The Pillars of Three Faiths: Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran. Various Authors

deeds of your fathers, and the wicked deeds of the kings of Judah, and the wicked deeds of their wives, and your own wicked deeds, and the wicked deeds of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in My law, nor in My statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. ¹¹Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set My face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah. ¹²And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt shall they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine; they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. ¹³For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; ¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there; for none shall return save such as shall escape.'

      ¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives offered unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great assembly, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: ¹⁶'As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. ¹⁷But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to offer unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto 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 had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil. ¹⁸But since we let off to offer to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. ¹⁹And is it we that offer to the queen of heaven, and pour out drink-offerings unto her? did we make her cakes in her image, and pour out drink-offerings unto her, without our husbands?'

      ²⁰Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people that had given him that answer, saying: ²¹'The offering that ye offered in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and came it not into His mind? ²²So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. ²³Because ye have offered, and because ye have sinned against the Lord, and have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.'

      ²⁴Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women: 'Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt: ²⁵Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Ye 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 offer to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her; ye shall surely establish your vows, and surely perform your vows. ²⁶Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great name, saith the Lord, that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt saying: As the Lord God liveth. ²⁷Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them. ²⁸And they that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose word shall stand, Mine, or theirs. ²⁹And 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; ³⁰thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.'

       45The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying: ²'Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning thee, O Baruch: Thou didst say:

      ³Woe is me now!For the Lord hath added sorrow to my pain;I am weary with my groaning,And I find no rest.⁴Thus shalt thou say unto him:Thus saith the Lord:Behold, that which I have built will I break down,And that which I have planted I will pluck up;And this in the whole land.⁵And seekest thou great things for thyself?Seek them not;

      for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord; but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.'

       46The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

      ²Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

      ³Make ready buckler and shield,And draw near to battle.⁴Harness the horses, and mount, ye horsemen,And stand forth with your helmets;Furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.⁵Wherefore do I see them dismayed and turned backward?And their mighty ones are beaten down,And they are fled apace, and look not back;Terror is on every side, saith the Lord.⁶The swift cannot flee away,Nor the mighty man escape;In the north by the river EuphratesHave they stumbled and fallen. ⁷Who is this like the Nile that riseth up,Like the rivers whose waters toss themselves?⁸Egypt is like the Nile that riseth up,And like the rivers whose waters toss themselves;And he saith: 'I will rise up, I will cover the earth,I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.'⁹Prance, ye horses, and rush madly, ye chariots;And let the mighty men go forth:Cush and Put, that handle the shield,And the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow. ¹⁰For the Lord God of hosts shall have on that dayA day of vengeance, that He may avenge Him of His adversaries;And the sword shall devour and be satiate,And shall be made drunk with their blood;For the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrificeIn the north country by the river Euphrates.¹¹Go up into Gilead, and take balm,O virgin daughter of Egypt;In vain dost thou use many medicines;There is no cure for thee.¹²The nations have heard of thy shame,And the earth is full of thy cry;For the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty,They are fallen both of them together.

       ¹³The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

      ¹⁴Declare ye in Egypt, and announce in Migdol,And announce in Noph and in Tahpanhes;Say ye: 'Stand forth, and prepare thee,For the sword hath devoured round about thee.'¹⁵Why is thy strong one overthrown?He stood not, because the Lord did thrust him down.¹⁶He made many to stumble;Yea, they fell one upon another,And said: 'Arise, and let us return to our own people,And to the land of our birth,From the oppressing sword.'¹⁷They cried there: 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise;He hath let the appointed time pass by.'¹⁸As I live, saith the King,Whose name is the Lord of hosts,Surely like Tabor among the mountains,And like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.¹⁹O thou daughter that dwellest in Egypt,Furnish thyself to go into captivity;For Noph shall become a desolation,And shall be laid waste, without inhabitant. ²⁰Egypt is a very fair heifer;But the gadfly out of the north is come, it is come.²¹Also her mercenaries in the midst of herAre like calves of the stall,For they also are turned back, they are fled away together,They did not stand;For the day of their calamity is come upon them,The time of their visitation.²²The sound thereof shall go like the serpent's;For they march with an army,And come against her with axes,As hewers of wood.²³They cut down her forest, saith the Lord,Though it cannot be searched;Because they are more than the locusts,And