1The Word that came unto Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who live in the land of Egypt, who live in Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the land of Pathros, saying, 2Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. And, behold, today they are a desolation, and no one lives there 3because of their evil which they have done to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods whom they knew not, they, you, nor your fathers. 4But I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate! 5But they did not heed, nor extend their ear to turn from their evil, to burn no incense to other gods. 6Therefore My fury and My anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted and deserted, as it is this day. 7Now therefore thus says Jehovah the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none remaining; 8in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live, that you might cut yourselves off and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9Have you 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 done in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10They have not humbled themselves to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in My Law, nor in My statutes which I have set before you and before your fathers. 11Therefore thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set My face against you for evil, to cut off all Judah. 12And I will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there; and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be destroyed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be a curse, a wonder, and a shame, and a reproach. 13For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, 14so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there shall escape or survive, that they should return into the land of Judah to which they have a desire to return to live there. For no one shall return except those who escape. 15And all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great multitude, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 16As for the Word that you have spoken to us in the name of Jehovah, we will not give heed to you. 17But we will prepare and do whatever goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our rulers, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and were well-off, and saw no evil. 18But since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and have been consumed by the sword and by famine. 19And the women also said, when we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make our cakes in her image, and pour out drink offerings to her without our men? 20Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying: 21The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your fathers, your kings, and your rulers, and the people of the land; did not Jehovah remember them, and did it not come into His mind? 22Yes, so that Jehovah could no longer hold back because of the evil of your doings, because of the abominations which you have done! Therefore your land is a waste, and a wonder, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today. 23Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, nor walked in His Law, nor in His statutes, nor did you walk in His testimonies, therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is this day. 24Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, Hear the Word of Jehovah, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt. 25Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hands, saying, We will prepare and celebrate our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her. You will arise and carry out your vows, and prepare and celebrate your vows. 26Therefore hear the Word of Jehovah, all Judah that lives in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great name, says Jehovah, 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 Jehovah lives. 27Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good. And all the men of Judah in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them. 28Yet a small number that escapes the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, shall know whose word shall stand, Mine or theirs. 29And this shall be a sign to you, says Jehovah, that I will punish you in this place, so that you may know that My Words shall be established and confirmed against you for evil. 30Thus says Jehovah, Behold, I am giving Pharaoh-hophra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy that sought his life.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 JEREMIAH REPROVES THE JEWS FOR THEIR IDOLATRY IN EGYPT, AND DENOUNCES GOD'S JUDGMENTS ON THEM AND EGYPT ALIKE. (Jer. 44:1-30)
Migdol--meaning a "tower." A city east of Egypt, towards the Red Sea (
Exod 14:2;
Num 33:7).
Noph--Memphis, now Cairo (
Jer 2:16).
Pathros--Upper Egypt (
Isa 11:11).
2 evil . . . upon Jerusalem--If I spared not My own sacred city, much less shall ye be safe in Egypt, which I loathe.
3 they went--implying perverse assiduity: they went out of their way to burn incense (one species of idolatry put for all kinds), &c.
4 (
2Chr 36:15).
7 now--after so many warnings.
commit . . . this . . . evil against your souls-- (
Jer 7:19;
Num 16:38;
Pro 8:36). It is not God whom you injure, but yourselves.
8 in . . . Egypt--where they polluted themselves to ingratiate themselves with the Egyptians.
ye be gone--not compelled by fear, but of your own accord, when I forbade you, and when it was free to you to stay in Judea.
that ye might cut yourselves off--They, as it were, purposely courted their own ruin.
9 Have you forgotten how the wickednesses of your fathers were the source of the greatest calamities to you?
their wives--The Jews' worldly queens were great promoters of idolatry (
1Kgs 11:1-8;
1Kgs 15:13;
1Kgs 16:31).
the land of Judah--They defiled the land which was holy unto God.
10 They . . . you--The third person puts them to a distance from God on account of their alienating themselves from Him. The second person implies that God formerly had directly addressed them.
humbled--literally, "contrite" (
Ps 51:17).
neither . . . feared-- (
Pro 28:14).
11 Behold, I will set my face against you for evil--(See on
Lev 17:10).
and to cut off all Judah--that is, all the idolaters;
Jer 44:28 shows that some returned to Judea (compare
Jer 42:17).
14 none . . . shall escape . . . that they should return, &c.--The Jews had gone to Egypt with the idea that a return to Judea, which they thought hopeless to their brethren in Babylon, would be an easy matter to themselves in Egypt: the exact reverse should happen in the case of each respectively. The Jews whom God sent to Babylon were there weaned from idolatry, and were restored; those who went to Egypt by their perverse will were hardened in idolatry, and perished there.
have a desire--literally, "lift up (their) soul," that is, their hopes (compare
Jer 22:27, Margin;
Deut 24:15, Margin).
none shall return but such as shall escape--namely, the "small number" (
Jer 44:28) who were brought by force into Egypt, as Jeremiah and Baruch, and those who, in accordance with Jeremiah's advice, should flee from Egypt before the arrival of the Chaldeans (see on
Jer 42:17). CALVIN less probably refers the words to the return of the exiles in Babylon, which the Jews in Egypt regarded as hopeless.
15 their wives--The idolatry began with them (
1Kgs 11:4;
1Tim 2:14). Their husbands' connivance implicated them in the guilt.
16 we will not-- (
Jer 6:16).
17 whatsoever . . . goeth . . . out of our . . . mouth--whatever vow we have uttered to our gods (
Jer 44:25;
Deut 23:23;
Judg 11:36). The source of all superstitions is that men oppose their own will and fancies to God's commands.
queen of heaven--(See on
Jer 7:18); Ashtaroth or Astarte.
we . . . fathers . . . king, &c.--The evil was restricted to no one class: all from the highest to the lowest shared the guilt.
then had we plenty--Fools attribute their seeming prosperity to God's connivance at their sin: but see
Pro 1:32;
Eccl 8:11-
Eccl 8:13. In fact, God had often chastised them for their idolatry (see
Judg 2:14); but it is the curse of impiety not to perceive the hand of God in calamities.
victuals--Men cast away the bread of the soul for the bread that perisheth (
Deut 8:3;
John 6:27). So Esau (
Heb 12:16).
18 They impute their calamities to their service of God, but these are often marks of His favor, not of wrath, to do His people good at their latter end (
Deut 8:16).
19 make . . . cakes to worship her--MAURER translates, "to form her image." Crescent-shaped cakes were offered to the moon. Vulgate supports English Version.
without our men--The women mentioned (
Jer 44:15); "a great multitude" here speak: we have not engaged in secret night orgies which might justly be regarded unfavorably by our husbands: our sacred rites have been open, and with their privity. They wish to show how unreasonable it is that Jeremiah should oppose himself alone to the act of all, not merely women, but men also. The guilty, like these women, desire to shield themselves under the complicity of others. Instead of helping one another towards heaven, husband and wife often ripen one another for hell.
21 The incense . . . did not the Lord remember--Jeremiah owns that they did as they said, but in retort asks, did not God repay their own evil-doing? Their very land in its present desolation attests this (
Jer 44:22), as was foretold (
Jer 25:11,
Jer 25:18,
Jer 25:38).
23 law--the moral precepts.
statutes--the ceremonial.
testimonies--the judicial (
Dan 9:11-
Dan 9:12).
25 Ye . . . have both spoken with . . . mouths, and fulfilled with . . . hand--ironical praise. They had pleaded their obligation to fulfil their vows, in excuse for their idolatry. He answers, no one can accuse you of unsteadiness as to your idolatrous vows; but steadfastness towards God ought to have prevented you from making, or, when made, from keeping such vows.
ye will surely accomplish . . . vows--Jeremiah hereby gives them up to their own fatal obstinacy.
26 I have sworn--I, too have made a vow which I will fulfil. Since ye will not hear Me speaking and warning, hear Me swearing.
by my great name--that is, by Myself (
Gen 22:16), the greatest by whom God can swear (
Heb 6:13-
Heb 6:14).
my name shall no more be named--The Jews, heretofore, amidst all their idolatry, had retained the form of appeal to the name of God and the law, the distinctive glory of their nation; God will allow this no more (
Ezek 20:39): there shall be none left there to profane His name thus any more.
27 watch over . . . for evil-- (
Jer 1:10;
Ezek 7:6). The God, whose providence is ever solicitously watching over His people for good, shall solicitously, as it were, watch for their hurt. Contrast
Jer 31:28;
Jer 32:41.
28 small number--(see on
Jer 44:14; and
Jer 42:17;
Isa 27:13); compare "all-consumed" (
Jer 44:27). A band easily counted, whereas they were expecting to return triumphantly in large numbers.
shall know--most of them experimentally, and to their cost.
whose words . . . mine, or theirs--Hebrew, "that from Me and them." Jehovah's words are His threats of destruction to the Jews; theirs, the assertion that they expected all goods from their gods (
Jer 44:17), &c. "Mine"; by which I predict ruin to them. "Theirs"; by which they give themselves free scope in iniquity.
shall stand-- (
Ps 33:11).
29 this . . . sign unto you--The calamity of Pharaoh-hophra (see on
Jer 44:30) shall be a sign to you that as he shall fall before his enemy, so you shall subsequently fall before Nebuchadnezzar (
Matt 24:8) [GROTIUS]. CALVIN makes the "sign" to be simultaneous with the event signified, not antecedent to it, as in
Exod 3:12. The Jews believed Egypt impregnable, so shut in was it by natural barriers. The Jews being "punished in this place" will be a sign that their view is false, and God's threat true. He calls it "a sign unto you," because God's prediction is equivalent to the event, so that they may even now take it as a sign. When fulfilled it would cease to be a sign to them: for they would be dead.
30 Hophra--in HERODOTUS called Apries. He succeeded Psammis, the successor of Pharaoh-necho, who was beaten by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish, on the Euphrates. Amasis rebelled against, and overcame him, in the city Sais.
them that seek his life--HERODOTUS, in curious accordance with this, records that Amasis, after treating Hophra well at first, was instigated, by persons who thought they could not be safe unless he were put to death, to strangle him. "His enemies" refer to Amasis, &c.; the words are accurately chosen, so as not to refer to Nebuchadnezzar, who is not mentioned till the end of the verse, and in connection with Zedekiah (
Ezek 20:3;
Ezek 30:21). Amasis' civil war with Hophra pioneered the way for Nebuchadnezzar's invasion in the twenty-third year of his reign [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10.11].
After the completion of the prophecies and histories appertaining to the Jewish people and kings, Jeremiah subjoins one referring to an individual, Baruch; even as there are subjoined to the epistles of Paul addressed to churches, epistles to individuals, some of which were prior in date to the former. Afterwards follow the prophecies referring to other nations, closing the book [GROTIUS]. The date of the events here told is eighteen years before the taking of the city; this chapter in point of time follows the thirty-sixth chapter. Baruch seems to have been regularly employed by Jeremiah to commit his prophecies to writing (
Jer 36:1,
Jer 36:4,
Jer 36:32).
