Jeremiah 44:2
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
The verse belongs to chapters 40 to 45 closing the book, concerning the Jews left after Zedekiah's captivity and their flight into Egypt. It is also placed within the section recounting the history of the two years before Jerusalem fell. It recalls that Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah are a desolation with no man dwelling therein as the evil God brought upon them, which they had seen with their own eyes.
It shows faithful work toward an insincere people who seemed unable to discern between right and wrong and whose promises were nothing, who when they came for advice desired only advice in harmony with their own wishes and purposes. It reminds the Jews who had disobeyed God by going to live in Egypt and were burning incense to Egyptian gods of the evil God had brought upon Jerusalem and Judah for departing from Him. It presents the ruin of Jerusalem and Judah, left empty and desolate, as the result of rejecting God's prophets.
It uses past judgment for apostasy as proof and as a warning that God would bring similar punishment upon them for their present idolatry. It stands with the advice to remain in the land under the king of Babylon, by whom Jeremiah was highly esteemed and who would have given every necessary protection so long as they heeded the prophetic voice, rather than going down into Egypt where many went into idolatry and where the futility of their plans was prophesied by foretelling the defeat of Egypt and even the very place in the capital of Egypt where Nebuchadnezzar would set his standard. It teaches that heeding the counsel of the prophets brings political and religious success, as seen in Hezekiah's close connection with Isaiah, while rejecting that counsel brings sad political and religious failure, and the warning still holds today.