The big picture
Refugees from Judah, their conquered homeland, live in Egypt. They sought safety in this southern kingdom. Jeremiah speaks God's word to them there. They have seen Jerusalem, their former capital, ruined, but have not stopped worshipping other gods. A large group openly defends offerings to the queen of heaven, a deity they credit with former prosperity. Jeremiah gives the opposite explanation for the disaster. The dispute ends with a warning that events will show whose word stands, God's or theirs.
In this chapter
- The Ruined Homeland Is Evidence They Have Seen Jeremiah 44:1-6
Those living across Egyptian towns and regions receive a word from God.
- Repeating the Sin Endangers the Whole Remnant Jeremiah 44:7-14
God asks why they harm themselves by continuing false worship in Egypt.
- The People Blame the End of False Worship Jeremiah 44:15-19
Men who know of their wives' offerings join a large group of women in answering Jeremiah.
- Jeremiah Reverses Their Explanation of the Ruin Jeremiah 44:20-23
The prophet answers the whole group, men and women alike.
- Events Will Test the Two Opposing Words Jeremiah 44:24-30
Their vows to the false deity have been kept, God says.
Central truth
The refugees credit false worship with former plenty, while God identifies it as the cause of ruin and warns of judgement in their new refuge.
Scripture beside the summary
Jeremiah · King James Version · 30Jeremiah 44:1-6
The Ruined Homeland Is Evidence They Have Seen
Those living across Egyptian towns and regions receive a word from God. They have seen the disaster he brought on the capital and Judah's other towns. Those places lie empty because the people provoked him with offerings to other gods. He had repeatedly sent prophets pleading with them to stop this hated practice. They would not listen or turn from it. His anger therefore burned against their towns and streets. They all saw the ruin. God begins with that fact. Leaving the land has not erased what they know about its loss.
In everyday life
A grocer in exile keeps photographs of the premises lost after years of ignored safety warnings. At a meeting in her new district, the same documented failures are raised again. Moving away has not erased what everyone saw happen. Jeremiah identifies false worship and God's judgement, not a preventable accident explained by safety records.
Notice
Jeremiah 44:4 God recalls sending prophets repeatedly before the ruin. The judgement followed a refused warning, so the people's remembered past includes opportunities to turn as well as the final loss.
Jeremiah 44:1-6
King James Version1The 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,
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,
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.
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.
5But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto 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.
Jeremiah 44:7-14
Repeating the Sin Endangers the Whole Remnant
God asks why they harm themselves by continuing false worship in Egypt. Their actions threaten men, women, and children among the few who remain. Have they forgotten the wrong done by their ancestors, rulers, spouses, and themselves? They still show no humility or obedience. He will set himself against those who chose this refuge, bringing war, hunger, and disease as in the capital. The expected return home will fail for the group. Only such individuals as escape will return. They live in a new place. They still refuse God's law, and that puts them at risk.
In everyday life
A sanitation nurse sees displaced families resume a harmful practice linked to earlier losses. She asks why the known risk is being carried into the new settlement, where children also depend on the adults' choices. The past has not been forgotten so much as dismissed. God threatens judgement for idolatry, not a public-health consequence alone.
Notice
Jeremiah 44:10 The people have not humbled themselves even after witnessing the ruin. Their continued conduct shows that suffering by itself has not produced the response God's warning sought.
Jeremiah 44:7-14
King James Version7Therefore 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;
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Jeremiah 44:15-19
The People Blame the End of False Worship
Men who know of their wives' offerings join a large group of women in answering Jeremiah. They refuse to hear his message in God's name. They intend to keep their vows to the queen of heaven. They say earlier generations, rulers, and officials did the same and enjoyed food and security. In their view, shortage and war began when those offerings stopped. The women add that their husbands knew about the cakes and drink offerings. They do not deny the practice. They say it was shared and old, and that it brought them good.
In everyday life
A fishing cooperative argues that its old ritual guaranteed successful catches because members remember abundant seasons when they kept it. They overlook failed seasons and blame every shortage on stopping the practice. At the table, spouses confirm the custom was shared. Jeremiah hears a direct refusal of God's command, not merely a mistaken reading of fishing results.
Notice
Jeremiah 44:18 The people link hardship to stopping their offerings. This is their explanation, which Jeremiah will challenge; it is not presented as God's account of why the disaster came.
Jeremiah 44:15-19
King James Version15Then 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,
16As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
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.
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.
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?
Jeremiah 44:20-23
Jeremiah Reverses Their Explanation of the Ruin
The prophet answers the whole group, men and women alike. God remembered the incense offered by them, their ancestors, kings, and officials. He could no longer bear their evil acts. That is why their land became empty and a name of horror. The disaster came because they sinned, burned incense to other gods, and refused his voice and law. Jeremiah does not dispute that the practice was widespread or old. He rejects their claim that it protected them. What they recall as a source of plenty is named as the cause of judgement.
In everyday life
An electrical investigator listens as residents defend an old heating practice because their homes stayed warm for years. She shows how that same practice caused the hidden damage that led to the fire. Familiar benefit did not prove safety. Jeremiah explains divine judgement on worship, while the investigator traces a physical cause through evidence.
Notice
Jeremiah 44:23 Jeremiah names the incense as a reason disaster came, directly opposing the people's claim that ending it caused their losses. The dispute concerns how the same past is understood.
Jeremiah 44:20-23
King James Version20Then 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,
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?
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.
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.
Jeremiah 44:24-30
Events Will Test the Two Opposing Words
Their vows to the false deity have been kept, God says. Both husbands and wives have taken part. He answers with his own oath. They will no longer call on his living name as before. He will watch over them for harm, and war and famine will consume the group. A small number will escape back to Judah and learn whose word stands. As a sign, Pharaoh-hophra, Egypt's king, will fall into enemies' hands, as Zedekiah, Judah's former king, was handed to Babylon's ruler. Their refuge's throne will not guarantee safety.
In everyday life
A risk assessor places a confident supplier's written guarantee beside her own contrary warning before a shipment arrives. Both claims cannot describe the outcome correctly. The delivery record will show which held true. God declares a king's coming defeat as a sign of his judgement; an assessor makes a fallible forecast about goods.
Notice
Jeremiah 44:28 A small number of survivors will return and know whose word stood. The test is tied to what happens, not to which side argued more confidently.
Jeremiah 44:24-30
King James Version24Moreover 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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
30Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra 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.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Jeremiah 44:1 begins with “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…”
Where the chapter turns
Jeremiah 44:15 forms a natural hinge: “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…”
The final note
Jeremiah 44:30 leaves the reader with “Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words Judah, land, LORD, Egypt, incense, evil help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- victuals
- Food and other supplies needed for ordinary life.
- execration
- An object of cursing or intense condemnation.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
