17 We have promised to worship the goddess Astarte, the Queen of Heaven, and that is exactly what we are going to do. We will burn incense and offer sacrifices of wine to her, just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did when we lived in Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah. We had plenty of food back then. We were well off, and nothing bad ever happened to us.
18 But since the time we stopped burning incense and offering wine sacrifices to her, we have been dying from war and hunger.
19 Then the women said, “When we lived in Judah, we worshipped the Queen of Heaven and offered sacrifices of wine and special loaves of bread shaped like her. Our husbands knew what we were doing, and they approved of it.”
20 Then I told the crowd:
21 Don't you think the Lord knew that you and your ancestors, your leaders and kings, and the rest of the people were burning incense to other gods in Jerusalem and everywhere else in Judah?
22 And when he could no longer put up with your disgusting sins, he placed a curse on your land and turned it into a desert, as it is today.
23 This disaster happened because you worshipped other gods and rebelled against the Lord by refusing to obey him or follow his laws and teachings.