Jeremiah 44:29

THE MESSAGE

"‘And this will be the evidence: I will bring punishment right here, and by this you'll know that the decrees of doom against you are the real thing. Watch for this sign of doom: I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies, those who are out to kill him, exactly as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah to his enemy Nebuchadnezzar, who was after him.'"

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
This will be a sign to you’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘that I will punish you in this place, so you may know that my words of disaster concerning you will certainly come to pass.

Hebrew Names Version
This shall be the sign to you, says the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

King James Version
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:

English Standard Version
This shall be the sign to you, declares the Lord , that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for harm:

New American Standard Bible
'And 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 assuredly stand against you for harm.'

New Century Version
I will give you a sign that I will punish you here in Egypt,' says the Lord . ‘When you see it happen, you will know that my promises to hurt you will really happen.'

Amplified Bible
'And this will be the sign to you,' says 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.'

World English Bible
This shall be the sign to you, says Yahweh, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

Geneva Bible (1587)
And this shal be a signe vnto you, saith the Lord, whe I visit you in this place, yt ye may know yt my words shal surely stand against you for euill.

Legacy Standard Bible
This will be the sign to you,' declares Yahweh, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely be established against you for evil.'

Berean Standard Bible
This will be a sign to you, declares the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, so you may know that My threats of harm against you will surely stand.

Contemporary English Version
And here is how you will know that I will keep my threats to punish you in Egypt.

Complete Jewish Bible
Moreover, here is a sign for you,' says Adonai , ‘that I will punish you in this place, so that you can know that my threats of disaster against you will come true.'

Darby Translation
And this shall be the sign unto you, saith Jehovah, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall certainly stand against you for evil:

Easy-to-Read Version
I will give you people proof,' says the Lord , ‘that I will punish you here in Egypt. Then you will know for sure that my promises to harm you will really happen.

George Lamsa Translation
And this shall be a sign to you, says the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil.

Good News Translation
I, the Lord , will give you proof that I will punish you in this place and that my promise to bring destruction on you will come true.

Lexham English Bible
And this will be to you the sign,' declares Yahweh, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that surely my words will endure against you for evil.'

Literal Translation
And 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 standing shall stand against you for evil:

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Take this for a token, that I wil viset you in this place (saieth the LORDE) and that ye maye knowe, how that I (without doute) wil perfourne my purpose vpon you,) to punysh you.

American Standard Version
And this shall be the sign unto you, saith Jehovah, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

Bible in Basic English
And this will be the sign to you, says the Lord, that I will give you punishment in this place, so that you may see that my words will certainly have effect against you for evil:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And this shall be the 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;

King James Version (1611)
And this shalbe a signe vnto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may knowe that my words shal surely stand against you for euill.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Take this for a token, that I wyll visite you in this place saith the Lorde, and that ye may knowe howe that I without doubt wyl perfourme my purpose vpon you, to punishe you.

English Revised Version
And this shall be the 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:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And this schal be a signe to you, seith the Lord, that Y schal visite on you in this place, that ye wite, that verili my wordis schulen be fillid ayens you in to yuel.

Update Bible Version
And this shall be the sign to you, says Yahweh, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

Webster's Bible Translation
And this [shall be] a sign to 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:

New English Translation
Moreover the Lord says, ‘I will make something happen to prove that I will punish you in this place. I will do it so that you will know that my threats to bring disaster on you will prove true.

New King James Version
And this shall be a sign to you,' says the LORD, "that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for adversity.'

New Living Translation
"‘And this is the proof I give you,' says the Lord , ‘that all I have threatened will happen to you and that I will punish you here.'

New Life Bible
This will be the special thing for you to see,' says the Lord. ‘I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will be sure to stand against you for your hurt.'

New Revised Standard
This shall be the sign to you, says the Lord , that I am going to punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words against you will surely be carried out:

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, this, to you, shall be the sign, Declareth Yahweh, that I am about to bring punishment upon you in this place, - that ye may know that my words shall, certainly stand against you, for calamity:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place: that you may know that my words shall be accomplished indeed against you for evil.

Revised Standard Version
This shall be the sign to you, says the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil:

Young's Literal Translation
`And this [is] to you the sign -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- that I am seeing after you in this place, so that ye know that My words are certainly established against you for evil;

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'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.'

Contextual Overview

²⁰Then Jeremiah spoke up, confronting the men and the women, all the people who had answered so insolently. He said, "The sacrifices that you and your parents, your kings, your government officials, and the common people of the land offered up in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—don't you think God noticed? He noticed, all right. And he got fed up. Finally, he couldn't take your evil behavior and your disgusting acts any longer. Your land became a wasteland, a death valley, a horror story, a ghost town. And it continues to be just that. This doom has come upon you because you kept offering all those sacrifices, and you sinned against God ! You refused to listen to him, wouldn't live the way he directed, ignored the covenant conditions." ²⁴Jeremiah kept going, but now zeroed in on the women: "Listen, all you who are from Judah and living in Egypt—please, listen to God 's Word. God -of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You women! You said it and then you did it. You said, "We're going to keep the vows we made to sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out offerings to her, and nobody's going to stop us!"' "Well, go ahead. Keep your vows. Do it up big. But also listen to what God has to say about it, all you who are from Judah but live in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name, backed by everything I am—this is God speaking!—that never again shall my name be used in vows, such as "As sure as the Master, God , lives!" by anyone in the whole country of Egypt. I've targeted each one of you for doom. The good is gone for good. "‘All the Judeans in Egypt will die off by massacre or starvation until they're wiped out. The few who get out of Egypt alive and back to Judah will be very few, hardly worth counting. Then that ragtag bunch that left Judah to live in Egypt will know who had the last word. "‘And this will be the evidence: I will bring punishment right here, and by this you'll know that the decrees of doom against you are the real thing. Watch for this sign of doom: I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies, those who are out to kill him, exactly as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah to his enemy Nebuchadnezzar, who was after him.'" ²⁶The Same Fate Will Fall upon All The Message that Jeremiah received for all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, who had their homes in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and the land of Pathros: "This is what God -of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You saw with your own eyes the terrible doom that I brought down on Jerusalem and the Judean cities. Look at what's left: ghost towns of rubble and smoking ruins, and all because they took up with evil ways, making me angry by going off to offer sacrifices and worship the latest in gods—no-gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors knew the first thing about. Morning after morning and long into the night I kept after you, sending you all those prophets, my servants, begging you, "Please, please—don't do this, don't fool around in this loathsome gutter of gods that I hate with a passion." But do you think anyone paid the least bit of attention or repented of evil or quit offering sacrifices to the no-gods? Not one. So I let loose with my anger, a firestorm of wrath in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, and left them in ruins and wasted. And they're still in ruins and wasted.' "This is the Message of God, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘So why are you ruining your lives by amputating yourselves—man, woman, child, and baby—from the life of Judah, leaving yourselves isolated, unconnected? And why do you deliberately make me angry by what you do, offering sacrifices to these no-gods in the land of Egypt where you've come to live? You'll only destroy yourselves and make yourselves an example used in curses and an object of ridicule among all the nations of the earth. "‘Have you so soon forgotten the evil lives of your ancestors, the evil lives of the kings of Judah and their wives, to say nothing of your own evil lives, you and your wives, the evil you flaunted in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? And to this day, there's not a trace of remorse, not a sign of reverence, nobody caring about living by what I tell them or following my instructions that I've set out so plainly before you and your parents! So this is what God -of-the-Angel-Armies decrees: "‘Watch out! I've decided to bring doom on you and get rid of everyone connected with Judah. I'm going to take what's left of Judah, those who have decided to go to Egypt and live there, and finish them off. In Egypt they will either be killed or starve to death. The same fate will fall upon both the obscure and the important. Regardless of their status, they will either be killed or starve. You'll end up cursed, reviled, ridiculed, and mocked. I'll give those who are in Egypt the same medicine I gave those in Jerusalem: massacre, starvation, and disease. None of those who managed to get out of Judah alive and get away to Egypt are going to make it back to the Judah for which they're so homesick. None will make it back, except maybe a few fugitives.'" The men who knew that their wives had been burning sacrifices to the no-gods, joined by a large crowd of women, along with virtually everyone living in Pathros of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: "We're having nothing to do with what you tell us is God 's Message. We're going to go right on offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, keeping up the traditions set by our ancestors, our kings and government leaders in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem in the good old days. We had a good life then—lots of food, rising standard of living, and no bad luck. But the moment we quit sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her, everything fell apart. We've had nothing but massacres and starvation ever since." And then the women chimed in: "Yes! Absolutely! We're going to keep at it, offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her. Aren't our husbands behind us? They like it that we make goddess cookies and pour out our offerings to her." Then Jeremiah spoke up, confronting the men and the women, all the people who had answered so insolently. He said, "The sacrifices that you and your parents, your kings, your government officials, and the common people of the land offered up in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—don't you think God noticed? He noticed, all right. And he got fed up. Finally, he couldn't take your evil behavior and your disgusting acts any longer. Your land became a wasteland, a death valley, a horror story, a ghost town. And it continues to be just that. This doom has come upon you because you kept offering all those sacrifices, and you sinned against God ! You refused to listen to him, wouldn't live the way he directed, ignored the covenant conditions." Jeremiah kept going, but now zeroed in on the women: "Listen, all you who are from Judah and living in Egypt—please, listen to God 's Word. God -of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You women! You said it and then you did it. You said, "We're going to keep the vows we made to sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out offerings to her, and nobody's going to stop us!"' "Well, go ahead. Keep your vows. Do it up big. But also listen to what God has to say about it, all you who are from Judah but live in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name, backed by everything I am—this is God speaking!—that never again shall my name be used in vows, such as "As sure as the Master, God , lives!" by anyone in the whole country of Egypt. I've targeted each one of you for doom. The good is gone for good. ²⁷"‘All the Judeans in Egypt will die off by massacre or starvation until they're wiped out. The few who get out of Egypt alive and back to Judah will be very few, hardly worth counting. Then that ragtag bunch that left Judah to live in Egypt will know who had the last word. ²⁹"‘And this will be the evidence: I will bring punishment right here, and by this you'll know that the decrees of doom against you are the real thing. Watch for this sign of doom: I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies, those who are out to kill him, exactly as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah to his enemy Nebuchadnezzar, who was after him.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a sign: Jeremiah 44:30, 1 Samuel 2:34, Matthew 24:15, Matthew 24:16, Matthew 24:32-34, Mark 13:14-16, Luke 21:20, Luke 21:21, Luke 21:20, Luke 21:21, Luke 21:29-33

my words: Proverbs 19:21, Isaiah 40:8

Reciprocal: Numbers 11:23 - thou shalt 1 Kings 13:3 - General 2 Kings 10:10 - fall unto the earth Psalms 119:21 - cursed Isaiah 9:9 - And all Isaiah 19:1 - Egypt Isaiah 21:17 - for Isaiah 31:2 - will not Jeremiah 23:30 - General Jeremiah 39:16 - Behold Jeremiah 44:28 - shall know Ezekiel 20:32 - We will

Cross-References

Genesis 42:36
Their father said to them, "You're taking everything I've got! Joseph's gone, Simeon's gone, and now you want to take Benjamin. If you have your way, I'll be left with nothing."

Genesis 44:3
At break of day the men were sent off with their donkeys. They were barely out of the city when Joseph said to his house steward, "Run after them. When you catch up with them, say, ‘Why did you pay me back evil for good? This is the chalice my master drinks from; he also uses it for divination. This is outrageous!'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And this [shall be] a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place,.... In Egypt, as before threatened; and what follows is a confirming sign that so it would be; and which, when observed by some, gave the hint to them to make their escape; though others, being hardened in their idolatry, impenitence, and unbelief, continued, and perished:

that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil; which sign, when they should see, they might assure themselves that the threatenings of evil to them would certainly be accomplished, as sure as they saw the sign given, which is as follows:

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Earnest as was the preceding expostulation, Jeremiah sees that it has produced no effect. He therefore utters his last warning, and with this last resistance to the sins of a debased and godless people, his earthly ministry closed.

Jeremiah 44:25

And fulfilled with your hand - Your hands. Jeremiah pointed to their hands, in which they were carrying the crescent-shaped cakes which they had vowed to the goddess. Their idolatry therefore was an accomplished deed, as the symbols held in their hands testified.

Ye will surely accomplish - Or, Accomplish then your vows. It is not a prediction, but is ironical, and means that as they will take no warning, they must needs have their way.

Jeremiah 44:26

My name shall no more be named ... - God swears by His own great Name that He will be their national God no longer. Yahweh repudiates His covenant-relation toward them.

Jeremiah 44:27

I will watch - I am watching over them, not for good, but for evil: like a panther Jeremiah 5:6 lying in wait to spring upon passengers.

Shall be consumed - This is the result of Yahweh’s repudiation of thee covenant. When He was their God He watched over them for good: now His protection is withdrawn, and He is their enemy, because of the wickedness whereby their rejection was made necessary. See the Jeremiah 6:9 note.

Jeremiah 44:28

Literally, “And fugitives from the sword (see Jeremiah 44:14) shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, mere of number, i. e., so few that they can be counted: and all the remnant of Jadah that are going etc.” So unendurable shall be their sufferings in Egypt, that the men now abandoning Judaea in the hope of finding an asylum there shall be glad to return like runaways from a lost battle.

Whose words ... - Whose word shall stand, from Me or from them, i. e., the one prediction, that their descent into Egypt would be their ruin, which they denied.

Jeremiah 44:30

Pharaoh-Hophra came to the throne the year before Jerusalem was captured. He reigned for 19 years, probably the last 10 years as a prisoner. See the notes at Jeremiah 37:5; notes at Jeremiah 46:12.