15 Then all the men who knew that (A)their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in (B)Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, (C)we will not listen to you. 17 (D)But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to (E)the queen of heaven (F)and pour out drink offerings to her, (G)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. 18 But since we left off making offerings to (H)the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything (I)and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” 19 And the women said,[a] “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven (J)and poured out drink offerings to her, was it (K)without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 44:19 Compare Syriac; Hebrew lacks And the women said

The People’s Stubborn Response

15 However, all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women standing by—a great assembly—and all the people who were living in the land of Egypt at Pathros answered Jeremiah, 16 “As for the word you spoke to us in the name of Yahweh, we are not going to listen to you! 17 Instead, we will do everything we said we would: burn incense to the queen of heaven[a] and offer drink offerings to her just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in Judah’s cities(A) and in Jerusalem’s streets. Then we had enough food and good things and saw no disaster, 18 but from the time we ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to offer her drink offerings, we have lacked everything, and through sword and famine we have met our end.”

19 And the women said,[b] “When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it apart from our husbands’ knowledge(B) that we made sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 44:17 = Ashtoreth, or Astarte
  2. Jeremiah 44:19 LXX, Syr; MT omits And the women said