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Disaster Because of Idolatry
44:1 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,
44:2 Thus 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,
44:3 Because 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.
44:4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets,
rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this
abominable thing that I hate.
44:5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn
from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.
44:6 Wherefore 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.
44:7 Therefore 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;
44:8 In 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?
44:9 Have 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?
44:10 They 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.
44:11 Therefore 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.
44:12 And 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.
44:13 For 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:
44:14 So 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.
44:15 Then 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,
44:16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the
name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
44:17 But 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.
44:18 But 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.
44:19 And 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?
44:20 Then 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,
44:21 The 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?
44:22 So 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.
44:23 Because 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.
44:24 Moreover 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:
44:25 Thus 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.
44:26 Therefore 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.
44:27 Behold, 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.
44:28 Yet 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
their's.
44:29 And 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:
44:30 Thus 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. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
