Jeremiah 44:12-22

12 I will take the remnant of Yehudah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Mitzrayim to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Mitzrayim shall they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an object of horror, [and] an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

13 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Mitzrayim, as I have punished Yerushalayim, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence;

14 so that none of the remnant of Yehudah, who have gone into the land of Mitzrayim to sojourn there, shall escape or be left, to return into the land of Yehudah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save such as shall escape.

15 Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Mitzrayim, in Patros, answered Yirmeyahu, saying,

16 As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.

17 But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Yehudah, and in the streets of Yerushalayim; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

18 But since we left off burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink-offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

19 When we burned incense to the queen of the sky, and poured out drink-offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink-offerings to her, without our husbands?

20 Then Yirmeyahu said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him who answer, saying,

21 The incense that you burned in the cities of Yehudah, and in the streets of Yerushalayim, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn't the LORD remember them, and didn't it come into his mind?

22 so that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore is your land become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

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.