Jer 44:15-30  They Shall Know Whose Words Shall Stand, Mine or Theirs

[Study Aired July 3, 2022]

Jer 44:15  Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 44:16  As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
Jer 44:17  But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
Jer 44:18  But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
Jer 44:19  And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
Jer 44:20  Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,
Jer 44:21  The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind?
Jer 44:22  So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.
Jer 44:23  Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.
Jer 44:24  Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:
Jer 44:25  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.
Jer 44:26  Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.
Jer 44:27  Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.
Jer 44:28  Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.
Jer 44:29  And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:
Jer 44:30  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

In this chapter we will finally discover why these Jews who claim to be the Lord’s people never had any real intention of being obedient to the Words of the Lord even though they had sought out Jeremiah to seek the Lord’s counsel for them concerning whether to return to Egypt, promising to be obedient whether the Lord’s counsel was for their good or their evil:

Jer 42:1  Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
Jer 42:2  And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
Jer 42:3  That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.
Jer 42:4  Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
Jer 42:5  Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
Jer 42:6  Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

The truth was that all these men already had their minds made up to go to Egypt where they knew they would fit right in because of the traditions they had been keeping for generations. Jeremiah had told them he would speak only what the Lord told him to say, and all these Jews and their leaders knew that Jeremiah had been rescued from dying at the hands of the priests for what he was repeating for the Lord. They knew how Hananiah the false prophet had humiliated Jeremiah by taking the wooden yoke off of Jeremiah’s neck and breaking it before all the people and labeling Jeremiah a false prophet for saying the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years, and still Jeremiah remained faithful to the Lord’s very unpopular words. These Jews and their leaders knew that Hananiah had died just three months after Jeremiah had prophesied that he would die that very year. They knew all about the deprivations Jeremiah had endured when Irijah, the captain of the ward, falsely accused Jeremiah of falling away to the Chaldeans. They knew that Irijah had convinced the princes to have Jeremiah placed in prison because the Lord had instructed Jeremiah to tell the king and all the people that they must submit to the yoke of the princes of Babylon. All Judah was aware of what Jeremiah had endured while being starved in prison, and yet he remained faithful to the Lord’s words.

So, Jeremiah had proven to be faithful to the Lord’s words, which words he now addresses to all the leaders and all the people who had coalesced around Gedaliah whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor over the land after Nebuchadnezzar had deposed Zedekiah from the throne of Judah. Now these remaining Jews are sending this proven prophet to the Lord to inquire of the Lord what they should do after Johanan had rescued them from the hand of Ishmael and his men. This was the Lord’s answer to the people and their leaders. This is what they had taken an oath to obey:

Jer 42:8  Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
Jer 42:9  And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;
Jer 42:10  If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.
Jer 42:11  Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
Jer 42:12  And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
Jer 42:13  But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
Jer 42:14  Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
Jer 42:15  And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
Jer 42:16  Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

‘Abiding in the land’ signifies abiding in the words of Christ:

Joh 8:30  As he spake these things, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples;
Joh 8:32  and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (ASV)

Fearing “the king of Babylon” is fearing to break away from the bondage of this world and its king, the adversary and His ways, of “keeping days, months, times, and years… the traditions of men”. These are the Lord’s words for those who are given to abide in them:

Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements [G447: stoicheion] of the world:

This Greek word ‘stoicheion’ is defined in Colossians 2 as “the tradition of men”, and it is defined in this chapter of Galatians as the “keeping of days, months times and years” (vs 9).

Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, [under ‘stoicheion’, ‘after the tradition of men’]
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Gal 4:8  Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements [G4747: ‘stoicheion’], whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

What are these “weak and beggarly elements” which kept ancient Israel in “bondage to the stoicheion of this world” and which the holy spirit is concerned is keeping us in bondage to the elements of this world. For all who are given to abide in the Lord’s words, this is what the holy spirit is talking about:

Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Paul is inspired of the holy spirit to repeat this dire warning in:

Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments [G4747: stoicheion] of the world, and not after Christ.

The tradition of men, the rudiments and elements of this world, are “not after Christ” and that, it turns out is why these Jews did not want to stay in the land wearing Christ’s cloths and eating His bread:

Jer 44:15  Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 44:16  As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.

These words from these Jews graphically demonstrate how important it is to keep and live by this verse of scripture:

1Th 5:12  And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
1Th 5:13  And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

There are two parts to this commandment from the Lord. We are both 1) to know them which labor among us, and 2) we are commanded to “esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.” Love is defined by scripture as being obedient to the Lord:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

These Jews knew Jeremiah’s decades-long history of fidelity to the Lord’s very unpopular message, but they did not at all ‘esteem him highly in love for his work’s sake’.

What happened to this promise these same people made just ten days before they rebelled against their own words with “the Lord [as] a true and faithful witness”?

Jer 42:5  Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
Jer 42:6  Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

It does indeed bode well for us “when we obey the voice of the Lord”. On the other side of that same coin, if we do not believe and obey the Lord, we abide in His wrath and things will not go well for us, and the very things we fear will overtake and destroy us:

Job 3:25  For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

You may be the richest, most powerful man in the world, but what good is that if you “abide [under] the wrath of God”?

Mat 16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mat 16:27  For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Like Esau, we all think of future promises as inconsequential to present needs and desires, and we willingly ‘sell our birthright’, our most valuable possession, to satisfy the present momentary needs and desires of our flesh:

Gen 25:29  And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
Gen 25:30  And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
Gen 25:31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
Gen 25:32  And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Our ‘birthright’ inheritance is in Christ, and in this story, Christ is signified by the land which was the inheritance of these Jews. The Jews in this story had already, long ago sold any claim they had to the land because of the hypocrisy of their way of life. They know this better than anyone, and they also know that their way of life will fit in with life in Egypt better than having to listen to the prophets of the Lord in the promised land.

Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also [in Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Col 3:24  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

Israel and Judah typify the Lord’s apostate wife who has always had an eye for the ways of this world, and who hates the apparel and food of her own husband. They have “come to the prophet with the stumbling block” of their self-righteous iniquity and with the multitude of the idols of their own hearts:

Jer 44:17  But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

The same is true today. “We, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities” of every nation on earth “burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her” by observing “days, months, times and years” according to “the traditions of men” in every country on earth, with absolute impunity, as if Galatians 4:10 and Colossians 2:8 were not even in the scriptures, to which scriptures these very same professing Christians give so much lip service. It is for their self-righteous iniquity that the Lord answers them “according to the idols of their hearts” (Eze 14:1-9), and this is what they and Christians today truly believe:

Jer 44:18  But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
Jer 44:19  And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?

Exactly when did these Jews, or any of our ancestors, ever “leave off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her”? Even the American pilgrims, who outlawed the observance of Christmas and Easter as the Pagan holidays and the times of debauchery they were, still kept either the seventh-day sabbath or the first day of the week as a “Christian sabbath”. Neither had these Jews ever ‘left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven’.

It may appear impossible that a people who have “burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her”, and who had just three months earlier had been carried off into Babylon as slaves and are now fleeing into Egypt for fear of the Chaldeans, could possibly be so blind as to make such a statement, defending the queen of heaven. However, we ourselves have all lived under such hypocrisy, and we have witnessed how the Truth is loathed by those to whom this degree of “strong delusion” is given. This all happened to these Jews, and it is recorded for our admonition (1Co 11:10). It should serve only to make us to tremble at the Lord’s ability to send to us such blind, self-righteous hypocrisy, and we should all take heed to the apostle’s warning:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Jer 44:20  Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,
Jer 44:21  The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind?
Jer 44:22  So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.
Jer 44:23  Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.

Notice that Jeremiah doesn’t even acknowledge that they had ever “left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven” because he knows it never happened. Jeremiah is as non-plussed by the absolute, total blindness of his own people to their own rebellious ways as you and I are when things like this happen. He is asking them,  “Can’t you see what your rebellion against the Words of the Lord have produced??? Can’t you see the results of the Lord’s anger, and His wrath towards you for ignoring His commandments and observing the days, months, times and years of the queen of heaven??? Your brothers are in Babylon as slaves, and you are back in Egypt fleeing from the same people who carried your brothers away captives.”

Jer 44:24  Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:

Notice how the holy spirit has chosen to tell us to whom Jeremiah is speaking. We are told that he is addressing “all the people and… all the women.” The captains and “all the proud men” are not mentioned in this case, because the word ‘woman’ signifies the church and all of her daughter churches, “Samaria and her daughters, and Jerusalem and her daughters.”

Eze 16:1  Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 16:2  Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

Eze 16:26  Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

The Lord’s people identified more with the pagan Egyptians and their traditions than they did with the Lord and His commandments; especially this commandment:

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

By sending Jeremiah to enquire for them of the Lord these self-righteous, rebellious types of us, demonstrated that they were burning incense to the queen of heaven and thinking they were doing so to the Lord their God. When forced to face their hypocrisy, they did what we all just naturally do, and they refused to repent and continued on in their rebellion.

Ezekiel was a prophet of the Lord who had been carried away into Babylon, and the Jews in Babylon were of the same rebellious spirit as these Jews in Egypt. Speaking specifically of those Jews who had been carried away into Babylon, this is what he tells them as types of us:

Eze 16:55  When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou [Jerusalem (vs 1-2)] and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

There was “no place found for repentance” in either group.

Jeremiah continues:

Jer 44:25  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.

Judah and Jerusalem had long been in league with Egypt, as an ally against Assyria and Babylon. They had been “committing fornication” with the Egyptians and the Assyrians for many decades. It was all done “after the counsel of [the Lord’s] own will” (Eph 1:11). The Lord gives us our very thoughts. Our hearts are in His hand, and He is intent upon turning our hearts to the destruction of our flesh and to the destruction of the entire kingdom of our old man:

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Pro 21:1  The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Judah and Jerusalem were doing what the whole world was doing. They were doing what Egypt had been doing all along, and they knew they would fit right in down in Egypt just as the Jews who had been carried away to Babylon felt right at home in that country.

Jer 44:26  Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.

Even the churches of this Babylonian system acknowledge that ‘Egypt’ signifies this wicked world into which we have all been placed by virtue of being born. This 26^th verse is the Lord placing a curse upon His own people… “My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt.” This curse typifies what Christ is telling us when He cursed the fig tree:

Mat 21:19  And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.

This ‘fig tree’ signifies the Lord’s people of that time.

Joe 1:6  For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
Joe 1:7  He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

At that time the kingdom of God was an outward kingdom. It was the kingdom of physical Israel with ‘a lawgiver’ still residing in Judah:

Gen 49:10  The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

This is the definition of ‘Shiloh’:

H7886
שִׁילֹה
shı̂ylôh
shee-lo’
From H7951; tranquil; Shiloh, an epithet of the Messiah: – Shiloh.

The sceptre would not depart from physical Judah “until Shiloh come”, and in the very first recorded sermon of His reformative ministry, immediately following His baptism by John and His temptation by the devil, Christ prophesied of the gospel going to the Gentiles and that teaching almost cost Him his life:

Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

Christ repeated this prophecy to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well:

Joh 4:19  The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Joh 4:20  Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Jeremiah’s curse upon the Jews in Egypt that “[the Lord’s] name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt” was a prophecy that the Lord would place a curse upon His own people, as Christ cursed this fig tree, which in turn signifies His own people of that time:

Jer 44:27  Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.
Jer 44:28  Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.

If “there be an end of them” because they are “consumed by the sword and by the famine… until there be an end of them” then the only way they will ever “know whose words shall stand, mine or theirs” is if their own wickedness corrects them:

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? [the Nile, referring to the Jews in Egypt] or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? [referring to the Jews in Babylon]
Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

It is only Christ “whose words shall stand [and] shall not pass away”:

Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Jer 44:29  And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

Seeing signs from the Lord means nothing to those who are devoid of spiritual eyes and ears. It all happened to them, and they benefit nothing from their own chastening, because it all happened to them and is written simply for our admonition (1Co 10:11).

Jer 2:30  In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
Jer 2:31  O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

These words in Jeremiah chapter two… “We are [our own] Lords; we will come no more to thee” are a prophecy of what these remnant Jews tell Jeremiah in this 44^th chapter which we quoted above, and I will repeat here:

Jer 44:17  But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
Jer 44:18  But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
Jer 44:19  And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?

Jer 44:30  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

Indeed ‘our own wickedness will correct us, and our backsliding will reprove us’, and if we are blessed of the Lord to do so, we will be given to see and know “in this present time” that it is indeed a bitter thing for us to ‘forsake the Lord and to have His fear taken away from us’.

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

If it is the Lord’s will, it is you and I upon whom the Lord’s glory will be revealed and upon whom “the creature [all men of all time is] waiting for [our] manifestation”.