Jeremiah 44:12-22

12 And I will take away the remnant of Judah, those who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to live there for a while; they will meet their end. All of them in the land of Egypt will fall by the sword; they will meet their end by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by the sword and by famine. Then they will become an object of execration, of scorn, of cursing, and of disgrace.

13 I will punish those living in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem by sword, famine, and plague.

14 Then the remnant of Judah-those going to live for a while there in the land of Egypt-will have no fugitive or survivor to return to the land of Judah where they are longing^[a] to return to live, for they will not return except [for a few] fugitives."

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 the Lord, 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^[b] and offer drink offerings to her just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in Judah's cities 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,^[c] "When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it apart from our husbands' knowledge that we made sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"

20 But Jeremiah responded to all the people-the men, women, and all the people who were answering him-saying,

21 "As for the incense you burned in Judah's cities and in Jerusalem's streets-you, your fathers, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land-did the Lord not remember them? He brought this to mind.

22 The Lord can no longer bear your evil deeds and the detestable acts you have committed, so your land has become a waste, a desolation, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as [you see] today.

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Jeremiah 44:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 44

This chapter contains a sermon of Jeremiah's to the Jews in Egypt, reproving them for their idolatry there; their answer to it, expressing their resolution to continue in their idolatrous practices; and a denunciation of judgments upon them, of which a sign is given. The sermon begins with observing to them the destruction of Jerusalem, and the causes of it, idolatry and contempt of the prophets, Jer 44:1-6; then follows an expostulation with the present Jews for doing the same things, and exposing themselves and their posterity to the same punishment, Jer 44:7-10; upon which they are threatened with the sore judgments of God that should come upon them, and cut them off in general, Jer 44:11-14; yet such were the impudence and obstinacy of this people, that they declared they would not hearken to the prophet, but persist in their idolatry; it having been better with them when they practised it than when they left it, Jer 44:15-19; to which the prophet replies by observing, that for the idolatry of their fathers their land was become a desolation and a curse, as at this day, Jer 44:20-23; and assures them that destruction would come from the Lord upon them, which he had swore to, Jer 44:24-28; and a sign of it is given; the delivery of the king of Egypt into the hand of the king of Babylon, Jer 44:29,30.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Footnotes 3

[a]. Lit lifting up their soul
[b]. Ashtoreth, or Astarte
[c]. LXX, Syr; MT omits And the women said