Jeremiah 44

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

“The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah. Behold, today they are a desolation, and no man dwells in them,

because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods that they didn’t know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.”

But they didn’t listen and didn’t incline their ear. They didn’t turn from their wickedness, to stop burning incense to other gods.

Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is today.’

“Therefore now the LORD, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Why do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the middle of Judah, to leave yourselves no one remaining,

in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live, that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?

Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.’

“Therefore the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.

I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they will all be consumed. They will fall in the land of Egypt. They will be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine. They will be an object of horror, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach.

For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence;

so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will escape or be left to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there; for no one will return except those who will escape.’”

Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,

“As for the word that you have spoken to us in the LORD’s name, we will not listen to you.

But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky and to pour out drink offerings to 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 we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.

But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.”

The women said, “When we burned incense to the queen of the sky and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?”

Then Jeremiah said to all the people—to the men and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying,

“The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn’t the LORD remember them, and didn’t it come into his mind?

Thus the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today.

Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the LORD’s voice, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is today.”

Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear the LORD’s word, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!

The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, “We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her.” “‘Establish then your vows, and perform your vows.’

“Therefore hear the LORD’s word, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by my great name,’ says the LORD, ‘that my name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord GOD lives.”

Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone.

Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah few in number. All the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.

“‘This will be the 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 evil.’

The LORD says, ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.’”

Chapter overviewAI-generated

Overview.
This chapter records Jeremiah’s final prophetic message to the Judean refugees who had fled to Egypt after the fall of Jerusalem, condemning their persistence in idolatry—especially the worship of the "queen of the sky"—and declaring that God will execute judgment on them just as He did on Jerusalem, leaving no remnant except a few who will barely escape.

Flow.

Jeremiah delivers God’s indictment: the people are repeating the same sins that brought desolation to Judah—burning incense to other gods and rejecting God’s repeated warnings through the prophets.
The Lord announces that He will now set His face against them in Egypt, bringing sword, famine, and destruction so that they are fully consumed and never return to Judah.
The people, led by both men and women, defiantly affirm their idolatrous practices, blaming their present suffering on abandoning the worship of the queen of the sky.
Jeremiah responds by confirming that God remembers their past idolatry, that it was this very sin that brought disaster, and that He will fulfill His word of judgment by delivering them into destruction, marked by the sign of Pharaoh Hophra’s impending fall.

Connections.
Following chapter 43, in which the people ignore Jeremiah’s warning and forcibly take him with them to Egypt, chapter 44 shows the consequences of that rebellion now unfolding in the full light of prophetic confrontation. The people’s refusal to obey in Egypt mirrors their past disobedience in Judah, tightening the logic of judgment. The chapter prepares the way for chapter 45, where Baruch receives a personal word from the Lord, shifting focus from the doomed remnant in Egypt to God’s care for individuals amid national ruin, and setting the tone for the oracles against the nations that follow.

What it teaches.
True worship is defined not by human tradition or perceived prosperity but by obedience to God’s revealed will. The people’s idolatry—even as a family and communal practice—is a breach of the first commandment and covenant law (WCF 19.1), provoking God’s righteous judgment. Their claim that they prospered when they worshiped the queen of the sky directly contradicts God’s moral order: He tolerates no rivals, and blessings in such times were not approval but forbearance (WCF 5.7). The certainty of judgment underscores that God’s word is not void, but effectual for both warning and execution (); He watches over it to perform it (WCF 3.8). The apostasy of leaders and households alike shows the danger of collective rebellion, and confirms that covenant curses fall where obedience fails (LD 52, HC Q/A 52).

Apply.
When hardship follows rebellion, returning to the same sins as remedy is the deepest folly.

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