Yirmiyahu chapter 44. The word that came to Yirmiyahu concerning all the Jews dwelling in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Migdol, in Tachpanches, in Nof, and in the land of Patros, saying: So says Hashem, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I brought upon Yerushalayim and upon all the cities of Yehudah, and behold, they are a ruin this very day, and no one dwells in them. When a person sees some trouble, some disaster, he tries to check what the causes were, from what it stemmed, whether beforehand there were circumstances that led to this trouble and disaster. Now, when he finds some prior cause, he investigates whether that cause is what brought it about or not, perhaps it could be from other causes. But when a prophet comes in advance and declares that a particular thing will happen, here there is no room to begin investigating. For this is not a place where one may be uncertain, saying, listen, maybe it caused it, maybe it did not. Yes, it is true, this problem existed beforehand, but I am not sure that the tire wear is what caused the accident. There could be many other causes, some people have accidents even with new tires. But when a prophet comes and tells you, know that you have such and such a problem, and if this problem is not fixed, within such and such a time such and such will happen. And it happened, here there is no room to say, well, let us check whether the cause was the factor. The prophet announced it in advance. And this is what he comes and says to them here. You have seen all the evil that I brought upon Yerushalayim and upon all the cities of Yehudah, and behold, they are a ruin this very day, and no one dwells in them. He tells them, you have seen what terrible evils they were doing, and as a result what a great trouble descended upon them. Because of their evil that they did to anger Me, going to burn incense to serve other gods that they did not know, they, you, and your fathers. And why is this? Here there are no doubts, that it is because of the evil they did to anger Me. Not because, listen, there were political problems here, they angered Nevuchadnetzar, and Nevuchadnetzar was a megalomaniac and would not accept this in any way and... all this is excuses. He tells them, the cause is because of their evil that they did to anger Me. So that is the only cause. And do not be uncertain whether this is the factor, for behold, he comes and says to them: And I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending, saying: Please do not do this abominable thing that I hate. That is to say, there was here a prior warning, that says if you do A you will receive B. After it came, is there room to be uncertain, no, perhaps it is not because of that? After all, I warned. After all, I cautioned. After all, I said in advance that this thing would bring after it and drag after it destructive consequences. But they did not listen and did not incline their ear to turn back from their evil, to not burn incense to other gods. Not only did they not listen, but they also did not incline their ear to turn back from their evil. Neither to do teshuvah nor to stop their evil deeds. There is a person who does not do teshuvah for his previous deeds, but at least he does not continue in them. There is a person who not only does not do teshuvah for his previous deeds, but even continues to sin and stumble in those very same sins. So he says here, first, they did not listen. Second, they were not even willing to incline their ear to turn back from their evil. And not only were they not willing to turn back from their evil, but they even continued not to refrain from burning incense to other gods, they still continued to burn incense to other gods. And My fury and My anger poured out and burned in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim, and they became a ruin and a desolation as this very day. He says, and this then is the cause because of which My fury and My anger burned in the cities of Yehudah. He tells them, behold you see, they became a ruin and a desolation, and all this I warned in advance, so here there are no doubts that it is because of their negative deeds.
And now, so says Hashem, God of Hosts, God of Israel: Why do you do great evil to your souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and suckling from the midst of Yehudah, so as not to leave yourselves a remnant. He tells them, why, with the deeds you are doing now, are you bringing great evil upon your souls. Why? Because now it will not be like what was before. In the past He spent His fury on the wood and the stones. And behold we saw, and My anger burned in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim. The cities and the streets were destroyed. But here he tells them, you are already doing great evil to your souls. Here there are no longer wood and stones. So here, if there is to be harm, in what will it be? In the soul, God forbid. And this will cause, God forbid, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and suckling from the midst of Yehudah, meaning from the exile of the people of Yehudah, so as not to leave yourselves a remnant. Here there are no longer wood and stones. To anger Me with the work of your hands, to burn incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you come to sojourn, so as to cut yourselves off and so that you become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth. He tells them, you think that you are no longer obligated to keep the mitzvot of the Torah, you are already in Egypt, you are not in the Holy Land. He tells them, know that with this your evil now will be double. First, He will cut you off, God forbid you will be completely cut off. Second, now that you are among the nations there is here an additional element, and that is chillul Hashem. You are among the nations, and among these nations you bring it about that you become a reproach among all the nations of the earth. Is this the people that received the Torah? Is this the people that was supposed to be a light to the nations? Look at it coming here to Egypt for what? To serve idolatry, the idolatry of Egypt. He told them, in this you multiply your sin many times over.
Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers and the evils of the kings of Yehudah and the evils of his wives and your own evils and the evils of your wives, which they did in the land of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim? Have you forgotten the cause that brought about all the evils that found you there in the land of Yehudah and in Yerushalayim? Have you forgotten what the kings of Yehudah did, who sinned and caused others to sin openly? Is there any doubt that this is what brought about and caused all the evil? Is there any doubt that all that happened to you was because of your sins? So how do you continue to do those same things here in Egypt as well? They were not humbled to this very day, and they did not fear, and they did not walk in My Torah and in My statutes that I set before you and before your fathers. Their heart did not become humbled from the evil they received. It did not help, in the sense of, You return man to contrition. When he reaches the crushing of the soul, then he returns. It did not help. Behold you see, they were not humbled to this very day. All that they received leaves them in the boldness of their heart and in their stubbornness. They fled to Egypt because they were worried, they feared Nevuchadnetzar, that he would come and take revenge on us for the fact that people from among us went and killed the governor whom he appointed. But they expected that there they would have protection. And Yirmiyahu sees that there in Egypt they still continue to anger the Creator of the world.
Therefore so says Hashem, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I set My face against you for evil, and to cut off all of Yehudah. Behold, I set My face against you for evil. Seemingly, setting His face against them is always for evil. What is new here that it is for evil? Rather, we saw that the Malbim explained that the destruction that occurred in Yerushalayim was for the good. And thus he explained, He spent His fury on the wood and the stones, this was a destruction for the good. What does a destruction for the good mean? Like if I now go and cut off all the fruit from a tree, drop them all, ruin them all onto the ground and trample them, this is a great evil, I destroyed all the fruit. But on the other hand it is for the good, because through this the fruit will now rot in the ground, the seeds will begin to sprout and germinate and new trees will grow. So this is an evil whose ultimate purpose is for the good. But in contrast, so says Hashem, God of Hosts, Behold, I set My face against you for evil, and to cut off all of Yehudah. Not like sowing, but to cut off, like severance. And this is not like what was in Yerushalayim, since you continue and cling to your evil ways, so here it will be much, much harder than what was before.
And I will take the remnant of Yehudah who set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they will all be consumed in the land of Egypt, they will fall by the sword, by famine they will be consumed, from small to great, by the sword and by famine they will die, and they will become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a reproach. The Malbim says there were two groups among them. There was one group that came to Egypt in order to settle there. They had already gone to the Egyptian interior ministry to obtain a residency permit and issue an Egyptian identity card. A green card, yes. And there was another group, and who were these? These were the officers of the soldiers and the insolent ones whom we saw. There was another group who came against their will, what is called with no choice, out of fear, as it is written, and Yochanan ben Kareach took all the remnant of Yehudah. They say, we came here not, God forbid, to settle in Egypt. Right? What really was the goal? Temporary, to be saved from Nevuchadnetzar. The moment the matter calms down, until the fury passes, we will return to our land. Now, he says the first group, who set their faces to come to Egypt, whose main intent was to be in the land of Egypt, about them what does he say? To sojourn there. What is to sojourn there? Complete dwelling. Permanent. And they will all be consumed in the land of Egypt, and so on. They are destined to be completely destroyed. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine, and they will all be consumed absolutely. Nothing of them will remain. From small to great, by the sword and by famine they will die. What does he mean, from small to great? The Malbim explains that usually in the sword of war it is the great ones who die. The small ones do not. But here he says there will be such a sword and famine that the small ones will fall by famine out of great poverty and not by the sword, for they will not fight. And in this the small and the great will be equal, in this situation, that is to say, always the small one dies by famine and the great one by the sword. Here they will all die by the sword and by famine. Here there will be no difference. Yes, there will be no division. And besides this, he tells you, they will also become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a reproach. Why? And I will punish those dwelling in the land of Egypt as I punished Yerushalayim, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. That is, there will be complete annihilation, and as we said, with full providence. Not out of hidden countenance, but God forbid, Hashem will set His face against them. He will look at them, but instead of setting His face upon us to do us good, He will set His face upon them to do them harm.
And there will be no escapee or survivor for the remnant of Yehudah who come to sojourn there in the land of Egypt and to return to the land of Yehudah, which they lift up their souls to return to dwell there, for they will not return except a few escapees. Now about whom is he speaking? About the second group. For the second group had hope to return to the land of Yehudah, which they lift up their souls, they raise up their souls and say to themselves, we will yet return to Yehudah. For they will not return except a few escapees. He says of them too, even though they will not have war with Nevuchadnetzar, they will be consumed by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, and from among them only escapees. What are escapees? A few, that which escapes. A few of them will return.
And all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women standing as a great assembly, and all the people dwelling in the land of Egypt in Patros, answered Yirmiyahu, saying. All the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods answer Yirmiyahu. Whenever it is written here that their wives burned incense, many times people truly burn incense. But here it means that they burned incense to other gods. Incense. The Malbim says, all the women were burning incense to other gods. Only there were some whose husbands knew of them and there were some whose husbands did not know of them. Who is it that answers him? Those who answered him were all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods. These are those who did know that their wives burned incense, and they did it with their husbands' knowledge. Why? Because they are really the interested parties. That way you can say, this is my wife, it is not I, I do not get involved in this. But the moment it is with the husbands' knowledge, that is to say, I am pleased with it and it is with my consent. Now he tells you, and all the women standing as a great assembly. All the women answered. Why? Because in truth all the women were burning incense. So as for answering, all the women answered since it touches them personally. But the husbands whose wives did not burn incense, or who did not know that their wives burned incense, did not answer, because they did not feel that it touched them personally.
Now let us see what they say to him. Now we will understand why specifically the incense-burners are the ones who answered. The matter of which you spoke to us in the name of Hashem, we are not listening to you. In simple words, it is not acceptable to us. Why? For we will surely do everything that came out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out libations to her, as we and our fathers, our kings and our officers did in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim, and we were satisfied with bread and were well and saw no evil. They say to him, what do you claim, Yirmiyahu? That because we burned incense to other gods and served idolatry, because of this Hashem brought upon us all the troubles? We argue with your interpretation, Yirmiyahu. So they claimed. See, they truly had media in their time too, just like today. They tell him, on the contrary, know that all the troubles you see now do not stem from the fact that we burned incense to idolatry. For behold you see that in the days of Achaz and Menasheh, that was a period when they did the most idolatry. They angered the Creator of the world the most. And with all that, the evil did not come in their days. When did the evil come? In whose days? Nevuchadnetzar exiled? Tzidkiyahu. Right? First Yehoyachin, after that Tzidkiyahu. Now Tzidkiyahu was indeed a righteous man. At that time most of the people served Hashem, listened to the words of the prophets. Many were also idol worshippers, but this is certainly a better state than the period of Achaz and the period of Menasheh. And behold you see that specifically in this period they had troubles. So what do you religious people say, it is because of all kinds of, this idolatry and that? Behold you see that it is not so. What do you see? So note, they reach the opposite conclusion. Conclusion: when they burn incense to idolatry, they succeed. When they do not burn incense to idolatry, they fail. From the period of Tzidkiyahu they did not burn much incense to idolatry, and therefore what happened to us happened. Do you understand? Exactly the opposite, they bring proof from this.
What is the intent of these words? The Malbim says, they believed, and indeed they had complete faith on which to base themselves, that through burning incense to idolatry they draw down abundance from the heavens. That is how they believed. Because they really would see responses. We spoke about this in the past several times. The people in their time who worshipped idolatry were not people afflicted with some mental defect. Even though it seemingly appears so. What, a person took a piece of wood, carved from it some figure, tells it, you are my god and you created me? Such a person does not need punishment, he needs hospitalization, right? And with all that, the people there were not foolish people. They were exceedingly wise people. How did they do this? Rather, they truly saw results. What does it mean they saw results? Many times they would burn incense to idolatry and would receive responses. Receive responses. The Gemara says they would sacrifice to it... it tells them, slaughter before me a human sacrifice, and they would slaughter and rain would fall. The Gemara says about this that it is written that Hashem smoothed the way for them. What is smoothed the way for them? He smoothed them with words. He gave them room to err. Why? Because the rain was really supposed to fall. Only we would have expected that Hashem would prevent the rain so that they would not say it was because of them. But no, Hashem says, you want to err? I will give you room to err. And indeed through all kinds of spiritual forces that would descend upon those images and idols they made, sometimes the images would speak or respond. And this would lead them to understand that supposedly there is power and reality in those images. They would sometimes say, I am Hashem your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, and all kinds of other things of this sort. They tell him, behold you see, when we drew down the abundance through all those spiritual forces above, when we would burn incense to the queen of heaven, then indeed we succeeded. But since we stopped burning incense, we lacked everything. So the holy Zohar says, they help him. You are right. Indeed in the Gemara it is written, they open for him, the holy Zohar says, they help him. One who defiles, how is it written there? One who defiles himself a little, they defile him a lot. Do you understand?
Another matter, they come and tell him, we do not bow down to the god of the heavens, that is, to all those stars and constellations that we serve, we do not serve them as a deity. We believe in Hashem, we believe in providence, we believe in prophecy. But in our opinion there is some special segulah quality in burning incense to the queen of heaven that brings about success. How is it possible? Listen, sir, do not argue with facts. It shows you facts. As long as we burned incense to the queen of heaven, we succeeded. We stopped, we failed. We believe in Hashem without a doubt, but you see that apparently there is in burning incense to the queen of heaven, there is in it some benefit. And they tell him, we will surely do everything that came out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven. But the Malbim says, they meant to tell him it is not as a deity. Only as we and our fathers did in the cities of Yehudah, that is, only in order to draw down the abundance, from the angle that, for example, the sun is the ruler among the host of heaven, and the ripening of the fruits and all that happens in the world supposedly happens through the sun. And if a person is not exposed to the sun at all, he can, God forbid, even reach a state of death. The moment he lacks vitamins, vitamin D and all kinds of other things. And really the sun is a source of life. So they tell him, we apparently found that when they burn incense to the queen of heaven, through this the abundance comes to the world. And we were satisfied with bread. You see there is grain. And we were well. What do they mean, and we were well? And even so this is not considered in our opinion to do evil in the eyes of Hashem. And we were well. This is supposedly good in the eyes of Hashem. Because we believe in the God of the sun. The sun is the one that provides abundance, but there is a higher power above it, and that is the Creator of the world. And we believe in the Creator of the world. And we think there is nothing negative here if we serve Hashem and also sacrifice and burn incense to the god of the heavens. In this we do not remove from ourselves faith in Him, may He be blessed. And therefore, and we saw no evil. Therefore that whole period we had no evil, because this is also not evil in the eyes of Hashem. And from the time we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine. See that from the time we stopped, all the troubles began. So in short, what do they tell him? The facts prove the opposite of what you say.
And when we burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, is it without our husbands that we made her cakes to depict her and poured out libations to her? The women come and say, do you think that perhaps it was the foolish women who are not sharp, who are not educated, and in their time many women were in the category of women who are not educated because they were most of the time at home and did not acquire wisdom and education, and almost all of them did not know how to read and write. Do you think that only the foolish women, these ignorant ones, are the ones who burned incense to the queen of heaven, and you will say that from them one cannot bring proof? They tell him, and when we burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, is it without our husbands that we made her cakes to depict her and poured out libations to her? Did we do this without the knowledge of our men, our husbands? For after all our husbands, our men, they are the initiators and they are the partners, and everything we did was also with their agreement and their will. So do not come and say, ah, one cannot bring proof from this, these are claims of ignorant people. Here it involves wise people too. And they made her cakes. What are cakes? Special figures that would be aligned to the abundance of the star, supposedly so that the star would influence this figure so that it would be capable of receiving its influence. And if so, they are really telling him, do not treat us with contempt. Important people here did this.
And Yirmiyahu said to all the people, to the men and to the women and to all the people who answered him a word, saying. Yirmiyahu answers to the men, these are those who know that their wives burn incense, whom we saw were the chief spokesmen. And to all the women, for we saw that all the women were burning incense. And to all the people, these are those whom we saw dwelling in Patros. Who answered him a word. That is to say, until now he still does not tell them a prophecy, but rather he tells them an answer of his own to what they responded. He tells them: Is it not the incense that you burned in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim, you and your fathers, your kings and your officers and the people of the land, that Hashem remembered and that came up in His heart? He answers them and tells them, what are you saying? We do not burn incense to the sun and the stars as a deity, we do not believe that it is the god. Only a segulah matter, we see that burning incense to it helps, but we believe in the Creator of the world. He tells them, behold you see that in the cities of Yehudah too there was such a thing, and behold the anger of Hashem burned against you. He tells them, what are you claiming? Why then did Hashem not punish us in the period when the incense-burning was greater? And specifically in the period when it weakened we were punished, specifically then all the troubles began. He tells them, Is it not the incense that you burned, you and your fathers. That is to say, even though in the time of Yehoyakim and Tzidkiyahu there was not such a high level of idolatry as in the time of Menasheh, but your continuation was that you held to the deeds of your fathers. And when you hold to the deeds of your fathers, then the Holy One, blessed be He, does not exact payment from the fathers but waits to see if they hold to the deeds of their fathers, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts payment from them. That is to say, there is like a reality of the measure being filled. In the time of your fathers they angered greatly, true, but the measure was not filled. But in your time, even though you anger a little, the measure is already filled. The moment the measure is filled, there is nothing to be done. I want to give a parable, perhaps an example, a parable about emptying the measure, not about filling the measure. Like, imagine that a person drives in an uneconomical way in a car. Puts on a lot of gas and pulls all kinds of gear shifts, drives in an uneconomical way. Suddenly he sees the fuel gauge already standing almost at zero. And from now on he begins to drive in an economical way. After two kilometers the car stalls. He says, look, when I drove in an uneconomical way, it drove. Only I began to drive in an economical way, the car shut off. Funny, right? This is exactly what you... Behold, in the time of our fathers Hashem did not... true, do you know how much they filled the measure? They already filled it 90%. You added the 10% which is what really finished them off. When they hold the deeds of their fathers in their hands, and consequently this is what brought about the bitter and hasty end. It is not of the sons, it is when they hold the deeds of their fathers in their hands. And they continued. If they had not continued the deeds of their fathers, you would say, listen, this is a generation that is entirely righteous, certainly there would have been no evil at all. But what do they claim? Even they do not claim we were righteous. What they claim is that we were better than the generations of our fathers. Better, as I said, like in the parable, he drove more carefully, but he did not stop, he erred, the car, he drove, he traveled. There is nothing to be done, driving consumes fuel. Not much, but it consumes. You continued in this. And there is no argument, for you see all the rebukes, you see what was. One cannot come now and change history and say, no, in the time of Tzidkiyahu they were righteous. For our Sages say that Tzidkiyahu was righteous and his generation was wicked. That is to say, a considerable part were wicked, admittedly not at the levels of Achaz and Amon and Menasheh, not those levels, but there were wicked ones enough in those generations too.
And behold, this is what he tells them in the next verse. So Hashem could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations you did, and your land became a ruin and a horror and a curse, without inhabitant, as this very day. He waited until the measure would be filled. And only in your generation was the measure filled, until Hashem could no longer bear it. The Holy One, blessed be He, could not, you already, continue and hold back. Truly, since idolatry, one must know, was the foundation of everything. And our Sages say, Israel served idolatry only in order to permit themselves illicit relations openly. That is to say, the moment they would abolish idolatry, then there was no legitimacy for everything else. Only what, a person wanted to receive legitimacy to transgress all the sins, so, you know, there is a person who, as long as he is religious, feels all the time, the kippah restricts me. Now the moment he removed the... ah, that is it, now he is free. Like this, if it is uncomfortable with a kippah to go to the cinema, he cannot, you have a kippah on your head. You cannot with a kippah go to a mixed beach, you... there are some who do go, but never mind, it is naturally so, you cannot, you have a kippah on your head. But the moment he removed the kippah, he feels that we are done, everything is already permitted. The people did not want the yoke of mitzvot. Since they did not want the yoke of mitzvot, they took upon themselves idolatry. So that if there were no idolatry, you would not have an excuse, so to speak. Idolatry means, no, I too believe, but listen, there are other forces. This idol is a much more advanced idol, sympathetic, ah, it is less harsh, it has no many commandments and such, it has no 613. It is liberal, this is a liberal idol, yes. Do you understand? Yes, it does not complain, it also does not send prophets with all kinds of threats. It is really a sympathetic idol. So he chooses himself an idol. Do you understand? It is much simpler for him. And through this, as it were, in one act he resigned from everything. He chose himself idolatry, so I resigned from all the commandments of the Creator of the world. So what was the cause of everything? It is idolatry. If they did not have idolatry, through this they would not have reached all that they reached.
Because you burned incense and because you sinned against Hashem. He tells them thus, because you burned incense. And another matter, and because you sinned, this refers to the rest of the transgressions. And you did not listen to the voice of Hashem, there were warnings upon warnings, cautions upon the prophets, we saw that the Holy One, blessed be He, sent them morning and evening. And you did not listen to the voice of Hashem, and in His Torah and in His statutes and in His testimonies you did not walk. Therefore this evil has befallen you as this very day. He tells them, that which the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, allowed you to err and think that the evil came by chance, and to think that it is actually, on the contrary, because we did not burn enough incense, he tells them, because you burned incense. When a person does such a great sin as burning incense to idolatry, the Holy One, blessed be He, hides the punishment from him and hardens his heart to destroy him. Listen to what he tells them. He tells them a terrible thing. He tells them, in essence, what you received now is part of the punishment. The questions you ask are part of the punishment. The Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, created such a situation that the generation which seemingly was relatively better would suffer more than the worse generation, because this is part of the punishment for the fact that you continued to serve idolatry. Part of the punishment is that you have a difficulty, how is it possible? How is it possible that in the previous generations there was not, and behold here we do receive such troubles? Such a thing, what does it cause a person to do? To harden his heart. And when a person hardens his heart, what does it cause? That Hashem gives him a greater punishment. This is part of your punishment. Part of your punishment is that Hashem does to you all kinds of things that will cause you to harden your heart. An example of this we find with Pharaoh. And I will harden, I hardened his heart. Why did I harden his heart? Because Pharaoh reached the stage where he could have done teshuvah, but he reached the stage where it was already prevented from him. You did not want to do teshuvah, the Holy One, blessed be He, tells him, so now I will already prevent teshuvah from you. So says the Rambam. And from the fifth plague onward teshuvah was already prevented from him. This is the hardening of the heart. Ah, seemingly this is not fair, he has no free choice. What is the answer? Free choice is up to a certain stage. From a certain stage the Holy One, blessed be He, says, from now you already begin to receive the punishment. This was Pharaoh's situation. And thus too he tells them with regard to you. I waited and waited and waited. From now I will cause you, as it were, to not want to do teshuvah. How? By your having such difficulties that will prove to you that it is good to burn incense to idolatry. And this itself will sink you further into idolatry and distance you further so that you receive a greater punishment.
And Yirmiyahu said to all the people and to all the women: Hear the word of Hashem, all Yehudah who are in the land of Egypt. Up to this point Yirmiyahu says the words from his heart. Up to this point Yirmiyahu makes claims, and these claims are essentially explanations that he explains on his own. From this point Yirmiyahu comes and tells them, now I want to convey to you a prophecy that is in the name of Hashem. So says Hashem, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, saying: You and your wives spoke with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying: We will surely perform our vows that we vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out libations to her. You will surely uphold your vows and surely perform your vows. He tells them, you have no excuse to come and say that only your wives did this. Why? Because he tells them, you and your wives. Both you and your wives are here in this sin. And with your hands you fulfilled, saying: We will surely perform our vows. That is, you agreed, you the husbands, and you vowed, you said, we will fulfill and uphold our vows, what we vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven. You agreed to the deed of the wives. And you still think that this is a mitzvah. He tells them, you will surely uphold your vows. He tells him, after all, if the wife vowed a certain thing, the husband can annul it for her. But you did not annul the vows of your wives. Rather, you will surely uphold your vows. You even upheld the vow for her. And if he indeed upholds it for her on the day he hears it, then all her vows and all the prohibitions she took upon her soul are established for her. She says, I vow to pour out a libation to the queen of heaven. Like a person who says, I vow a log of oil to the Beit HaMikdash, she says, I vow to make a libation to the queen of heaven. And the husband would hear and would uphold the vow for her. No, we are not discussing this now. We are discussing what their view was.
Therefore hear the word of Hashem, all Yehudah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great name, says Hashem, that My name will no longer be called by the mouth of any man of Yehudah, saying, As Hashem, the Lord, lives, in all the land of Egypt. He tells them, I swear, and this is a decree that has an oath with it. That My name will no longer be called by the mouth of any man of Yehudah, saying, As Hashem, the Lord, lives, in all the land of Egypt. That is, in the end I swear to you that I will cause My name to be forgotten from you. You will truly forget Hashem until you become like the nations in every respect. Behold, I am watching over them for evil and not for good, and all the men of Yehudah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by famine until they are finished. That is, against the people, who say they want to return from the land of Israel to Egypt, he tells them, the evil that will be there in Egypt will overtake you, and I will do to you a special evil that will finish you off completely. And those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Yehudah, a few in number. People who escape the sword. And all the remnant of Yehudah who came to the land of Egypt to sojourn there will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs. And those who escape the sword will return, meaning the escapees we mentioned above, those who will return to Yehudah will be only a few in number. What is a few in number? A few individuals, meaning a small number of people. And they will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs. And then they will see whose word is fulfilled, the words of Hashem or their words. Now they will see who is able to fulfill his words. For after all, they upheld the vow of the wives and said that on the contrary, they will sacrifice to the queen of heaven. Come, now let us see whose words will be fulfilled.
And this is the sign for you, says Hashem, that I am about to punish you in this place, so that you will know that My words will surely stand against you for evil. So says Hashem: Behold, I am giving Pharaoh Chofra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Tzidkiyahu, king of Yehudah, into the hand of Nevuchadretzar, king of Bavel, his enemy and the one who sought his life. The Malbim says, what actually is the sign? He tells them thus, for after all, if the king of Bavel had fought against the king of Egypt but outside the land of Egypt, then he would not have destroyed the inhabitants of the country, but perhaps destroyed the army of the king of Egypt, for the war is outside the land itself. They would have fought in the desert, for example. He would have gone out to meet him in the Sinai desert and there fought with him. So the inhabitants of the land would not have been harmed, for the war is not within the land. But he tells them, by My punishing you in this place, that Nevuchadnetzar will come as far as Egypt and Pharaoh will be closed in under siege just as Tzidkiyahu was closed in under siege, and therefore when he conquered the place then he killed them all as the chief of the executioners did in Yerushalayim. And this is what he tells them, Behold, I am giving Pharaoh just as I gave Tzidkiyahu. As it was with Tzidkiyahu, you think that you fled to Egypt to be saved there, know that what happened here in the Holy Land, so is destined to happen in Egypt too, and the war will be within the interior of Egypt and not outside it, so that in essence you fell out of the frying pan into the fire. And then through this it will become clear whose words will be fulfilled, the prophet tells them, whether the word of Hashem or your words.