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Chapter 44 |
| 1 | The word that
came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt,
which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of
Pathros, saying, |
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2 | Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye
have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the
cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man
dwelleth therein, |
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3 | Because of their wickedness which they have
committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to
serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.
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| 4 | Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and
sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. |
| 5 |
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness,
to burn no incense unto other gods. |
| 6 | Wherefore my fury and mine
anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the
streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.
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| 7 | Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel;
Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man
and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
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| 8 | In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning
incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that
ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among
all the nations of the earth? |
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9 | Have ye forgotten the wickedness of
your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of
their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which
they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem? |
| 10
| They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have
they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you
and before your fathers. |
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11 | Therefore thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and
to cut off all Judah. |
| 12 | And I will take the remnant of Judah, that
have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they
shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be
consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even
unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an
execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. |
| 13 | For
I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished
Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: |
| 14 | So
that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to
sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of
Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall
return but such as shall escape. |
| 15 | Then all the men which knew
that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that
stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of
Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, |
| 16 | As for the
word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken
unto thee. |
| 17
| But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out
of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out
drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and
our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then
had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. |
| 18 | But
since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink
offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the
sword and by the famine. |
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19 | And when we burned incense to the
queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes
to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
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| 20 | Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women,
and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, |
| 21 | The
incense that ye burned 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,
did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind? |
| 22 | So
that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and
because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a
desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this
day. |
| 23 |
Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned
against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his
law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is
happened unto you, as at this day. |
| 24 | Moreover Jeremiah said unto
all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that
are in the land of Egypt: |
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25 | Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and
fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have
vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings
unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your
vows. |
| 26 |
Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah 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 Judah in all the
land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth. |
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27 | Behold, I will watch
over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the
land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be
an end of them. |
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28 | Yet a small number that escape the sword shall
return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of
Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose
words shall stand, mine, or their's. |
| 29 | And this shall be a sign unto
you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know
that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: |
| 30 | Thus saith
the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king
of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that
sought his life. |
