The People’s Stubborn Response

¹⁵ However, all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women standing by—a great assembly—and all the people who were living in the land of Egypt at Pathros answered Jeremiah, ¹⁶ “As for the word you spoke to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you! ¹⁷ Instead, we will do everything we promised:^[a] we will burn incense to the queen of heaven^[b] and offer drink offerings to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our officials did in Judah’s cities^(A) and in Jerusalem’s streets. Then we had enough food, we were well off, and we saw no disaster, ¹⁸ but from the time we ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to offer her drink offerings, we have lacked everything, and through sword and famine we have met our end.”^(B)