The Refugees Refuse to Repent

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives were offering sacrifices to other gods and all the women who were standing by—a large group, including all the people who were living in the land of Egypt in Pathros—answered Jeremiah: ¹⁶ “As for the message that you reported to us in the name of the Lord, we won’t listen to you! ¹⁷ Rather, we will keep doing everything that we said we would^[a] by offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven^[b] and by pouring out liquid offerings to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of bread, things went well for us, and we didn’t experience disaster. ¹⁸ From the time we stopped offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out liquid offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been consumed^[c] by the sword and famine. ¹⁹ Indeed, we^[d] are going to continue offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out liquid offerings to her. And do you think we have made^[e] cakes to represent her or poured out liquid offerings for her without our husbands’ approval?”^[f]