Jeremiah 44:7-19

7Now then, this is what the Lord God of armies, the God of Israel says: “Why are you 1doing great harm to yourselves, to 2eliminate from yourselves man and woman, child and infant from among Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant, 83provoking Me to anger with the works of your hands, 4burning 5sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt where you are entering to reside, so that you may be eliminated and become a 6curse and a disgrace among all the nations of the earth? 9Have you forgotten the 7wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah and the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10Yet they 8have not become 9contrite even to this day, nor have they feared, nor 10walked in My Law or My statutes, which I placed before you and before your fathers.”’

11“Therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to 11set My face against you for a disaster, even to eliminate all Judah. 12And I will 12take away the remnant of Judah who have set their 13minds on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all 1415meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword or meet their end by famine. From the small to the great, they will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a 16curse, an object of horror, 17an imprecation, and a disgrace. 13And I will 18punish those who live in the land of Egypt, just as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with plague. 14So there will be 19no survivor or refugee for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are 2021longing to return to live; for none will 22return except a few refugees.’”

15Then 23all the men who were aware that their wives were burning 24sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, 25including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, 16“As for the 2627message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, 28we are not going to listen to you! 17But we will certainly 29carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, 30by burning 31sacrifices to the 32queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as 33we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had 34plenty of 35food and were well off and saw no 36misfortune. 18But since we stopped burning 37sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have 38lacked everything, and have met our end by the sword and by famine.” 19“And,” said the women, “when we were 39burning 40sacrifices to the queen of heaven and 41pouring out drink offerings to her, was it 42without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes 43in her image, and poured out drink offerings to her?”