To The Word – Day 186

₁I finished telling the people everything that the LORD their God had sent me to tell them. ₂Then Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other arrogant men said to me, “You are lying. The LORD our God did not send you to tell us not to go and live in Egypt. ₃Baruch son of Neriah has stirred you up against us, so that the Babylonians will gain power over us and can either kill us or take us away to Babylonia.” ₄So neither Johanan nor any of the army officers nor any of the people would obey the LORD's command to remain in the land of Judah. ₅Then Johanan and all the army officers took everybody left in Judah away to Egypt, together with all the people who had returned from the nations where they had been scattered: ₆the men, the women, the children, and the king's daughters. They took everyone whom Nebuzaradan the commanding officer had left under the care of Gedaliah, including Baruch and me. ₇They disobeyed the LORD's command and went into Egypt as far as the city of Tahpanhes.

₈There the LORD said to me, ₉“Get some large stones and bury them in the mortar of the pavement in front of the entrance to the government building here in the city, and let some of the Israelites see you do it. ₁₀Then tell them that I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, am going to bring my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to this place, and he will put his throne over these stones that you buried, and will spread the royal tent over them. ₁₁Nebuchadnezzar will come and defeat Egypt. Those people who are doomed to die of disease will die of disease, those doomed to be taken away as prisoners will be taken away as prisoners, and those doomed to be killed in war will be killed in war. ₁₂I will set fire to the temples of Egypt's gods, and the king of Babylonia will either burn their gods or carry them off. As shepherds pick their clothes clean of lice, so the king of Babylonia will pick the land of Egypt clean and then leave victorious. ₁₃He will destroy the sacred stone monuments at Heliopolis in Egypt and will burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.”

₁The LORD 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. ₂The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, said, “You yourselves 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 ₃because 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 worshipped. ₄I kept sending you my servants the prophets, who told you not to do this terrible thing that I hate. ₅But you would not listen or pay any attention. You would not give up your evil practice of sacrificing to other gods. ₆So I poured out my anger and fury on the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, and I set them on fire. They were left in ruins and became a horrifying sight, as they are today.

₇“And so I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, 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? ₈Why do you make me angry by worshipping 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 treat you with scorn and use your name as a curse? ₉Have 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? ₁₀But to this day you have not humbled yourselves. You have not honoured me or lived according to all the laws that I gave you and your ancestors.

₁₁“So then, I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, will turn against you and destroy all Judah. ₁₂As 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 treat them with scorn and use their name as a curse. ₁₃I will punish those who live in Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem — with war, starvation, and disease. ₁₄None 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.”

₁₅Then 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, ₁₆“We refuse to listen to what you have told us in the name of the LORD. ₁₇We 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 we and our ancestors, our king and our leaders, 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. ₁₈But 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.”

₁₉And 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.”

₂₀Then I said to all the men and the women who had answered me in this way, ₂₁“As for the sacrifices which 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 the LORD did not know about them or that he forgot them? ₂₂This very day your land lies in ruins and no one lives in it. It has become a horrifying sight, and people use its name as a curse because the LORD could no longer endure your wicked and evil practices. ₂₃This present disaster has come on you because you offered sacrifices to other gods and sinned against the LORD by not obeying all his commands.”

_24-25I told all the people, especially the women, what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, was saying to the people of Judah living in Egypt: “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! ₂₆But now listen to the vow that I, the LORD, have made in my mighty name to all you Israelites in Egypt: never again will I let any of you use my name to make a vow by saying, ‘I swear by the living Sovereign LORD!’ ₂₇I will see to it that you will not prosper, but will be destroyed. All of you will die, either in war or of disease, until not one of you is left. ₂₈But 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. ₂₉I, the LORD, will give you proof that I will punish you in this place and that my promise to bring destruction on you will come true. ₃₀I 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 Babylonia, who was his enemy and wanted to kill him.”

₁In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, Baruch wrote down what I had dictated to him. Then I told him ₂that the LORD, the God of Israel, had said, “Baruch, ₃you are saying, ‘I give up! The LORD has added sorrow to my troubles. I am worn out from groaning, and I can't find any rest!’

₄“But I, the LORD, am tearing down what I have built and pulling up what I have planted. I will do this to the entire earth. ₅Are you looking for special treatment for yourself? Don't do it. I am bringing disaster on the whole human race, but you will at least escape with your life wherever you go. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₁The LORD spoke to me about the nations, ₂beginning with Egypt. This is what he said about the army of King Neco of Egypt, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia defeated at Carchemish near the River Euphrates in the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah:

₁₃When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia came to attack Egypt, the LORD spoke to me. He said,

₂₅The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says, “I am going to punish Amon, the god of Thebes, together with Egypt and its gods and kings. I am going to take the king of Egypt and all who put their trust in him, ₂₆and hand them over to those who want to kill them, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army. But later on, people will live in Egypt again, as they did in times past. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₁Before the king of Egypt attacked Gaza, the LORD spoke to me about Philistia. ₂He said:

₁This is what the LORD Almighty said about Moab:

₁₀(Curse those who do not do the LORD's work with all their heart! Curse those who do not slash and kill!)

₁₁The LORD said, “Moab has always lived secure and has never been taken into exile. Moab is like wine left to settle undisturbed and never poured from jar to jar. Its flavour has never been ruined, and it tastes as good as ever.

₁₂“So now, the time is coming when I will send people to pour Moab out like wine. They will empty its wine jars and break them in pieces. ₁₃Then the Moabites will be disillusioned with their god Chemosh, just as the Israelites were disillusioned with Bethel, a god in whom they trusted.

₂₁“Judgement has come on the cities of the plateau: on Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath, ₂₂Dibon, Nebo, Beth Diblathaim, ₂₃Kiriathaim, Bethgamul, Bethmeon, ₂₄Kerioth, and Bozrah. Judgement has come on all the cities of Moab, far and near. ₂₅Moab's might has been crushed; its power has been destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₂₆The LORD said, “Make Moab drunk, because it has rebelled against me. Moab will roll in its own vomit, and people will laugh. ₂₇Moab, remember how you jeered at the people of Israel? You treated them as though they had been caught with a gang of robbers.

₂₈“You people who live in Moab, leave your towns! Go and live on the cliffs! Be like the dove that makes its nest in the sides of a ravine. ₂₉Moab is very proud! I have heard how proud, arrogant, and conceited the people are, how much they think of themselves. ₃₀I, the LORD, know of their arrogance. Their boasts amount to nothing, and the things they do will not last. ₃₁And so I will weep for everyone in Moab and for the people of Kir Heres. ₃₂I will cry for the people of Sibmah, even more than for the people of Jazer. City of Sibmah, you are like a vine whose branches reach across the Dead Sea and go as far as Jazer. But now your summer fruits and your grapes have been destroyed. ₃₃Happiness and joy have been taken away from the fertile land of Moab. I have made the wine stop flowing from the winepresses; there is no one to make the wine and shout for joy.

₃₄“The people of Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, and their cry can be heard as far as Jahaz; it can be heard by the people in Zoar, and it is heard as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah. Even the brook of Nimrim has dried up. ₃₅I will stop the people of Moab from making burnt offerings at their places of worship and from offering sacrifices to their gods. I, the LORD, have spoken.

₃₆“So my heart mourns for Moab and for the people of Kir Heres, like someone playing a funeral song on a flute, because everything they owned is gone. ₃₇All of them have shaved their heads and cut off their beards. They have all made gashes on their hands, and everyone is wearing sackcloth. ₃₈On all the housetops of Moab and in all its public squares there is nothing but mourning, because I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants. ₃₉Moab has been shattered! Cry out! Moab has been disgraced. It is in ruins, and all the surrounding nations jeer at it. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

₄₀The LORD has promised that a nation will swoop down on Moab like an eagle with its outspread wings, ₄₁and the towns and fortresses will be captured. On that day Moab's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labour. ₄₂Moab will be destroyed and will no longer be a nation, because it rebelled against me. ₄₃Terror, pits, and traps are waiting for the people of Moab. The LORD has spoken. ₄₄Whoever tries to escape the terror will fall into the pits, and whoever climbs out of the pits will be caught in the traps, because the LORD has set the time for Moab's destruction. ₄₅Helpless refugees try to find protection in Heshbon, the city that King Sihon once ruled, but it is in flames. Fire has burnt up the frontiers and the mountain heights of the war-loving people of Moab. ₄₆Pity the people of Moab! The people who worshipped Chemosh have been destroyed, and their sons and daughters have been taken away as prisoners.

₄₇But in days to come the LORD will make Moab prosperous again. All of this is what the LORD has said will happen to Moab.