CHAPTER 44
1 The word that was made to Jeremy, and to all the Jews, that dwelled in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Migdol, and in Tahpanhes, and in Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, and said,
2 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Ye saw all this evil, which I brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and lo! those [or they] be forsaken today, and no dweller is in them;
3 for the malice which they did, to stir me to wrathfulness [or to wrath], and that they went, and made sacrifice, and worshipped alien gods, which they knew not, both ye, and they, and your fathers.
4 And I sent to you all my servants prophets; and I rose by night, and sent, and said, Do not ye do the word of such abomination.
5 And they heard not, neither bowed down their ear, that they shall be converted from their evils, and should not make sacrifice to alien gods.
6 And mine indignation and my strong vengeance is welled together, and is kindled in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they be turned into wilderness, and wasteness, by this day.
7 And now the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Why do ye this great evil against your souls, that a man of you perish and a woman, a little child and a sucking infant, from the midst of Judah, neither any residue thing be left in you,
8 that stir me to wrath by the works of your hands, in making sacrifice to alien gods in the land of Egypt, into which ye entered, that ye dwell there, and that ye perish, and be into cursing, and into shame to all the folks of earth?
9 Whether ye have forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the kings of Judah, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and the evils of your wives, which they did in the land of Judah, and in the countries of Jerusalem?
10 They be not cleansed unto this day, and they dreaded not, and they went not in the law of the Lord, and in my behests, which I gave before you, and before your fathers.
11 Therefore the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall set my face in you into evil, and I shall lose all Judah,
12 and I shall take the remnants of Judah, that setted their faces, to go into the land of Egypt, and to dwell there; and all shall be wasted in the land of Egypt, they shall fall down by sword, and shall be wasted in hunger, from the least unto the most, they shall die by sword and hunger, and shall be into swearing, and into miracle, or wonder, and into cursing, and into shame.
13 And I shall visit on the dwellers of Egypt, as I visited on Jerusalem, in sword, and in hunger, and in pestilence.
14 And none shall be, that shall escape, and be [the] residue of the remnants of Jews, that go to be pilgrims in the land of Egypt, and to turn again to the land of Judah, to which they raise [up] their souls, that they turn again, and dwell there; they shall not turn again thither, no but they that fled.
15 Forsooth all men answered to Jeremy, and knew, that their wives made sacrifice to alien gods, and all [the] women, of which a great multitude stood, and all the people of dwellers in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, and said,
16 We shall not hear of thee the word which thou speakest to us in the name of our Lord God,
17 but we doing shall do each word that shall go out of our mouth, that we make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and that we offer to it moist sacrifices, as we did, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; and we were [full-]filled with loaves, and it was well to us, and we saw none evil.
18 But from that time, in which we ceased to make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to offer to it moist sacrifices, we had need to all things, and we were wasted by sword and hunger.
19 That if we make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and offer to it moist sacrifices, whether without our hus-bands we made to it cakes, to worship it, and loaves to be offered?
20 And Jeremy said to all the people, against the men, and against the women, and against all the people, that answered to him the word, and he said,
21 Whether not the sacrifices which ye sacrificed in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, stirred God to vengeance? The Lord had mind on these things, and it ascended [or went up] on his heart;
22 and the Lord might no more bear, for the malice of your studies, and for the abominations which ye did. And your land is made into desolation, and into wondering, and into curse, for no dweller is, as this day is.
23 Therefore for ye made sacrifice to idols, and sinned to the Lord, and heard not the voice of the Lord, and went not in the law, and in the commandments, and in the witnesses of him, therefore these evils befell to you, as this day is.
24 Forsooth Jeremy said to all the people, and to all the women, All Judah, that be in the land of Egypt, hear ye the word of the Lord.
25 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, and speaketh, Ye and your wives spake with your mouths, and [ful] filled with your hands, and said, Make we our vows which we vowed, that we make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and offer to it moist sacrifices; ye [ful] filled your vows, and did those [or them] in work.
26 Therefore, all Judah, that dwell in the land of Egypt, hear ye the word of the Lord; Lo! I swore in my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be called by the mouth of each man Jew, saying, The Lord God liveth, in all the land of Egypt.
27 Lo! I shall wake on them into evil, and not into good; and all the men of Judah, that be in the land of Egypt, shall be wasted, by sword and hunger, till they be wasted utterly.
28 And a few men that fled the sword, shall turn again from the land of Egypt into the land of Judah; and all the remnants of Judah, of them that enter into the land of Egypt, to dwell there, shall know, whose word shall be [ful] filled, mine either theirs.
29 And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I shall visit on you in this place, that ye know, that verily my words shall be [ful] filled against you into evil.
30 The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall betake Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life, as I betook Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy, and seeking his life.