Chapter 43 – Chapter 45

Chapter 43

CHAPTER 43

1 And it was that when Jeremiah had finished to speak to all the people all the words of Jehovah their God, for which Jehovah their God had sent him to them all, even for these words,

2 Then Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, said, speaking to Jeremiah, Falsehood dost thou speak; Jehovah our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not to Egypt to sojourn there;

3 But Baruch, the son of Neriah, rouses thee against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, to slay us and to remove us to Babylon.

4 So Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the leaders of the forces and the whole people, did not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, to dwell in the land of Judah:

5 But Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the leaders of the forces, took the remnant of Judah, who had returned from all the nations, to which they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah,

6 Even the men, and the women, and the children, and the king’s daughters, and every soul which Nebuzar-adan, the prince of the executioners, had left with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son Shaphan, and with Jeremiah the prophet, and with Baruch, the son of Neriah;

7 And they went into the land of Egypt; for they did not obey the voice of Jehovah; and they came as far as Tahpanhes.

8 And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, —

9 Take in thine hand great stones, and hide them in the clay in the brick-kiln, which is by the gate of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;

10 And thou shalt say to them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne on these stones, which I have hid, and he shall spread his tent over them;

11 And he shall come and smite the land of Egypt, those for death to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword;

12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive, and roll up the land of Egypt as a shepherd rolls up his garment; and he shall go forth thence in peace:

13 And he shall break in pieces the statues of Beth-shemesh, which is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire.

Chapter 44

CHAPTER 44

1 The word which came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwelt in the land of Egypt, who dwelt at Migdol and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, even in the land of Pathros, saying, —

2 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, ye have seen all the evil which I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and behold they are a waste this day, and no one dwells in them,

3 Because of the wickedness which they had done to provoke me, by going to burn incense and to serve foreign gods, whom they had not known, neither they nor their fathers:

4 And I sent to them all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending, saying, Do not, I pray you, the thing of this abomination, which I hate;

5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their car to turn from their wickedness and not to burn incense to foreign gods.

6 Then my indignation and my wrath were poured out and were kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste as at this day.

7 And now, thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Why do ye this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, even from the midst of Judah, so as to leave you no remnant remaining,

8 To provoke me by the works of your hands, by burning incense to foreign gods in the land of Egypt, to which ye are gone to dwelt there, that ye may be cut off, and that ye may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

9 Have ye forgotten the evils of your fathers and the evils of the kings of Judah, and the evils of their wives, and your own evils, and the evils of your wives, which they did in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem:

10 And they have not humbled themselves to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and in my statutes, which I had set before you and before your fathers.

11 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah;

12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their face to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed in the land of Egypt; they shall fall by the sword, by famine shall they be consumed, from the least to the greatest; by the sword and by famine shall they die, and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach:

13 And I will visit them who dwell in Egypt, as I visited Jerusalem, with the sword, and famine, and pestilence.

14 And there shall be none to escape among the remnant of Judah who have come to sojourn here, even in the land of Egypt, and to return to the land of Judah on returning to which they set their minds to dwell there, for they shall not return except those who have escaped.

15 Then all the men answered Jeremiah, even they who knew that their wives burned incense to foreign gods, and all the women who stood by, a great company, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, saying, —

16 As to the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of Jehovah, we will not hearken to thee;

17 But we shall do whatsoever that goeth forth from our mouth, to burn incense to the frame-work of heaven, and to pour out libations to it, as we did, we and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and we were satisfied with bread, and were happy, and saw no evil:

18 But from the time we left off to burn incense to the frame-work of heaven, and to pour out libations to it, we have been destitute of every- thing, and have been consumed by the sword and famine.

19 And when we burned incense to the frame-work of heaven, and poured out libations to it, did we without our men make cakes to it to worship it, and pour out libations to it?

20 Then said Jeremiah to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had returned to him the answer, saying, —

21 The incense which ye burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and all the people of the land, hath not Jehovah remembered it?

22 And hath it not come to his mind? Nay, Jehovah could no longer bear you for the wickedness of your doings, for the abominations which ye did; and reduced is your land to a waste, and is become an astonishment and a curse, as it appears at this day:

23 Because ye burned incense and sinned against Jehovah, and hearkened not to the voice of Jehovah, nor walked in his law, and statutes, and testimonies, therefore hath this evil happened to you, as it appears at this day.

24 Jeremiah said again to all the people and to all the women, — Hear the word of Jehovah, all ye Judah who are in the land of Egypt, —

25 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have spoken with your mouth and fulfilled with your hands, saying, Doing we shall do our vows which we have vowed, to burn incense to the frame-work of heaven and to pour out libations to it: confirming ye will confirm your vows, and doing ye will do your vows.

26 Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, all ye Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt, Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith Jehovah, that my name shall no more be called upon by the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, “The Lord Jehovah liveth in all the land of Egypt.”

27 Behold I will watch over them for evil and not for good, and consumed shall be all the men of Judah, who are in the land of Egypt, by the sword and by famine, until they be consumed:

28 And they who shall escape from the sword and return from the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, shall be few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who have entered into the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs.

29 And this shall be a sign to you, saith Jehovah, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that standing my words shall stand against you for evil, —

30 Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will deliver Pharaoh-Hophra into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I delivered Zedekiah, the king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, his enemy, and who sought his life.

Chapter 45

CHAPTER 45

1 The word which Jeremiah the prophet spake to Baruch, the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book from the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, saying, —

2 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning thee, O Baruch:

3 Thou hast said, Woe now to me! for Jehovah hath added grief to my sorrow; I am wearied with my sighing, and rest have I not found.

4 Thus shalt thou say to him, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, what I builded I pull down, and what I planted I pluck up, even this whole land;

5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek not; for behold I am bringing evil on all flesh, saith Jehovah; and I will give thee thy life as a prey in all the places whither thou wilt go.