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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."

The 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.

"But God says, ‘Look around. What I've built I'm about to wreck, and what I've planted I'm about to rip up. And I'm doing it everywhere—all over the whole earth! So forget about making any big plans for yourself. Things are going to get worse before they get better. But don't worry. I'll keep you alive through the whole business.'"

The Message to Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt at the time it was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon while camped at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah: "‘Present arms! March to the front! Harness the horses! Up in the saddles! Battle formation! Helmets on, spears sharpened, armor in place!' But what's this I see? They're scared out of their wits! They break ranks and run for cover. Their soldiers panic. They run this way and that, stampeding blindly. It's total chaos, total confusion, danger everywhere!" God 's Decree.

"Oh, virgin Daughter Egypt, climb into the mountains of Gilead, get healing balm. You will vainly collect medicines, for nothing will be able to cure what ails you. The whole world will hear your anguished cries. Your wails fill the earth, As soldier falls against soldier and they all go down in a heap."

"Why will your bull-god Apis run off? Because God will drive him off. Your ragtag army will fall to pieces. The word is passing through the ranks, ‘Let's get out of here while we still can. Let's head for home and save our skins.' When they get home they'll nickname Pharaoh ‘Big-Talk-Bad-Luck.' As sure as I am the living God" —the King's Decree, God -of-the-Angel-Armies is his name— "A conqueror is coming: like Tabor, singular among mountains; like Carmel, jutting up from the sea! So pack your bags for exile, you coddled daughters of Egypt, For Memphis will soon be nothing, a vacant lot grown over with weeds.

"Egypt will slither and hiss like a snake as the enemy army comes in force. They will rush in, swinging axes like lumberjacks cutting down trees. They'll level the country"— God 's Decree—"nothing and no one standing for as far as you can see. The invaders will be a swarm of locusts, innumerable, past counting. Daughter Egypt will be ravished, raped by vandals from the north."

"Turn Moab into a drunken sot, drunk on the wine of my wrath, a dung-faced drunk, filling the country with vomit—Moab a falling-down drunk, a joke in bad taste. Wasn't it you, Moab, who made crude jokes over Israel? And when they were caught in bad company, didn't you cluck and gossip and snicker?

"Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out, and the people in Jahaz will hear the cries. They will hear them all the way from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.

The Message of God -of-the-Angel-Armies on Edom: "Is there nobody wise left in famous Teman? no one with a sense of reality? Has their wisdom gone wormy and rotten? Run for your lives! Get out while you can! Find a good place to hide, you who live in Dedan! I'm bringing doom to Esau. It's time to settle accounts. When harvesters work your fields, don't they leave gleanings? When burglars break into your house, don't they take only what they want? But I'll strip Esau clean. I'll search out every nook and cranny. I'll destroy everything connected with him, children and relatives and neighbors. There'll be no one left who will be able to say, ‘I'll take care of your orphans. Your widows can depend on me.'"

Indeed. God says, "I tell you, if there are people who have to drink the cup of God's wrath even though they don't deserve it, why would you think you'd get off? You won't get off. You'll drink it. Oh yes, you'll drink every drop. And as for Bozrah, your capital, I swear by all that I am"— God 's Decree—"that that city will end up a pile of charred ruins, a stinking garbage dump, an obscenity—and all her daughter-cities with her."

The Message on Damascus: "Hamath and Arpad will be in shock when they hear the bad news. Their hearts will melt in fear as they pace back and forth in worry. The blood will drain from the face of Damascus as she turns to flee. Hysterical, she'll fall to pieces, disabled, like a woman in childbirth. And now how lonely—bereft, abandoned! The once famous city, the once happy city. Her bright young men dead in the streets, her brave warriors silent as death. On that day"—Decree of God -of-the-Angel-Armies— "I'll start a fire at the wall of Damascus that will burn down all of Ben-hadad's forts."

The Message on Kedar and the sheikdoms of Hazor who were attacked by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. This is God 's Message: "On your feet! Attack Kedar! Plunder the Bedouin nomads from the east. Grab their blankets and pots and pans. Steal their camels. Traumatize them, shouting, ‘Terror! Death! Doom! Danger everywhere!' Oh, run for your lives, You nomads from Hazor." God 's Decree. "Find a safe place to hide. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has plans to wipe you out, to go after you with a vengeance: ‘After them,' he says. ‘Go after these relaxed nomads who live free and easy in the desert, Who live in the open with no doors to lock, who live off by themselves.' Their camels are there for the taking, their herds and flocks, easy picking. I'll scatter them to the four winds, these defenseless nomads on the fringes of the desert. I'll bring terror from every direction. They won't know what hit them." God 's Decree. "Jackals will take over the camps of Hazor, camps abandoned to wind and sand. No one will live there, no mortal soul move in there."

"But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can. Be rid of that Babylonian country. On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don't you be led. Lead the way home! Do you see what I'm doing? I'm rallying a host of nations against Babylon. They'll come out of the north, attack and take her. Oh, they know how to fight, these armies. They never come home empty-handed. Babylon is ripe for picking! All her plunderers will fill their bellies!" God 's Decree.

And here's more from God -of-the-Angel-Armies: "The people of Israel are beaten down, the people of Judah along with them. Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel. They won't let go. But the Rescuer is strong: God -of-the-Angel-Armies. Yes, I will take their side, I'll come to their rescue. I'll soothe their land, but rough up the people of Babylon.

"And now, watch this! People pouring out of the north, hordes of people, A mob of kings stirred up from far-off places. Flourishing deadly weapons, barbarians they are, cruel and pitiless. Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers, they come riding fierce stallions, In battle formation, ready to fight you, Daughter Babylon! Babylon's king hears them coming. He goes white as a ghost, limp as a dishrag. Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight, like a woman giving birth to a baby.

There's more. God says more: "Watch this: I'm whipping up A death-dealing hurricane against Babylon—‘Hurricane Persia'— against all who live in that perverse land. I'm sending a cleanup crew into Babylon. They'll clean the place out from top to bottom. When they get through there'll be nothing left of her worth taking or talking about. They won't miss a thing. A total and final Doomsday! Fighters will fight with everything they've got. It's no-holds-barred. They will spare nothing and no one. It's final and wholesale destruction—the end! Babylon littered with the wounded, streets piled with corpses. It turns out that Israel and Judah are not widowed after all. As their God, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, I am still alive and well, committed to them even though They filled their land with sin against Israel's most Holy God.

"Judeans, you'll see it with your own eyes. I'll pay Babylon and all the Chaldeans back for all the evil they did in Zion." God 's Decree.

"The very land trembles in terror, writhes in pain, terrorized by my plans against Babylon, Plans to turn the country of Babylon into a lifeless moonscape—a wasteland. Babylon's soldiers have quit fighting. They hide out in ruins and caves— Cowards who've given up without a fight, exposed as cowering milksops. Babylon's houses are going up in flames, the city gates torn off their hinges. Runner after runner comes racing in, each on the heels of the last, Bringing reports to the king of Babylon that his city is a lost cause. The fords of the rivers are all taken. Wildfire rages through the swamp grass. Soldiers desert left and right. I, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, said it would happen: ‘Daughter Babylon is a threshing floor at threshing time. Soon, oh very soon, her harvest will come and then the chaff will fly!'

By the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so bad that there wasn't so much as a crumb of bread for anyone. Then the Babylonians broke through the city walls. Under cover of the night darkness, the entire Judean army fled through an opening in the wall (it was the gate between the two walls above the King's Garden). They slipped through the lines of the Babylonians who surrounded the city and headed for the Jordan into the Arabah Valley, but the Babylonians were in full pursuit. They caught up with them in the Plains of Jericho. But by then Zedekiah's army had deserted and was scattered.