In Egypt Jeremiah Warns of Judgment

⁸ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, ⁹ "Take some large stones in your hands and hide them in the mortar in the brick terrace which is at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of some of the Jews; ¹⁰ and say to them, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I am going to send and get Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and I am going to set his throne right over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his canopy over them. ¹¹ "He will also come and strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword. ¹² "And I shall set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. So he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. ¹³ "He will also shatter the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.""'
 

Conquest of Egypt Predicted

¹¹ "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, `Behold, I am going to set My face against you for woe, even to cut off all Judah. <sup>12</sup> `And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their mind on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all meet ^F443 their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword and meet their end by famine. Both small and great will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach. ¹³ `And I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine and with pestilence. <sup>14</sup> `So there will be no refugees or survivors for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are longing ^F444 to return and live; for none will return except a few refugees.' "

¹⁵ Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, ¹⁶ "As for the message ^F447 that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we are not going to listen to you! ¹⁷ "But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did 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 misfortune. ¹⁸ "But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine." ¹⁹ "And," said the women, "when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"

Calamity for the Jews

²⁰ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and women--even to all the people who were giving him such an answer--saying, ²¹ "As for the smoking ^F457 sacrifices that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your forefathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them and did not all this come into His mind? ²² "So the LORD was no longer able to endure it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations which you have committed; thus your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day. ²³ "Because you have burned sacrifices and have sinned against the LORD and not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in His law, His statutes or His testimonies, therefore this calamity has befallen you, as it has this day."

²⁴ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt, ²⁵ thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: `As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, "We will certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her." Go <sup>F461</sup> ahead and confirm your vows, and certainly perform your vows!' <sup>26</sup> "Nevertheless hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are living in the land of Egypt, `Behold, I have sworn by My great name,' says the LORD, `never shall My name be invoked again by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "As the Lord GOD lives." <sup>27</sup> `Behold, I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will meet their end by the sword and by famine until they are completely gone. ²⁸ `Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few <sup>F466</sup> in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs. <sup>29</sup> `This will be the sign to you,' declares the LORD, `that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for harm.' <sup>30</sup> "Thus says the LORD, `Behold, I am going to give over Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt to the hand of his enemies, to the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave over Zedekiah king of Judah to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life.' "
 

Prayer for Protection against the Wicked.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

¹ Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men;

Preserve me from violent men

² Who devise evil things in their hearts;

They continually stir up wars.

³ They sharpen their tongues as a serpent;

Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah.

⁴ Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;

Preserve me from violent men

Who have purposed to trip ^F1484 up my feet.

⁵ The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords;

They have spread a net by the wayside;

They have set snares for me. Selah.

⁶ I said to the LORD, "You are my God;

Give ear, O LORD, to the voice of my supplications.

⁷ "O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation,

You have covered my head in the day of battle.

⁸ "Do not grant, O LORD, the desires of the wicked;

Do not promote his evil device, that they not be exalted. Selah.

⁹ "As for the head of those who surround me,

May the mischief of their lips cover them.

¹⁰ "May burning coals fall upon them;

May they be cast into the fire,

Into deep pits from which they cannot rise.

¹¹ "May a slanderer not be established in the earth;

May evil hunt the violent man speedily."

¹² I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted

And justice for the poor.

¹³ Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name;

The upright will dwell in Your presence.

The Rise of False Prophets

⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; ⁷ and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men ⁸ (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who indulge ^F14 the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, ¹¹ whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, ¹³ suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; ¹⁵ forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷ These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, ¹⁹ promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. ²² It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."