Jeremiah 44:24-28
When people stubbornly commit themselves to sin, God may give them over to the consequences they have chosen.
24 Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear Yahweh’s word, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!
25 Yahweh 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.’
26 “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by my great name,’ says Yahweh, ‘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 Yahweh lives.”
27 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.
28 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.
When people stubbornly commit themselves to sin, God may give them over to the consequences they have chosen.
To pronounce the LORD’s final judgment upon the Judean remnant in Egypt because of their persistent devotion to the Queen of Heaven and refusal to repent.
Following Jeremiah’s correction of the people’s misunderstanding of Judah’s destruction, the prophet declares the consequences of their continued idolatry in Egypt.
Jeremiah warns the Judean refugees that their continued idolatry will remove their covenant privileges and bring continued judgment.
Judah in Egypt: Stubborn Idolatry and the Last Warning
When people interpret mercy as the fruit of idolatry and judgment as the cost of obedience, they harden themselves against the very word meant to save them.