Jeremiah 44:18

But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and giving her offerings of wine, we have had many troubles, and some of our people have been killed by our enemies’ swords and some have died from hunger.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

17We will certainly do everything that we said that we would do. We will burn incense to worship our goddess Astarte, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out offerings of wine to her, just like we and our ancestors and our kings and their officials have always done in the streets of Jerusalem and in the other towns in Judah. At that time, we had plenty of food, and we were prosperous and we did not have any troubles.

19And the women said, “ Furthermore, we burned incense and poured out wine offerings to the Queen of Heaven, and we also made small cakes that resembled her idol, to offer to her. But our husbands certainly knew about and approved of [RHQ] what we were doing!”

Read all of Jeremiah 44

Cross References

Job 21:14While they are alive, they say to God, ‘Do not bother us; we do not want to know how you want us to conduct our lives!

Jeremiah 40:12So they began to return to Judah. They stopped at Mizpah to talk with Gedaliah. Then they went to various places in Judea, and they harvested a great amount of grapes and summer fruit.

Malachi 3:14I reply, “You have said, ‘It is useless for us to serve God. We have gained nothing [RHQ] by obeying the commands that he gave to us and by trying to show the Commander of the armies of angels that we are sorry for the sins that we have committed.

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 44:16-20

The People's Insolent Reply. ( b. c. 587.) 15 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, 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. 17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Jeremiah 44:18