Old/New Testament

Jeremiah Is Taken to Egypt

43 Jeremiah, whom the Lord their God had sent, finished telling all the people all these words of the Lord their God. ² Then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go into Egypt to live.’ ³ But Baruch the son of Neriah is leading you against us to give us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or take us away to Babylon.” ⁴ So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the armies, and all the people, did not obey the voice of the Lord to stay in the land of Judah. ⁵ Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the armies took all the people left of Judah, who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been driven. ⁶ They took the men, women, children, the king’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. They also took Jeremiah the man of God and Baruch the son of Neriah. ⁷ And they went into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. They went in as far as Tahpanhes.

⁸ Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, ⁹ “Take some large stones in your hands. And hide them among the stone blocks by the door of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes. Let some of the Jews see you do this. ¹⁰ Tell them, ‘The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “See, I will send for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And I will set his throne over these stones that I have hidden. He will spread his covering over them. ¹¹ He will come and fight against the land of Egypt. Those who are meant to die will die. Those who are to be taken away will be taken away. And those who are to be killed by the sword will be killed by the sword. ¹² I will set fire to the houses of worship where the gods of Egypt are worshiped. He will burn them and take them away. So he will dress himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd puts on his coat. And he will go away from there in peace. ¹³ He will break to pieces the objects of worship in the house of the Sun god in Egypt. And he will burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire.”’”

The People Will Be Punished in Egypt

44 This word came to Jeremiah for the Jews living in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying, ² “This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have seen all the trouble I have brought to Jerusalem and to all the cities of Judah. See, today they are a waste. No one lives in them. ³ This is because of the sins they did that made Me angry. They kept burning special perfume and worshiping other gods whom they, you, and your fathers had not known. ⁴ Yet I sent you all My servants who spoke for Me again and again, saying, “O, do not do this very sinful thing which I hate!” ⁵ But they did not listen and would not turn from their sinful ways. They would not stop burning special perfume to other gods. ⁶ So My anger was poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they have been destroyed and laid waste, as they are today. ⁷ Now this is what the Lord God of All, the God of Israel, says: “Why are you hurting yourselves so much? Why are you cutting off from Judah man and woman, child and baby, and leaving yourselves without anyone? ⁸ You are making Me angry with the works of your hands. You burn special perfume to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live. And so you will be cut off and become a curse and a shame among all the nations of the earth. ⁹ Have you forgotten the sins of your fathers, the sins of the kings of Judah, the sins of their wives, your own sins, and the sins of your wives? They sinned in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They have not been sorry for their sins even to this day. They have not feared Me or walked in My Laws which I have given you and your fathers.”’

¹¹ “So the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, ‘I will turn against you and destroy all Judah. ¹² I will take away those left of Judah who have set their mind on going into the land of Egypt to live. They will come to an end in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword or die from hunger. Both the small and the great will die by the sword or hunger. They will be a curse and a cause of fear. They will be spoken against and put to shame. ¹³ I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword and hunger and disease. ¹⁴ So none of those left of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt will be able to leave and go to the land of Judah, where they want to return and live. None will return except a few who run for their lives.’”

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning special perfume to other gods, and all the many women who stood by, and all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, said to Jeremiah, ¹⁶ “We will not listen to what you have said to us in the name of the Lord! ¹⁷ But we will do everything that we have said we would do. We will burn special perfume to the queen of heaven and pour out drink gifts to her. We will do just as we ourselves, our fathers, our kings and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had much food, and got along well, and had no trouble. ¹⁸ But since we stopped burning special perfume to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink gifts to her, we have been without everything. We have been destroyed by the sword and by hunger.” ¹⁹ And the women said, “When we baked cakes which looked like the queen of heaven, burned special perfume, and poured out our drink gifts, did not our husbands know about it?”

²⁰ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both the men and women, who had given him this answer, ²¹ “As for the special perfume that you and your fathers, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, did not the Lord remember it? Did it not come into His mind? ²² The Lord could no longer stand by while you did such sinful things. You have done very sinful acts. So your land has been laid waste. It has become a hated and cursed land, a place without people, as it is today. ²³ Because you have burned special perfume and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His Laws or done what He said to do, this trouble has come upon you, as it has this day.” ²⁴ Then Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the Word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. ²⁵ This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: ‘You and your wives have said with your mouths and have done it with your hands, saying, “For sure we will keep our promises to burn special perfume to the queen of heaven and pour out drink gifts to her.” Then keep your promises! Do what you have promised!’ ²⁶ But hear the Word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt: ‘I have sworn by My great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that My name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God lives.” ²⁷ For I am watching over them for trouble and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be destroyed by the sword and hunger until there is an end of them. ²⁸ And those who get away from the sword and return from Egypt to the land of Judah will be few. Then all those left of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to live will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs. ²⁹ This will be the special thing for you to see,’ says the Lord. ‘I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will be sure to stand against you for your hurt.’ ³⁰ The Lord says, ‘I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to those who hate him and want to kill him. It will be just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who hated him and wanted to kill him.’”

God Speaks through Jeremiah to Baruch

45 This is the word which Jeremiah the man of God said to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written down in a book what Jeremiah told him. This was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. ² “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, O Baruch: ³ ‘You said, “O, it is bad for me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am tired from crying inside myself, and have found no rest.”’” ⁴ “So you are to tell him, ‘The Lord says, “I am breaking down what I have built. And I am pulling up by the roots what I have planted, that is, the whole land.” ⁵ Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for them. For I am bringing trouble to all flesh,’ says the Lord. ‘But I will give you life in all the places you go.’”

The Job of a Religious Leader

5 Every Jewish religious leader is chosen from among men. He is a helper standing between God and men. He gives gifts on the altar in worship to God from the people. He gives blood from animals for the sins of the people. ² A Jewish religious leader is weak in many ways because he is just a man himself. He knows how to be gentle with those who know little. He knows how to help those who are doing wrong. ³ Because he is weak himself, he must give gifts to God for his own sins as well as for the sins of the people. ⁴ A Jewish religious leader does not choose this honor for himself. God chooses a man for this work. Aaron was chosen this way.

Christ Is Our Religious Leader Who Has Made the Way for Man to Go to God

⁵ It is the same way with Christ. He did not choose the honor of being a Religious Leader Who has made the way for man to go to God. Instead, God said to Christ, “You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father.” ^{(A) 6} God says in another part of His Word, “You will be a Religious Leader forever. You will be like Melchizedek.” ^{(B) 7} During the time Jesus lived on earth, He prayed and asked God with loud cries and tears. Jesus’ prayer was to God Who was able to save Him from death. God heard Christ because Christ honored God. ⁸ Even being God’s Son, He learned to obey by the things He suffered. ⁹ And having been made perfect, He planned and made it possible for all those who obey Him to be saved from the punishment of sin. ¹⁰ In God’s plan He was to be a Religious Leader Who made the way for man to go to God. He was like Melchizedek.

Do Not Fall Back Into Sin

¹¹ There is much we could say about this, but it is hard to make you understand. It is because you do not want to hear well. ¹² By now you should be teachers. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the first things you need to know from God’s Word. You still need milk instead of solid food. ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk cannot understand the teaching about being right with God. He is a baby. ¹⁴ Solid food is for full-grown men. They have learned to use their minds to tell the difference between good and bad.