ^(D)and pour out drink offerings to her, ^(E)as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. ¹⁸But since we left off making offerings to ^(F)the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything ^(G)and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” ¹⁹And the women said,^[a] “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven ^(H)and poured out drink offerings to her, was it ^(I)without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, ^(J)men and women, all the people who had given him this answer: ²¹^(K)“As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, ^(L)did not the Lord remember them? Did it not come into his mind? ²²^(M)The Lord could no longer bear your evil deeds and ^(N)the abominations that you committed. ^(O)Therefore your land has become ^(P)a desolation and a waste and a curse, ^(Q)without inhabitant, as it is this day. ²³It is because you made offerings ^(R)and because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies ^(S)that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.”

²⁴Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, ^(T)all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. ²⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(U)You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, ^(V)to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows! ²⁶Therefore hear the word of the Lord, ^(W)all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ^(X)Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, ^(Y)that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, ^(Z)saying, ‘As the Lord God lives.’ ²⁷^(AA)Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. ^(AB)All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them. ²⁸^(AC)And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, ^(AD)few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, ^(AE)shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.