Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 295
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J eremiah
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Egypt just as I punished them in Jerusalem, by war, famine, and disease.
Of that remnant who fled to Egypt, hoping someday to return to Judah,
there will be no survivors. Even though they long to return home, only a
handful will do so.”
Then all the women present and all the men who knew that their wives
had burned incense to idols—a great crowd of all the Judeans living in
northern Egypt and southern Egypt—answered Jeremiah, “We will not
listen to your messages from the Lord! We will do whatever we want. We
will burn incense and pour out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven
just as much as we like—just as we, and our ancestors, and our kings and
officials have always done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Je
rusalem. For in those days we had plenty to eat, and we were well off and
had no troubles! But ever since we quit burning incense to the Queen of
Heaven and stopped worshiping her with liquid offerings, we have been
in great trouble and have been dying from war and famine.”
“Besides,” the women added, “do you suppose that we were burning
incense and pouring out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven, and
making cakes marked with her image, without our husbands knowing it
and helping us? Of course not!”
Then Jeremiah said to all of them, men and women alike, who had given
him that answer, “Do you think the Lord did not know that you and your
ancestors, your kings and officials, and all the people were burning incense
to idols in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? It was be
cause the Lord could no longer bear all the disgusting things you were
doing that he made your land an object of cursing—a desolate ruin with
out inhabitants—as it is today. All these terrible things happened to you
because you have burned incense to idols and sinned against the Lord.
You have refused to obey him and have not followed his instructions, his
decrees, and his laws.”
Then Jeremiah said to them all, including the women, “Listen to this
message from the Lord, all you citizens of Judah who live in Egypt. This is
what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You and your
wives have said, “We will keep our promises to burn incense and pour out
liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven,” and you have proved by your
actions that you meant it. So go ahead and carry out your promises and
vows to her!’
“But listen to this message from the Lord, all you Judeans now living
in Egypt: ‘I have sworn by my great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that my name
will no longer be spoken by any of the Judeans in the land of Egypt. None
of you may invoke my name or use this oath: “As surely as the Sovereign
Lord lives.” For I will watch over you to bring you disaster and not good.
Everyone from Judah who is now living in Egypt will suffer war and famine
