In Jeremiah 44, 45 and 46 God confronts those who have escaped to Egypt. They are continuing to worship other gods, particularly the queen of heaven. He tells them that they will not survive. They must stop worshipping other gods and repent.

The people say they will not listen to God.  They believe that when they worshiped the queen of heaven they had food and it was when they stopped that they suffered. They are going back to their own ways. Jeremiah tries to convince them that it was because they worshiped the queen of heaven that they were punished in that way. God could no longer bear to see their unfaithfulness.

God tells the people that he will not tolerate their disobedience. They will have no more chances to repent. He will send Nebuchadnezzar to Egypt to conquer it. They will not survive. God knows, though, that a few in Egypt are faithful and they will escape back to Judah.

Baruch is still writing down what Jeremiah is dictating. He is being weighed down by what he has heard. Jeremiah has a message for him from God. God will carry out what He has promised but Baruch will be protected wherever he goes.

God tells Egypt that it will be punished for enticing the people of Judah into worshiping its gods. God has scattered His people but He promises to save the faithful of Jacob, the remnant. They may be punished but they will not be destroyed.

Again, we see that even when confronted with the truth we often want to believe lies and superstitions. We cling to those things that do not work even though we are being told differently. We continue to do the same things say in and day out and expect a different result. What we really need to do is to admit our mistakes, change our behavior and move forward it a new direction. Why is it that we prefer to go our unproductive and even destructive way instead of turning and following God?

Psalm 119:49-72 is the prayer the people in Jeremiah should be praying. We should learn from our affliction and turn back to the word of God. Even when others would lead us astray we should put our trust in His word.