Bible Text & Cross-references:
The prophet's admonition to the Jews, in Egypt, against
idolatry, is not regarded: he denounces to them their destruction.
1 The word that came to Jeremias, concerning all the Jews that dwelt
in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Magdal, and in Taphnis, and in Memphis, and in the land of Phatures, saying:
2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all
this evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Juda; and behold they are desolate this day, and
there is not an inhabitant in them:
3 Because of the wickedness which they have committed, to provoke me
to wrath, and to go and offer sacrifice, and worship other gods, which neither they, nor you, nor your fathers knew.
4 And I sent to you all my servants, the prophets, rising early, and
sending, and saying: Do not commit this abominable thing, which I hate.
5 But they heard not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their evil
ways, and not to sacrifice to strange gods.
6 Wherefore my indignation and my fury was poured forth, and was kindled
in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and they are turned to desolation and waste, as at this day.
7 And now thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you
commit this great evil against your own souls, that there should die of you man and woman, child and suckling, out of the
midst of Juda, and no remnant should be left you:
8 In that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, by sacrificing
to other gods, in the land of Egypt, into which you are come to dwell there: and that you should perish, and be a curse, and
a reproach to all the nations of the earth?
9 Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the
kings of Juda, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and the evils of your wives, that they have done in the land
of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10 They are not cleansed even to this day; neither have they feared,
nor walked in the law of the Lord, nor in my commandments, which I set before you and your fathers.
11 Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: *Behold,
I will set my face upon you for evil; and I will destroy all Juda.
12 And I will take the remnant of Juda that have set their faces to go
into the land of Egypt, and to dwell there: and they shall be all consumed in the land of Egypt: they shall fall by the sword,
and by the famine: and they shall be consumed, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword, and by the famine shall
they die: and they shall be for an execration, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach.
13 And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have visited
Jerusalem by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence.
14 And there shall be none that shall escape, and remain, of the remnant
of the Jews that are gone to sojourn in the land of Egypt: and that shall return into the land of Juda, to which they have
a desire to return, to dwell there: there shall none return but they that shall flee.
15 Then all the men that knew that their wives sacrificed to other gods:
and all the women, of whom there stood by a great multitude, and all the people of them that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in
Phatures, answered Jeremias, saying:
16 As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord,
we will not hearken to thee:
17 But we will certainly do every word that shall proceed out of our
own mouth, to sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we and our fathers have done, our
kings, and our princes, in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and we were filled with bread, and it was
well with us, and we saw no evil.
18 But since we left off to offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and
to pour out drink-offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword, and by famine.
19 And if we offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and pour out drink-offerings
to her: did we make cakes to worship her, to pour out drink-offerings to her, without our husbands?
20 And Jeremias spoke to all the people, to the men, and to the women,
and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying:
21 Was it not the sacrifice that you offered in the cities of Juda, and
in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, which the Lord
hath remembered, and hath it not entered into his heart?
22 So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your
doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed: therefore your land is become a desolation, and an astonishment,
and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.
23 Because you have sacrificed to idols, and have sinned against the
Lord: and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have not walked in his law, and in his commandments, and in his testimonies:
therefore are these evils come upon you, as at this day.
24 And Jeremias said to all the people, and to all the women: Hear ye
the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell in the land of Egypt:
25 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your
wives have spoken with your mouth, and fulfilled with your hands, saying: Let us perform our vows which we have made, to offer
sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her: you have fulfilled your vows, and have performed
them indeed.
26 Therefore, hear ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell
in the land of Egypt: Behold I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord: that my name shall no more be named in the mouth
of any man of Juda, in the land of Egypt, saying: The Lord God liveth.
27 Behold I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all
the men of Juda that are in the land of Egypt, shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine, till there be an end of them.
28 And a few men that shall flee from the sword, shall return out of
the land of Egypt into the land of Juda: and all the remnant of Juda that are gone into the land of Egypt, to dwell there,
shall know, whose word shall stand, mine, or theirs.
29 And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I will punish
you in this place: that you may know that my words shall be accomplished indeed against you for evil.
30 Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver Pharao Ephree, king of
Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life: as I delivered Sedecias, king of Juda,
into the hand of Nabuchodonosor, the king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.
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*
11: Amos ix. 4.