Jeremiah 44:21

21 "The offering that you made, smoke offerings in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your ancestors, your kings, and your officials, and the people of the land, [did] not Yahweh remember them, and [did] it [not] come to his {mind}?

Jeremiah 44:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 44:21

That incense that ye burnt in the cities of Judah, and in the
streets of Jerusalem
To false gods, to the queen of heaven, to the host thereof: ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of
the land;
on which account they pleaded antiquity, authority, and the general consent of the people, as on their side, which the prophet allows; but it all signified nothing: did not the Lord remember them, and came it [not] into his mind?
either the incense they offered up to strange gods, or the persons that did it? did he take no notice of these idolatrous practices, and of these idolaters? he did; he laid up these things in his mind; he showed a proper resentment of them, and in due time punished for them.

Jeremiah 44:21 In-Context

19 And indeed, [when] we [were] making smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and {pouring out} to her libations, [was it not] {with the consent of} our husbands [that] we made for her sacrificial cakes {marked with her image}, and we poured out to her libations?"

20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women, and to all the people who answered him a word, {saying},

21 "The offering that you made, smoke offerings in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your ancestors, your kings, and your officials, and the people of the land, [did] not Yahweh remember them, and [did] it [not] come to his {mind}?

22 And Yahweh was no longer able to bear [it], {because of} the evil of your deeds, {because of} the detestable things that you committed. Thus your land became as a site of ruins, and as a horror, and as a curse, {without} inhabitants, as [it is] this day.

23 {Because of} [the fact] that you made smoke offerings, and that you sinned against Yahweh, and you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you have not walked in his law, and in his statute, and in his legal provisions, {therefore} this disaster has happened to you, as [it is] this day."

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "fathers"
• [b]. Literally "heart"