Jeremiah 44:1-14

God's Judgment against His People in Egypt

1 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt-at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the land of Pathros:

2 "This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You have seen all the disaster I brought against Jerusalem and all Judah's cities; look, they are a ruin today without an inhabitant in them

3 because of their evil ways that provoked Me to anger, going and burning incense to serve other gods they, you, and your fathers did not know.

4 So I sent you all My servants the prophets time and time again,^[a] saying, Don't do this detestable thing that I hate.

5 But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their evil or stop burning incense to other gods.

6 So My fierce wrath poured forth and burned in Judah's cities and Jerusalem's streets so that they became the desolate ruin they are today.

7 "So now, this is what the Lord, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves? You are cutting off man and woman, child and infant^[b] from Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant.

8 You are provoking Me to anger by the work of your hands. You are burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live for a while. As a result, you will be cut off and become an object of cursing and insult among all the nations of earth.

9 Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, the evils of Judah's kings, the evils of their wives, your own evils, and the evils of your wives that were committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

10 They have not become humble to this day, and they have not feared or walked by My law or My statutes that I set before you and your ancestors.

11 "Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn against you to [bring] disaster,^[c] to cut off all Judah.

12 And I will take away the remnant of Judah, those who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to live there for a while; they will meet their end. All of them in the land of Egypt will fall by the sword; they will meet their end by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by the sword and by famine. Then they will become an object of execration, of scorn, of cursing, and of disgrace.

13 I will punish those living in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem by sword, famine, and plague.

14 Then the remnant of Judah-those going to live for a while there in the land of Egypt-will have no fugitive or survivor to return to the land of Judah where they are longing^[d] to return to live, for they will not return except [for a few] fugitives."

Jeremiah 44:1-14 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit prophets, rising up early and sending
• [b]. 1 Sm 15:3; 22:19
• [c]. Jr 21:10
• [d]. Lit lifting up their soul