Jeremiah 44:16-17

44:16 “We will not listen to what you claim the Lord has spoken to us! 1  44:17 Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. 2  We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven 3  just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no troubles. 4 

Jeremiah 44:27

44:27 I will indeed 5  see to it that disaster, not prosperity, happens to them. 6  All the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will die in war or from starvation until not one of them is left.

1 tn Heb “the word [or message] you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord.” For an explanation of the rendering of “in the name of the Lord” see the study notes on 10:25 and 23:27.

2 tn Heb “that went out of our mouth.” I.e., everything we said, promised, or vowed.

3 tn Heb “sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” The expressions have been combined to simplify and shorten the sentence. The same combination also occurs in vv. 18, 19.

sn See the translator’s note and the study note on 7:18 for the problem of translation and identification of the term translated here “the goddess called the Queen of Heaven.”

4 tn Heb “saw [or experienced] no disaster/trouble/harm.”

5 tn Heb “Behold I.” For the use of this particle see the translator’s note on 1:6. Here it announces the reality of a fact.

6 tn Heb “Behold, I am watching over them for evil/disaster/harm not for good/prosperity/ blessing.” See a parallel usage in 31:28.