Jehovah spoke to me concerning all the Israelites living in Egypt, in the cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the southern part of the country

We will do everything that we said we would. We will offer sacrifices to our goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out wine offerings to her, just as our ancestors, our king and our leaders, and we used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we were prosperous, and had no troubles.

Then all the men who knew that their wives offered sacrifices to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, including the Israelites who lived in southern Egypt, a large crowd in all said to me:

Jehovah says, 'I will hand over King Hophra of Egypt to his enemies who want to kill him, just as I handed over King Zedekiah of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who was his enemy and wanted to kill him.'

I told all the people, especially the women, what Jehovah, the God of Israel, was saying to the people of Judah living in Egypt.

We refuse to listen to what you have told us in the name of Jehovah.

I kept sending you my servants the prophets, who told you not to do this terrible thing that I hate.

Jehovah, the God of Israel, said: 'You have seen the destruction I brought on Jerusalem and all the other cities of Judah. Even now they are still in ruins, and no one lives in them.

The women added: 'When we baked cakes shaped like the Queen of Heaven, offered sacrifices to her, and poured out wine offerings to her, our husbands approved of what we were doing.'

As for the people of Judah who are left and are determined to go and live in Egypt, I will see to it that all of them are destroyed. All of them, great and small will die in Egypt, either in war or of starvation. They will be a horrifying sight. People will make fun of them and use their name as a curse.

But now listen to the vow that I, Jehovah, have made in my mighty name to all you in Judah and in Egypt: 'Never again will I let any of you use my name to make a vow by saying: I swear by the living God, Jehovah!'

Ever since we stopped sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and stopped pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing, and our people have died in war and of starvation.

Both you and your wives have made solemn promises to the Queen of Heaven. You promised that you would offer sacrifices to her and pour out wine offerings to her, and you have kept your promises. Very well, then! Keep your promises! Carry out your vows!

But a few of you will escape death and return from Egypt to Judah. Then the survivors will know whose words have come true, mine or theirs.

None of the people of Judah who are left and have come to Egypt to live will escape or survive. Not one of them will return to Judah, where they long to live once again. No one will return except a few refugees.'

Why do you make me angry by worshiping idols and by sacrificing to other gods here in Egypt, where you have come to live? Are you doing this just to destroy yourselves, so that every nation on earth will make fun of you and use your name as a curse?

I Jehovah, the God of Israel, says: 'Now ask why you are doing such an evil thing to yourselves. Do you want to bring destruction on men and women, children and babies, so that none of your people will be left?

I will see to it that you will not prosper, but will be destroyed. All of you will die! You will die in war or of disease, until not one of you is left.

This very day your land lies in ruins and no one lives in it. It has become a horrifying sight. People use its name as a curse because Jehovah could no longer endure your wicked and evil practices.

I Jehovah, the God of Israel, will turn against you and destroy all Judah.

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?

This is because their people had done evil and had made me angry. They offered sacrifices to other gods and served gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever worshiped.

This present disaster has come on you because you offered sacrifices to other gods and sinned against Jehovah by not obeying all his commandments.

You have not humbled yourselves to this very day. You have not honored me or lived according to all the laws that I gave you and your ancestors.'

I poured out my anger and fury on the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem. I set them on fire. They were left in ruins and became a horrifying sight, as they are today.'

Then I said to all the men and the women who had answered me in this way:

About the sacrifices you and your ancestors, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land offered in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: do you think that Jehovah did not know about them or that he forgot them?

I Jehovah will give you proof that I will punish you in this place and that my promise to bring destruction on you will come true.

But you would not listen or pay any attention. You would not give up your evil practice of sacrificing to other gods.

I will punish those who live in Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem with the sword (war), starvation, and disease.