1 The word that came to Jeremiah about all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, those living at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis and in the land of Pathros:
2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You yourselves have seen all the evil I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah; and see, they are a ruin today, with no one living in them,
3 because of the evil they did to provoke me, going to make offerings and to serve other gods whom they had not known, they, you and your fathers.
4 I sent you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, to say, 'Please do not do this abominable thing which I hate!'
5 But they did not listen or turn their ear, to turn back from their evil and not make offerings to other gods.
6 So my wrath and my anger poured out and burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a ruin and a waste, as they are today.
7 And now thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, child and infant, out of the midst of Judah, leaving yourselves no remnant,
8 provoking me with the works of your hands by making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have come to sojourn, so that you are cut off and become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
9 Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, the evils of the kings of Judah and the evils of his wives, your own evils and the evils of your wives, which they did in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?
10 To this day they have not been crushed in spirit, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes, which I set before you and before your fathers.
11 So thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: See, I am setting my face against you for evil, to cut off all Judah.
12 I will take the remnant of Judah who set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they will all come to an end; in the land of Egypt they will fall; by sword and by famine they will come to an end, from least to greatest; by sword and by famine they will die, and they will become an execration and a horror, a curse and a taunt.
13 I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem, with sword, famine and pestilence,
14 and of the remnant of Judah who have come to sojourn there in the land of Egypt there will be no survivor or fugitive to return to the land of Judah, where they long to return and live; for they will not return, except some who escape."
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were making offerings to other gods, and all the women standing by, a great assembly, and all the people living in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah:
16 "The word you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we are not listening to you.
17 Instead, we will surely do every word that has gone out of our mouth: we will make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem; then we had our fill of bread, we were well, and we saw no evil.
18 But from the time we stopped making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been coming to an end by sword and by famine."
19 "And when we make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made cakes for her, to portray her, and poured out drink offerings to her?"
20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and the women and all the people who were answering him with this word:
21 "The offerings you made in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials and the people of the land, did the LORD not remember them, and did it not come into his mind?
22 The LORD could bear it no longer, because of the evil of your deeds and because of the abominations you did; so your land has become a ruin, a horror and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today.
23 Because you made offerings and sinned against the LORD and did not listen to the voice of the LORD, and did not walk in his law, his statutes and his testimonies, this evil has befallen you, as it is today."
24 Jeremiah also said to all the people and to all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah in the land of Egypt:
25 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands: 'We will surely carry out our vows that we have vowed, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.' Go ahead, keep your vows, carry out your vows!
26 So hear the word of the LORD, all Judah living in the land of Egypt: See, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name will no more be called on in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, 'As the Lord GOD lives.'
27 See, I am watching over them for evil and not for good; all the men of Judah in the land of Egypt will come to an end by sword and by famine until they are finished.
28 Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and the whole remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to sojourn there will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.
29 And this will be the sign for you, declares the LORD, that I am punishing you in this place, so that you may know that my words against you will surely stand for evil:
30 Thus says the LORD: See, I am giving Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking his life."