Jeremiah 44 - The Scriptures 1998

¹ The word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the Yehuḏ

² “Thus said יהוה  of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕ

³ because of their evil which they have done to provoke Me, by going to burn incense by serving other mighty ones whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers.

⁴ ‘And I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Please do not do this abominable matter that I hate!”

⁵ ‘But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil, not to burn incense to other mighty ones.

⁶ ‘So My wrath and My displeasure were poured out and burned in the cities of Yehuḏ

⁷ “And now, thus said יהוה, the Elohim of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕ

⁸ by provoking Me with the works of your hands, by burning incense to other mighty ones in the land of Mitsrayim where you have gone to dwell, to cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

⁹ ‘Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the sovereigns of Yehuḏ

¹⁰ ‘To this day they have not been humbled, nor have they feared, nor have they walked in My Torah and in My laws that I set before you and your fathers.’

¹¹ “Therefore thus said יהוה  of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕ

¹² ‘And I shall take the remnant of Yehuḏ

¹³ ‘And I shall punish those dwelling in the land of Mitsrayim, as I have punished Yerushalayim, by the sword, by scarcity of food, and by pestilence.

¹⁴ ‘And none of the remnant of Yehuḏ

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other mighty ones, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim, in Pathros, answered Yirmeyahu, saying,

¹⁶ “We are not going to listen to you in the matter about which you spoke to us in the Name of יהוה!

¹⁷ “But we shall do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our sovereigns and our heads, in the cities of Yehuḏ

¹⁸ “But since we ceased burning incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all and have been consumed by the sword and by scarcity of food.

¹⁹ “And when we burned incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to idolize her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?”

²⁰ Then Yirmeyahu spoke to all the people – to the men and to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,

²¹ “As for the incense that you burned in the cities of Yehuḏ

²² “And יהוה  could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your deeds and because of the abominations which you did. Therefore your land is a ruin, an object of astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day.

²³ “Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against יהוה, and did not obey the voice of יהוה  or walk in His Torah, in His laws or in His witnesses, therefore this evil did befall you, as at this day.”

²⁴ And Yirmeyahu said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of יהוה, all Yehuḏ

²⁵ “Thus spoke יהוה  of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕ

²⁶ “Therefore hear the word of יהוה, all Yehuḏ

²⁷ ‘See, I am watching over them for evil and not for good. And all the men of Yehuḏ

²⁸ ‘And those who escape the sword, few in number, shall return from the land of Mitsrayim to the land of Yehuḏ

²⁹ ‘And this is the sign to you,’ declares יהוה, ‘that I am punishing you in this place, so that you know that My words are certainly established against you for evil.’

³⁰ “Thus said יהוה, ‘See, I am giving Pharaoh Ḥ