Prophecy to the Jews Who Fled to Egypt

¹The word which came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, living in Migdol, Tah-panhes, and Noph, and in the land of Pathros:

²Thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. They are a ruin today, and no one inhabits them, ³on account of the wicked things they did to vex Me, going to make offerings in worship of other gods [ . . . ].

⁷And now, thus said the Lord, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, so that every man and woman, child and infant of yours shall be cut off from the midst of Judah, and no remnant shall be left of you? ⁸For you vex me by your deeds, making offering to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to sojourn, so that you shall be cut off and become a curse and a mockery among all the nations of earth. ⁹Have you forgotten the wicked acts of your forefathers, of the kings of Judah and their wives, and your own wicked acts and those of your wives, which were committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰No one has shown contrition to this day, and no one has shown reverence. You have not followed the Teaching and the laws that I set before you and before your fathers.

¹¹Assuredly, thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to set My face against you for punishment, to cut off all of Judah. ¹²I will take the remnant of Judah who turned their faces toward the land of Egypt, to go and sojourn there, and they shall be utterly consumed in the land of Egypt. They shall fall by the sword, they shall be consumed by famine; great and small alike shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an execration and a desolation, a curse and a mockery. ¹³I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt as I punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence. [ . . . ]

¹⁵Thereupon they answered Jeremiah—all the men who knew that their wives made offerings to other gods; all the women present, a large gathering; and all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt: ¹⁶“We will not listen to you in the matter about which you spoke to us in the name of the Lord. ¹⁷On the contrary, we will do everything that we have vowed—to make offerings to the Queen of Heaven and to pour libations to her, as we used to do, we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty to eat, we were well-off, and suffered no misfortune. ¹⁸But ever since we stopped making offerings to the Queen of Heaven and pouring libations to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been consumed by the sword and by famine. ¹⁹And when we make offerings to the Queen of Heaven and pour libations to her, is it without our husbands’ approval that we have made cakes in her likeness and poured libations to her?”

²⁰Jeremiah replied to all the people, men and women—all the people who argued with him. [ . . . ] ²³“Because you burned incense and sinned against the Lord and did not obey the Lord, and because you did not follow His Teaching, His laws, and His exhortations, therefore this disaster has befallen you, as is still the case.” [ . . . ]

²⁶“Yet hear the word of the Lord [ . . . ]. ²⁷[ . . . ] all the men of Judah in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by sword and by famine [ . . . ]. ²⁸Only the few who survive the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah. All the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall learn whose word will be fulfilled—Mine or theirs!”