Judgment for Idolatry

44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at ^(A)Migdol, at ^(B)Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of ^(C)Pathros, ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day ^(D)they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, ³ because of the evil that they committed, ^(E)provoking me to anger, ^(F)in that they went to make offerings ^(G)and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. ^4 (H)Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ ^5 (I)But they did not listen ^(J)or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. ^6 (K)Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, ^(L)and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day. ⁷ And now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil ^(M)against yourselves, to cut off from you ^(N)man and woman, ^(O)infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? ^8 (P)Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, ^(Q)making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become ^(R)a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? ⁹ Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, ^(S)the evil of the kings of Judah, ^(T)the evil of their^[a] wives, your own evil, ^(U)and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰ They have not humbled themselves even to this day, ^(V)nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

¹¹ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(W)Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. ¹² I will take the remnant of Judah who have ^(X)set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. ^(Y)In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine ^(Z)they shall be consumed. ^(AA)From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, ^(AB)and they shall become an oath, a horror, ^(AC)a curse, and a taunt. ^13 (AD)I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, ^14 (AE)so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive ^(AF)or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, ^(AG)except some fugitives.”