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Denunciation of Persistent Idolatry

44The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, ²Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Look at them; today they are a desolation, without an inhabitant in them, ³because of the wickedness that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your ancestors. ⁴Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘I beg you not to do this abominable thing that I hate!’ ⁵But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and make no offerings to other gods. ⁶So my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became a waste and a desolation, as they still are today. ⁷And now, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, to cut off man and woman, child and infant, from the midst of Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant? ⁸Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to settle? Will you be cut off and become an object of cursing and ridicule among all the nations of the earth? ⁹Have you forgotten the crimes of your ancestors, of the kings of Judah, of their^* wives, your own crimes and those of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰They have shown no contrition or fear to this day, nor have they walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your ancestors.

11 Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am determined to bring disaster on you, to bring all Judah to an end. ¹²I will take the remnant of Judah who are determined to come to the land of Egypt to settle, and they shall perish, everyone; in the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall perish; from the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine; and they shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule. ¹³I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, ¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to settle in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah. Although they long to go back to live there, they shall not go back, except some fugitives.

15 Then all the men who were aware that their wives had been making offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: ¹⁶‘As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you. ¹⁷Instead, we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. We used to have plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no misfortune. ¹⁸But from the time we stopped making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have perished by the sword and by famine.’ ¹⁹And the women said,^* ‘Indeed we will go on making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her; do you think that we made cakes for her, marked with her image, and poured out libations to her without our husbands being involved?’

20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who were giving him this answer: ²¹‘As for the offerings that you made in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them? Did it not come into his mind? ²²The Lord could no longer bear the sight of your evil doings, the abominations that you committed; therefore your land became a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is to this day. ²³It is because you burned offerings, and because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his decrees, that this disaster has befallen you, as is still evident today.’

24 Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you Judeans who are in the land of Egypt, ²⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have accomplished in deeds what you declared in words, saying, “We are determined to perform the vows that we have made, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out libations to her.” By all means, keep your vows and make your libations! ²⁶Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: Lo, I swear by my great name, says the Lord, that my name shall no longer be pronounced on the lips of any of the people of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord God lives.” ²⁷I am going to watch over them for harm and not for good; all the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall perish by the sword and by famine, until not one is left. ²⁸And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who have come to the land of Egypt to settle, shall know whose words will stand, mine or theirs! ²⁹This shall be the sign to you, says the Lord, that I am going to punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words against you will surely be carried out: ³⁰Thus says the Lord, I am going to give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, those who seek his life, just as I gave King Zedekiah of Judah into the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’

A Word of Comfort to Baruch

45The word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah: ²Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: ³You said, ‘Woe is me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’ ⁴Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: I am going to break down what I have built, and pluck up what I have planted—that is, the whole land. ⁵And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for I am going to bring disaster upon all flesh, says the Lord; but I will give you your life as a prize of war in every place to which you may go.’

Judgement on Egypt

46The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.

2 Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:
³ Prepare buckler and shield,
   and advance for battle!
⁴ Harness the horses;
   mount the steeds!
Take your stations with your helmets,
   whet your lances,
   put on your coats of mail!
⁵ Why do I see them terrified?
   They have fallen back;
their warriors are beaten down,
   and have fled in haste.
They do not look back—
   terror is all around!

says the Lord.
⁶ The swift cannot flee away,
   nor can the warrior escape;
in the north by the river Euphrates
   they have stumbled and fallen.

⁷ Who is this, rising like the Nile,
   like rivers whose waters surge?
⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile,
   like rivers whose waters surge.
It said, Let me rise, let me cover the earth,
   let me destroy cities and their inhabitants.
⁹ Advance, O horses,
   and dash madly, O chariots!
Let the warriors go forth:
   Ethiopia^* and Put who carry the shield,
   the Ludim, who draw^* the bow.
¹⁰ That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts,
   a day of retribution,
   to gain vindication from his foes.
The sword shall devour and be sated,
   and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice
   in the land of the north by the river Euphrates.
¹¹ Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
   O virgin daughter Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
   there is no healing for you.
¹² The nations have heard of your shame,
   and the earth is full of your cry;
for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
   both have fallen together.

Babylonia Will Strike Egypt

13 The word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:
¹⁴ Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;
   proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
Say, ‘Take your stations and be ready,
   for the sword shall devour those around you.’
¹⁵ Why has Apis fled?^*
   Why did your bull not stand?
   —because the Lord thrust him down.
¹⁶ Your multitude stumbled^* and fell,
   and one said to another,^*
‘Come, let us go back to our own people
   and to the land of our birth,
   because of the destroying sword.’
¹⁷ Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name
   ‘Braggart who missed his chance.’

¹⁸ As I live, says the King,
   whose name is the Lord of hosts,
one is coming
   like Tabor among the mountains,
   and like Carmel by the sea.
¹⁹ Pack your bags for exile,
   sheltered daughter Egypt!
For Memphis shall become a waste,
   a ruin, without inhabitant.

²⁰ A beautiful heifer is Egypt—
   a gadfly from the north lights upon her.
²¹ Even her mercenaries in her midst
   are like fatted calves;
they too have turned and fled together,
   they did not stand;
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
   the time of their punishment.

²² She makes a sound like a snake gliding away;
   for her enemies march in force,
and come against her with axes,
   like those who fell trees.
²³ They shall cut down her forest,

says the Lord,
   though it is impenetrable,
because they are more numerous
   than locusts;
   they are without number.
²⁴ Daughter Egypt shall be put to shame;
   she shall be handed over to a people from the north.

25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: See, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. ²⁶I will hand them over to those who seek their life, to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and his officers. Afterwards Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord.

God Will Save Israel

²⁷ But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,
   and do not be dismayed, O Israel;
for I am going to save you from far away,
   and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
   and no one shall make him afraid.
²⁸ As for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob,

says the Lord,
   for I am with you.
I will make an end of all the nations
   among which I have banished you,
   but I will not make an end of you!
I will chastise you in just measure,
   and I will by no means leave you unpunished.