Jeremiah 44:7

So now, this is what the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves by cutting off from Judah man and woman, child and infant, leaving yourselves without a remnant?

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh confronts the Jewish remnant who fled to Egypt after Jerusalem's destruction. He addresses them at the moment of their self-imposed exile, questioning their deliberate abandonment of Judah and their slaughter of their own people.

The words — The phrase כֹּה־אָמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי צְבָאוֹת (koh-'amar Yahweh 'Elohei tzeva'ot) translates literally as "thus says Yahweh God of hosts." It functions as a formal divine oracle marker preceding the indictment.

The thread — The pattern of self-inflicted ruin through rebellion appears in Habakkuk 2:10 and Jeremiah 51:22, where violence against others or shattering humanity brings collapse. Numbers 16:38 similarly ties the cost of sin directly to the sinner's own destruction.

Why it lands — The text records that fleeing God's judgment only accelerates self-annihilation. It demands the reader stop treating disobedience as a survival strategy and recognize that divine warning targets the sinner's own ruin.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְעַתָּ֡הve./'a.Tahand/ therefore כֹּֽה־koh-thus אָמַ֣ר'a.Marhe says יְהוָה֩Yah.wehYahweh אֱלֹהֵ֨י'e.lo.Hei[the] God of צְבָא֜וֹתtze.va.'othosts אֱלֹהֵ֣י'e.lo.Hei[the] God of יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לYis.ra.'ElIsrael לָמָה֩la./Mah<to>/ why?אַתֶּ֨ם'a.Tem[are] you עֹשִׂ֜ים'o.Simdoing רָעָ֤הra.'Ahharm גְדוֹלָה֙ge.do.Lahgreat אֶל־'el-to נַפְשֹׁ֣תֵכֶ֔םnaf.Sho.te./Khemselves/ your לְהַכְרִ֨יתle./hakh.Ritto/ cut offלָכֶ֧םla./Khemto <the>/ yourselvesאִישׁ־'ish-man וְאִשָּׁ֛הve./'i.Shahand/ woman עוֹלֵ֥לo.Lelchild וְיוֹנֵ֖קve./yo.Nekand/ suckling-child מִתּ֣וֹךְmi./Tokhfrom/ [the] midst of יְהוּדָ֑הye.hu.DahJudah לְבִלְתִּ֛יle./vil.Tito/ not הוֹתִ֥ירho.Tirto leaveלָכֶ֖םla./Khemfor <the>/ yourselvesשְׁאֵרִֽית׃she.'e.Rita remnant

King James Version

Therefore now thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;

Cross-references

Habakkuk 2:10 You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life.
Jeremiah 51:22 With you I shatter man and woman; with you I shatter the old man and the youth; with you I shatter the young man and the maiden.
Numbers 16:38 As for the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar, for these were presented before the LORD, and so have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”
Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
Deuteronomy 32:25 Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
Joshua 6:21 With the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
Judges 21:11 This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”
1 Samuel 15:3 Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
Proverbs 5:22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
Proverbs 15:32 He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.