Jeremiah 44:15

15 Forsooth all men answered to Jeremy, and knew, that their wives made sacrifice to alien gods, and all [the] women, of which a great multitude stood, and all the people of dwellers in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, and said, (But all the men, who knew that their wives made sacrifice to strange, or to foreign, gods, and all the women, of whom stood a great multitude, and all the people of those who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered to Jeremiah, and said,)

Jeremiah 44:15 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 44:15

Then all the men which knew that their wires had burnt incense
unto other gods
Which was a rite God appointed to be used in his worship; and is here put for the whole of religious worship, which was given to idols by the Jewish women; this their husbands knew of, and winked at, and did not restrain them from it, as they should; they seem to be themselves irreligious persons, a sort of atheists, who had no regard for the true God, nor any other gods, and cared not who were worshipped: and all the women that stood by;
the wives of the men that stood by their husbands, and other women that stood and heard Jeremiah's sermon, and were conscious to themselves of being guilty of what they were charged with by him: a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt,
in Pathros;
in that part of Egypt so called, which was Thebais: here it seems Jeremiah was with that part of the people that took up their residence there; and by this it appears there was a large number of them, men and women, and who were all become idolaters, or connivers at, and encouragers of, such as were: these answered Jeremiah, saying,
one in the name of the rest made a reply, as follows:

Jeremiah 44:15 In-Context

13 And I shall visit on the dwellers of Egypt, as I visited on Jerusalem, in sword, and in hunger, and in pestilence. (And I shall punish those who live in Egypt, like I have punished those who be in Jerusalem, with the sword, and with hunger, and with pestilence.)
14 And none shall be, that shall escape, and be [the] residue of the remnants of (the) Jews, that go to be pilgrims in the land of Egypt, and to turn again to the land of Judah, to which they raise [up] their souls, that they turn again, and dwell there; they shall not turn again thither, no but they that fled. (And none of the remnants of the Jews, who went down to the land of Egypt as visitors, shall escape, and return to the land of Judah, to which they raise up their souls, that they should return, and live there; yea, they shall not return there, no but only the few who have already fled there.)
15 Forsooth all men answered to Jeremy, and knew, that their wives made sacrifice to alien gods, and all [the] women, of which a great multitude stood, and all the people of dwellers in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, and said, (But all the men, who knew that their wives made sacrifice to strange, or to foreign, gods, and all the women, of whom stood a great multitude, and all the people of those who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered to Jeremiah, and said,)
16 We shall not hear of thee the word which thou speakest to us in the name of our Lord God, (We shall not listen to the word which thou speakest to us in the name of the Lord our God,)
17 but we doing shall do each word that shall go out of our mouth, that we make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and that we offer to it moist sacrifices, as we did, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; and we were [full-]filled with loaves, and it was well to us, and we saw none evil. (but we doing shall keep each promise that went out of our mouths, that we make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and that we offer wine offerings to her, like we used to do, yea, we, and our fathers, and our kings, and our princes, or our leaders, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we were filled full with loaves, and it was well with us, and we saw no evil.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.