All the Jews in Egypt will die
1The Lord sent Jeremiah to talk to all the people of Judah who lived in the towns of Tahpanhes, Migdol and Memphis and in the land of Pathros. 2Jeremiah told them: ‘The Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: “You have seen what I did and what happened to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. Those cities are heaps of stones now and no one lives there. 3I did that because my people sinned a lot. They made Me angry. They burnt incense-offerings to other gods and served them, gods that they did not know before. That is what you and your forefathers did.
4I sent a lot of my servants, the prophets, to you and I told you: “‘Please, don't do these bad things that I hate.”’ 5But you did not obey Me. You did not listen and you did not stop the bad things that you were doing. You kept on burning incense-offerings to other gods. 6I became very angry and I punished the people in the towns and cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Those towns became heaps of stones where no one lives today.”
7And now the Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: “Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting yourselves like this? You are making a big mistake and all the men and women and children of Judah will die. No one will be left over. 8You are making Me angry when you do this. You want to live in the land of Egypt and be strangers. You want to bring incense-offerings to other gods. You will die. If people want to curse other people and mock them, they will use your name. 9Have you forgotten the bad things that your forefathers and the kings_of_Judah and their wives did? Do you remember what they did in the land_of_Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? You and your wives have done the same. 10Even to this day you are not sorry or humble. You don't fear God. You have not done what I told you and your forefathers.
11That is why I, the Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel, say: I have now decided to punish you and to cause you all to die. All the people of Judah will die. 12All the people of Judah who are still_alive and who came to Egypt will die, everyone who has decided to come to Egypt and to live here as strangers. Enemies will kill them and they will die from hunger. The enemies will kill all of them, the unimportant and the important people, and some of them will die from hunger. People will use their names to curse other people and make them afraid or to mock or humiliate them. 13I will punish the people of Judah who live in Egypt, as I have punished the people of Jerusalem. They will die in war and from famine or disease. 14Not one of the people of Judah who was left over, and came to Egypt to live here as strangers, will stay alive. Later they will say that they want to go back to the land_of_Judah to live there, but they won't be able to go back. There will be only a few of them who will stay alive.” ’
15There were men who knew that their wives had burnt incense-offerings to other gods. They and all the women came together and all of them who lived in Egypt and in the land of Pathros said to Jeremiah: 16‘You say it is the Lord who has sent you to tell us these things, but we will not listen to you. 17Yes, we will continue to do what we have promised, to bring offerings to our goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and to pour our drink-offerings for her as we and our forefathers have done before, and as our kings and our officials always have done in the towns and cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had enough food to eat and all went well with us. We did not have trouble. 18But then we stopped bringing offerings to the Queen of Heaven and we stopped pouring out drink-offerings to her, and from that day our trouble started. We did not have enough food and our people started to die in war and from famine.’
19The women said: ‘Our husbands knew that we were bringing offerings to the Queen of Heaven and that we poured out drink-offerings to her. They knew that we were making cakes that looked like the Queen of Heaven and that we poured out drink-offerings to her.’
20Jeremiah talked to all the people who told him this. He talked to the men and women and he said to them: 21‘The Lord saw what you did and He became very sad about the offerings that you gave in the towns and cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your kings and your officials and everyone in the land. 22The Lord did not want to be patient with you any longer because of these bad things that you did, things that He hates, and that is why your land has become a heap of stones where no one lives. It is something that people talk about when they want to make other people afraid or to curse them. 23You sinned_against the Lord when you sacrificed those offerings. You did not do what He had told you in his laws. That is why you are suffering now.’
24Jeremiah talked to all the men of Judah and their wives and he said: ‘Jewish people, all of you who are in the land of Egypt, you must listen to what the Lord says: 25The Lord who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: “You and your wives did what you said you would do. You said: “‘We will do what we have promised. We will give offerings to the goddess, to the Queen of Heaven, and pour our drink-offerings to her, that is sure.”’ Now you must do what you have promised.” 26But you must listen to what the Lord says to all the people of Judah who live in the land of Egypt. The Lord says: “As sure as I live, not one of the people of Judah who live in the land of Egypt will again use my great name and say I am the Witness when he makes a promise. 27I am ready to punish them now, not to do something good to them. Every Jew in the land of Egypt will die in war or from famine. Everyone will die. 28There will be only a few Jews who will not die in war and who will go back to the land_of_Judah. Everyone who left Judah and went to Egypt to be strangers there will know that I have spoken the truth and that what they said would happen did not happen.”
The Lord said: 29“I will punish you in this place so that you will know that I will do with you what I have said, that is sure. I give you this sign: 30I will not help Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt. He will lose the war_against his enemies who want to kill him. It will be the same as I did with Zedekiah, king_of_Judah. I did not help him and he lost the war_against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his enemy who wanted to kill him.” ’
