Jeremiah 44:21

21 The perfumes which you have been burning in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers and your kings and your rulers and the people of the land, had the Lord no memory of them, and did he not keep them in 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 the women said, When we were burning perfumes to the queen of heaven and draining out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes in her image and give her our drink offerings without the knowledge of our husbands?
20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and women and all the people who had given him that answer,
21 The perfumes which you have been burning in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers and your kings and your rulers and the people of the land, had the Lord no memory of them, and did he not keep them in mind?
22 And the Lord was no longer able to put up with the evil of your doings and the disgusting things you did; and because of this your land has become a waste and a cause of wonder and a curse, with no one living in it, as at this day.
23 Because you have been burning perfumes, and sinning against the Lord, and have not given ear to the voice of the Lord, or gone in the way of his law or his rules or his orders; for this reason this evil has come on you, as it is today.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.