e 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 victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we
left off to burn incense 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. And when we burned incense to the
queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make
her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her,
without our husbands?"

Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women,
even to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, "The
incense that ye burned 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? so 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 inhabitant, as it is this day.
Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the
Lord, and have not obeyed 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 it is this day."

{330}

Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women,
"Bear the word of the Lord, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:
thus 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 burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink
offerings unto her: establish then your vows, and perform your vows.'

"Therefore 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. Behold, 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. And they that escape the
sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah,