Yirmeyah 44:23

23 Because ye have burned ketoret, and because ye have sinned against Hashem, and have not obeyed the voice of Hashem, nor walked in His torah, nor in His chukkot, nor in His edot; therefore this ra’ah has happened unto you, as at this day.

Yirmeyah 44:23 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 44:23

And because ye have burnt incense
Not to Jehovah, but to the queen of heaven; which they owned they did, and determined they would; asserting it was better with them when they did it than when they omitted it; for which reason the prophet particularly mentions it, and assigns it as the cause of the present ruin and destruction of their land, city, and temple: and because ye have sinned against the Lord;
by worshipping idols; all sin is against the Lord, but especially idolatry: and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord;
by his prophets, who cautioned them against idolatry, reproved them for it, and told them what would be the consequence of it; but this they hearkened not unto, which was an aggravation of their sin: nor walked in his law;
the moral law, according to it; which is a rule of walk and conversation: nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies;
as not in the moral law, so neither in the ceremonial law, and the rites of that; nor in the judicial law, and the testifications of the will of God in either of them: therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day:
that is, the desolation on their land, as in ( Jeremiah 44:23 ) ; (See Gill on Jeremiah 44:23).

Yirmeyah 44:23 In-Context

21 The ketoret that ye burned in the towns of Yehudah, and in the streets of Yerushalayim, ye, and avoteichem, your melachim, and your sarim, and the am ha’aretz, did not Hashem remember them, and came it not into His mind?
22 So that Hashem could no longer bear, because of the wickedness of your doings, and because of the to’evot (abominations) which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and a ruin, and a kelalah, without an inhabitant, as at this day.
23 Because ye have burned ketoret, and because ye have sinned against Hashem, and have not obeyed the voice of Hashem, nor walked in His torah, nor in His chukkot, nor in His edot; therefore this ra’ah has happened unto you, as at this day.
24 Moreover Yirmeyah said unto kol HaAm, and to all the nashim, Hear the Devar Hashem, all Yehudah that are in the Eretz Mitzrayim,
25 Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel, saying: Ye and your nashim have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your yad, saying, We will surely perform nedareinu (our vows) that we have vowed, to burn ketoret to the Malkat HaShomayim, and to pour out nesakhim unto her; ye will surely accomplish your nedarim (vows), and surely perform your nedarim.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.