Jeremiah 44:20-30

20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him,
21 “Did not the LORD remember and call to mind the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials and the people of the land?
22 When the LORD could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today.
23 Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.”
24 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah in Egypt.
25 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have done what you said you would do when you promised, ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’ “Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!
26 But hear the word of the LORD, all you Jews living in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name,’ says the LORD, ‘that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, “As surely as the Sovereign LORD lives.”
27 For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed.
28 Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs.
29 “ ‘This will be the sign to you that I will punish you in this place,’ declares the LORD, ‘so that you will know that my threats of harm against you will surely stand.’
30 This is what the LORD says: ‘I am going to deliver Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies who want to kill him, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the enemy who wanted to kill him.’ ”

Jeremiah 44:20-30 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.

Cross References 38

  • 1. Isaiah 64:9; S Jeremiah 14:10; Hosea 8:13
  • 2. S Jeremiah 11:13
  • 3. ver 9
  • 4. S Psalms 79:8
  • 5. S Jeremiah 2:26
  • 6. S Isaiah 1:14
  • 7. S Jeremiah 25:18
  • 8. S Leviticus 26:31,32
  • 9. S Genesis 19:13; Psalms 107:33-34; Ezekiel 33:28-29
  • 10. S 1 Kings 9:6
  • 11. S Leviticus 18:4
  • 12. Jeremiah 40:2
  • 13. S Leviticus 26:33; S 1 Kings 9:9; Jeremiah 7:13-15; Ezekiel 39:23; Daniel 9:11-12
  • 14. ver 15; S Genesis 3:6
  • 15. Jeremiah 43:7
  • 16. S Proverbs 31:10
  • 17. S ver 17; S Deuteronomy 32:38
  • 18. S Proverbs 20:25; Ezekiel 20:39; James 1:13-15
  • 19. S Jeremiah 24:8
  • 20. S Genesis 22:16; S Isaiah 48:1; Acts 19:13; Hebrews 6:13-17
  • 21. S Genesis 15:2
  • 22. Deuteronomy 32:40; Psalms 50:16; S Jeremiah 4:2
  • 23. S Jeremiah 1:12
  • 24. S Jeremiah 21:10; Jeremiah 31:28
  • 25. S Leviticus 26:38; S Job 15:22; 2 Peter 3:9
  • 26. S Genesis 41:55
  • 27. S Jeremiah 9:16; Daniel 9:14; Amos 9:8
  • 28. Jeremiah 45:5; Ezekiel 6:8
  • 29. ver 13-14; S Isaiah 10:19
  • 30. S 2 Kings 21:14
  • 31. S Isaiah 7:9; S Jeremiah 39:16; Jeremiah 42:15-18
  • 32. S ver 17,25-26
  • 33. S Genesis 24:14; S Exodus 3:12; S Numbers 16:38; S Matthew 12:38; Matthew 24:3
  • 34. S Exodus 32:34
  • 35. S Proverbs 19:21
  • 36. S Jeremiah 25:19; Jeremiah 46:26; Ezekiel 30:21; Ezekiel 32:32
  • 37. 2 Kings 25:1-7; S Jeremiah 24:8
  • 38. Jeremiah 43:9-13; Jeremiah 39:5
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