Jeremiah 44-46

New American Standard Bible 1995

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.’”

Message to Baruch

45 This is the message which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to ^(BO)Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had ^(BP)written down these words in a book ^[af]at Jeremiah’s dictation, in the ^(BQ)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying: ² “Thus says the Lord the God of Israel to you, O Baruch: ³ ‘You said, “Ah, woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am ^(BR)weary with my groaning and have found no rest.”’ ⁴ Thus you are to say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, ^(BS)what I have built I am about to tear down, and what I have planted I am about to uproot, that is, the whole land.” ⁵ But you, are you ^(BT)seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I am going to ^(BU)bring disaster on all flesh,’ declares the Lord, ‘but I will ^(BV)give your life to you as booty in all the places where you may go.’”

Defeat of Pharaoh Foretold

46 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet ^(BW)concerning the nations.

² To ^(BX)Egypt, concerning the army of ^(BY)Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at ^(BZ)Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the ^(CA)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

¹³ This is the ^[as]message which the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the ^(CZ)coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to ^(DA)smite the land of Egypt:

²⁵ The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I am going to punish Amon of ^(DY)Thebes, and ^(DZ)Pharaoh, and Egypt along with her ^(EA)gods and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who ^(EB)trust in him. ²⁶ I shall give them over to the ^[bb]power of those who are ^(EC)seeking their lives, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his ^[bc]officers. ^(ED)Afterwards, however, it will be inhabited as in the days of old,” declares the Lord.