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.’
27 For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed.
28 Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand – mine or theirs.
29 ‘ “This will be the sign to you that I will punish you in this place,” declares the Lord, “so that you will know that my threats of harm against you will surely stand.”