Jeremiah 44

1 The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, and at Thachpanches, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

[This is] the message that Yahweh gave me concerning the Jews who were living in [northern] Egypt—in Migdol, Tahpenes, and Memphis [cities], and in the Pathros [region in southern Egypt]:

2 Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, You yourselves have seen all the evil that I have brought over Jerusalem, and over all the cities of Judah; and, behold, they are ruins this day, and no man is dwelling in them;

“This is what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], say: ‘You saw the disaster that I caused [the people in] Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah to experience. Those towns are now ruined and deserted.

3 Because of their wickedness which they had committed to provoke me to anger, by going to burn incense, to serve other gods, whom they did not know, either they, you, or your fathers.

[That happened] because I was extremely angry with them on account of their being very wicked. They burned incense to other gods and worshiped them. They were gods that you [previously] did not know about, and your ancestors also [did not know about them].

4 And I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, making them rise early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not commit this abominable thing which I hate.

Many times I sent my prophets who served me, to say to them, “Do not do those abominable things that I hate!”

5 But they hearkened not, and inclined not their ear to turn away from their wickedness, so as not to burn incense unto other gods.

But my people would not pay any attention [DOU] [to what I said to them]. They would not turn away from their wicked behavior, or stop burning incense to [worship/honor] other gods.

6 Whereupon my fury and my anger were poured forth, and were enkindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: and they are become ruins, a desert, as at this day.

So I poured out my anger [MTY] on them. I punished people on the streets of Jerusalem and on the [other] towns in Judah. It caused those towns to be ruined and deserted, and they are still like that.’

7 And now thus hath said the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, Wherefore do ye commit so great an evil against your souls, so as to cut off unto you man and woman, child and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, so as not to leave you any remainder,

So now [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], ask you: ‘Why are you causing yourselves to experience these disasters? [Do you not realize that because of what you are doing], soon there will be no more men or women or children or infants left among you [who have come here to Egypt] from Judah?

8 By provoking me unto wrath with the works of your hands, in burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye are come to sojourn there, in order to cut yourselves off, and in order that ye might become a curse and a disgrace among all the nations of the earth?

Why are you [RHQ] provoking me and causing me to be very angry by burning incense to the idols that you have made here in Egypt? [If you continue doing this, ] you will destroy yourselves, and you will cause yourselves to be people whom all the nations on the earth will curse and despise.

9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they had committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Have you forgotten [how I punished] your ancestors for the wicked things that they did, and [how I punished] the kings and queens of Judah for what they did, and you and your wives for the sins that you committed in the streets of Jerusalem and [the other towns] in Judah?

10 They are not humbled even up to this day, and they are not afraid, and they walk not in my law, nor in my statutes, that I have set before you and before your fathers.

Up until this day you have not humbled yourselves or revered me. You have not obeyed the laws and decrees [DOU] that I gave to you and your ancestors.’

11 Therefore thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.

Therefore, this is what [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], say: ‘I am determined to cause all of you to experience disasters and to get rid of every one of you.

12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all come to their end, and in the land of Egypt shall they fall: by the sword [and] by the famine shall they come to their end; from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine shall they die; and they shall become an oath, an astonishment, and a curse, and a disgrace.

[You] people from Judah who have survived were determined to come and live here in Egypt. So I will get rid of all of you here in Egypt. Every one of you will die, including those who are important and those who are not important. [Some of] you will be killed by [your enemies’] swords, [some will die] from famines. You will become [people whom others] curse, be horrified about, and make fun of.

13 And I will inflict punishment on those that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have inflicted punishment on Jerusalem, through the sword, through the famine, and through the pestilence:

I will punish you here in Egypt like I punished [others in] Jerusalem, [some of whom were killed] by [their enemies’] swords and [some of whom] died from famines or diseases.

14 So that there shall be no one that escapeth or remaineth of the remnant of Judah, who are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, that they should return into the land of Judah, to which they direct [the desire of] their soul to return thither to dwell there; for they shall not return, but such as shall escape.

You people who did not die in Judah fled here to Egypt, hoping that [some day] you would return to Judah. But very few [HYP] of you will survive and escape. You are longing/wanting to remain alive and return to Judah, but only a very few of you will escape and be able to do that.’”

15 Then did all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, and all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answer Jeremiah, saying,

Then a large group of the people who had started to live in northern Egypt and southern Egypt, including all the men who knew that their wives had been burning incense to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, said this to me:

16 Respecting the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.

“You are saying that [MTY] Yahweh gave messages to you, but we will not pay any attention to your messages!

17 For to a surety we will do all the word that is gone forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: when we had plenty of food, and fared well, and saw no evil.

We will certainly do everything that we said that we would do. We will burn incense to [worship our goddess Astarte, ] the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out offerings [of wine] to her, just like we and our ancestors and our kings and [their] officials have [always] done in the streets of Jerusalem and in the [other] towns in Judah. At that time, we had plenty of food, and we were prosperous and we did not have any troubles.

18 But since the time we have left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, have we had a lack of every thing; and we have come to our end through the sword and through the famine.

But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and giving her offerings [of wine], we have had many troubles, and [some of our people] have been killed by [our enemies’] swords and [some have died] from hunger.”

19 And when we burnt incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink-offerings unto her, —was this without [the consent of] our husbands, that we did make cakes for her to make her image, and pour out drink-offerings unto her?

And [the women said], “[Furthermore], we burned incense and poured out [wine] offerings to the Queen of Heaven, and we also made small cakes that resembled her idol, to offer to her. But our husbands certainly knew about [and approved of] [RHQ] what we were doing!”

20 Then said Jeremiah unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people who had answered him [with that] word, saying,

Then I said to all the men and women who had answered me,

21 Behold, it was the incense that ye burnt in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, which the Lord remembered, and which came into his mind;

“Do not think [RHQ] that Yahweh did not know that you and your ancestors and your kings and their officials and all the other people in Judah were burning incense to [worship/honor] idols in the streets of Jerusalem and in the [other] towns in Judah!

22 So that the Lord could no longer endure it, because of the evil of your doings, because of the abominations which ye had committed: therefore is your land become a ruin, and an [object of] astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.

It was because Yahweh could no longer endure/tolerate your wicked actions and the detestable things that you were doing that he caused your land to be [a place whose name people say when they] curse someone, a land that is ruined and which has no one living in it. And your land is still like that.

23 Because that ye had burnt incense, and because ye had sinned against the Lord, and had not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and had not walked in his law, in his statutes, and in his testimonies: therefore did this evil befall you, as it is this day.

It is because you burned incense to [worship/honor] idols and committed [other] sins against Yahweh that you experienced [all] those disasters. It is because you have not obeyed him or his laws and decrees and commandments.”

24 And Jeremiah said [farther] to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt,

[Then] I said to all of them, including the women, “All you [people of] Judah who are [here] in Egypt, listen to this message from Yahweh.

25 Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouth, and fulfilled with your hands, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her: ye will fully accomplish your vows, and fully perform your vows.

This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israelis [worship], says [to you Israeli men]: ‘You and your wives have said that you would continue to do what you promised, to burn incense and pour out wine to the [goddess whom you call] the Queen of Heaven. [And you have proved by your actions that you intend to continue to do that]. So go ahead and continue doing what you have promised to do [for her].’

26 Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt, Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be called by the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, “As the Lord Eternal liveth,” in all the land of Egypt.

But now, all you people from Judah who are [now] living [here] in Egypt, listen to this message from Yahweh. He says, ‘I have solemnly declared, using my great name, that [soon] none of [you] people from Judah who are here in Egypt will ever again use my name. [There will be none of you who, when you solemnly promise to do something, ] will ever again say, “[I will do it as surely] as Yahweh lives.”

27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall come to their end through the sword and through the famine, until they be destroyed.

Because I will be watching over you, not to cause good things to happen to you but to cause things to happen that will harm you. [Almost] everyone [HYP] from Judah who is [now here] in Egypt will experience being [killed by their enemies’] swords, or dying from famine.

28 Yet some that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, but few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, that are come into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand firm, mine, or theirs.

[Only a very] few [of you] will not die, and will return to Judah. [When that happens], all those who came to Egypt will find out whose words (were true/were fulfilled), theirs or mine.’

29 And this shall be unto you the sign, saith the Lord, that I will inflict punishment on you in this place, in order that ye may know that my words shall surely stand firm against you for evil:

And Yahweh [also] says, ‘I will do something that will prove to you that everything that I have said will happen, and that I will punish you [here] in this place.

30 Thus hath said the Lord, Behold, I will give Pharaoh-chophra' the king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those that seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah the king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, his enemy, and who had sought his life.

I will cause Hophra, the king of Egypt, to be captured by his enemies who want to kill him, just like I caused King Zedekiah of Judah to be captured by [the soldiers of] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.’” [And that is what happened several years later].