19. The women added, ‘When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?’
20. Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him,
21. ‘Did not the Lord remember and call to mind the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials and the people of the land?
22. When the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today.
23. Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.’
24. Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah in Egypt.
25. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: you and your wives have done what you said you would do when you promised, “We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.”‘Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!
26. But hear the word of the Lord, all you Jews living in Egypt: “I swear by my great name,” says the Lord, “that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt shall ever again invoke my name or swear, ‘As surely as the Sovereign Lord lives.’