Jeremiah 44

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,

1This is the message God gave to Jeremiah, a prophet, someone who told people what God said. It was for all the Jews living in Egypt. They lived in the towns of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Noph, and in the land of Pathros.

2Thus 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,

2The LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says this. You saw all the trouble I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Look at them today. They are empty piles of ruins. Nobody lives there.

3Because 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.

3This happened because of the wrong things the people did. They made me angry. They burned incense and served other gods. Incense is a spice that makes sweet smoke when it burns. Nobody knew those gods, not them, not you, and not your fathers before you.

4Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.

4Still, I sent all my servants the prophets to you. I sent them again and again. They said, please do not do this awful thing that I hate.

5But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.

5But the people would not listen. They would not even turn their ears to hear. They did not stop doing wrong. They kept burning incense to other gods.

6Wherefore 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.

6So my anger poured out like fire. It burned in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Those places were ruined and left empty, just as they are today.

7Therefore 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;

7Now the LORD God of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says this. Why are you hurting yourselves so badly? You are cutting off men and women, children and babies from Judah. Soon none of you will be left.

8In 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?

8You make me angry by what your hands make. You burn incense to other gods here in Egypt, where you came to live. You are wiping yourselves out. People in every nation will use your name as a bad word.

9Have 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?

9Have you forgotten the wrong things your fathers did? Have you forgotten what the kings of Judah did, and what their wives did? Have you forgotten what you did, and what your wives did? All of it happened in Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.

10They 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.

10Even today they are not sorry. They do not show me respect. They do not live by my teaching or my rules. I gave those rules to you and to your fathers.

11Therefore 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.

11So the LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says this. I have decided to bring trouble on you. I will cut off all of Judah.

12And 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.

12The few people of Judah who are left made up their minds to go live in Egypt. I will take them away. Every one of them will die there. They will die in war or from hunger. Everyone will die, the least important and the greatest. People will be shocked at them and use their name as a bad word.

13For 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:

13I will punish the people living in Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem. I will use war, hunger, and sickness.

14So 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.

14So none of the people of Judah who went to live in Egypt will get away. They want to go back and live in Judah again. But they will not return. Only a very few will escape and get home.

15Then 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,

15Then the men answered Jeremiah. They knew their wives had been burning incense to other gods. All the women standing there answered too. It was a huge crowd. All the people of Judah living in Egypt and in Pathros spoke up.

16As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.

16They said, you spoke to us using the LORD's name. But we will not listen to you.

17But 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.

17We will do everything we promised to do. We will burn incense to the queen of heaven. We will pour out drink offerings to her. Our fathers, our kings, and our leaders did this in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Back then we had plenty of food. We were fine, and nothing bad happened to us.

NoteA drink offering means pouring out wine on the ground as a gift to a god.

18But 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.

18But we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven. We stopped pouring out drink offerings to her. Since then we have gone without everything. War and hunger have been killing us.

NoteIn the King James Bible, "we have wanted all things" means "we have gone without everything." Long ago, "want" meant to lack something.

19And 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?

19The women said, we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her. We made cakes shaped like her. Did we do all this without our husbands knowing?

20Then 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,

20Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people who had answered him, both the men and the women.

21The 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?

21He said, you burned incense in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. So did your fathers, your kings, your leaders, and everyone in the land. Do you think the LORD forgot? He remembered every bit of it.

22So 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.

22The LORD could not put up with it any longer. Your deeds were evil, and the things you did were awful to him. That is why your land is empty ruins today. Nobody lives there, and people are shocked when they see it.

23Because 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.

23You burned incense and you sinned against the LORD. You did not obey his voice. You did not live by his teaching, his rules, or his warnings. That is why this trouble came to you, as you can see today.

24Moreover 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:

24Then Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, listen to the LORD's message. This is for everyone from Judah who lives in Egypt.

25Thus 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.

25The LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says this. You and your wives made a promise out loud. Then your hands did what you said. You promised to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her. Go ahead then. Keep your promises.

26Therefore 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.

26But listen to the LORD's message, all you people of Judah living in Egypt. The LORD says, I have made a promise using my own great name. No man of Judah in Egypt will ever say my name again. None of them will say, as surely as the Lord GOD lives.

27Behold, 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.

27I am watching over them to bring trouble, not good things. Every man of Judah in Egypt will die by war or hunger, until they are all gone.

28Yet 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 theirs.

28A few will get away from the fighting. They will come back from Egypt to Judah. Then all the people of Judah who went to live in Egypt will know whose words came true, mine or theirs.

29And 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:

29The LORD says, here is a sign for you. It will show you that I will punish you in this place. Then you will know that my warnings about you will surely come true.

30Thus 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.

30The LORD says this. Look, I will hand over Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt, to his enemies. They want to kill him. I did the same thing to Zedekiah, king of Judah. I handed him over to his enemy, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, who wanted to kill him.

NoteNebuchadrezzar is another way of spelling Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.