# Jeremiah 44 📖: Idolatry in Egypt [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Jeremiah Overview]] | [[Jeremiah 43]] | [[Jeremiah 45]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### The Lord Will Punish the Judean Exiles in Egypt for Their Idolatry [[#Verse 01.]] The Lord spoke to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, those in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the region of southern Egypt: [[#Verse 02.]] “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘You have seen all the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah. Indeed, they now lie in ruins and are deserted. [[#Verse 03.]] This happened because of the wickedness the people living there did. They made me angry by worshiping and offering sacrifices to other gods whom neither they nor you nor your ancestors previously knew.  [[#Verse 04.]] I sent my servants the prophets to you people over and over again warning you not to do this disgusting thing I hate.  [[#Verse 05.]] But the people of Jerusalem and Judah would not listen or pay any attention. They would not stop the wickedness they were doing nor quit sacrificing to other gods. [[#Verse 06.]] So my anger and my wrath were poured out and burned like a fire through the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. That is why they have become the desolate ruins that they are today.’ [[#Verse 07.]] “So now the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, asks, ‘Why will you do such great harm to yourselves? Why should every man, woman, child, and baby of yours be destroyed from the midst of Judah? Why should you leave yourselves without a remnant?  [[#Verse 08.]] That is what will result from your making me angry by what you are doing. You are making me angry by sacrificing to other gods here in the land of Egypt where you live. You will be destroyed for doing that! You will become an example used in curses and an object of ridicule among all the nations of the earth.  [[#Verse 09.]] Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their wives, and by you and your wives?  [[#Verse 10.]] To this day your people have shown no contrition! They have not revered me nor followed the laws and statutes I commanded you and your ancestors.’ [[#Verse 11.]] “Because of this, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘I am determined to bring disaster on you, even to the point of destroying all the Judeans here.  [[#Verse 12.]] I will see to it that all the Judean remnant that was determined to go and live in the land of Egypt will be destroyed. Here in the land of Egypt they will fall in battle or perish from starvation. People of every class will die in war or from starvation. They will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. [[#Verse 13.]] I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt with war, starvation, and disease, just as I punished Jerusalem.  [[#Verse 14.]] None of the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah. Though they long to return and live there, none of them shall return except a few fugitives.’” [[#Verse 15.]] Then all the men who were aware that their wives were sacrificing to other gods, as well as all their wives, answered Jeremiah—there was a great crowd of them representing all the people who lived in northern and southern Egypt—  [[#Verse 16.]] “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us!  [[#Verse 17.]] Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well off, and had no troubles.  [[#Verse 18.]] But ever since we stopped sacrificing and pouring out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven, we have been in great need. Our people have died in wars or of starvation.”  [[#Verse 19.]] The women added, “We did indeed sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven. But it was with the full knowledge and approval of our husbands that we made cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her.” [[#Verse 20.]] Then Jeremiah replied to all the people, both men and women, who responded to him in this way: [[#Verse 21.]] “The Lord did indeed remember and call to mind what you did! He remembered the incense you and your ancestors, your kings, your leaders, and all the rest of the people of the land offered to other gods in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.  [[#Verse 22.]] Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses.  [[#Verse 23.]] You have sacrificed to other gods. You have sinned against the Lord! You have not obeyed the Lord! You have not followed his laws, his statutes, and his decrees. That is why this disaster that is evident to this day has happened to you.” [[#Verse 24.]] Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people, particularly to all the women, “Listen to the Lord’s message, all you people of Judah who are in Egypt.  [[#Verse 25.]] This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, has said, ‘You women have confirmed by your actions what you vowed with your lips! You said, “We will certainly carry out our vows to sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.” Well, then fulfill your vows! Carry them out!’  [[#Verse 26.]] But listen to the Lord’s message, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt: The Lord says, ‘I hereby swear by my own great name that none of the people of Judah who are living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name in their oaths! Never again will any of them use it in an oath saying, “As surely as the Sovereign Lord lives.”  [[#Verse 27.]] I will indeed see to it that disaster, not prosperity, happens to them. All the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will die in war or from starvation until not one of them is left.  [[#Verse 28.]] Some who survive the battle will return to the land of Judah from the land of Egypt. But they will be very few indeed! Then the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will know whose word proves true, mine or theirs.’  [[#Verse 29.]] 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.  [[#Verse 30.]] I, the Lord, promise that I will hand Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies who are seeking to kill him. I will do that just as surely as I handed King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking to kill him.’” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Jews were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and Pathros (44:1). 2. Pathros means "the southern land" and refers to Upper Egypt. 3. Papyri from Elephantine, an island in Upper Egypt, show that a Jewish community lived there in the fifth century BC. 4. The "queen of heaven" (44:17) was likely a form of the goddess Ishtar or Astarte, linked to the planet Venus. 5. Women baked cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings (44:19). 6. The women said their husbands knew and approved (44:19). Under the law a husband could cancel a wife's vow (Numbers 30:10-15). 7. The people argued they had plenty of food when they worshiped the queen of heaven and suffered when they stopped (44:17-18), probably referring to Josiah's reforms. 8. God says He is watching over them for harm and not for good (44:27), a reversal of 31:28. 9. The sign was that Pharaoh Hophra would be handed over to his enemies (44:30). 10. Hophra (known to Greek writers as Apries) lost power to his general Amasis around 570 BC and was later killed. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the true God and eternal life, and John ends his letter, "Little children, guard yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:20-21). The refugees in Egypt clung to the queen of heaven (44:17), but only Jesus can save and satisfy. ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God reminded the people of what happened to Jerusalem because of idolatry (44:2-6). Why do people so quickly forget hard lessons? 2. The people said life was better when they worshiped the queen of heaven (44:17-18). How do people misread their circumstances to justify sin? 3. God says, "They will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs" (44:28). How does this challenge us when culture rejects God's Word? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 4: God sent His prophets again and again, saying, "Do not do this detestable thing that I hate." - 📖 verse 16: The people tell Jeremiah, "We will not listen to the message you spoke in the Lord's name." - 📖 verse 28: They will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[1 John 05#Verse 20.|1 John 5:20-21]] - Guard yourselves from idols. - 🔗 [[Jeremiah 07#Verse 18.|Jeremiah 7:18]] - Families make cakes for the queen of heaven. - 🔗 [[1 Corinthians 10#Verse 14.|1 Corinthians 10:14]] - Flee from idolatry. - 🔗 [[Mark 13#Verse 31.|Mark 13:31]] - My words will never pass away. - 🔗 [[Romans 01#Verse 21.|Romans 1:21-23]] - They exchanged the glory of God for images. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Jeremiah 44 - SOAP|Why Do We Destroy Ourselves?]] ## 📂 Internal Notes