Jeremiah 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.
The book is not arranged chronologically throughout, for while the chapters up to chapter 20 stand in fairly chronological order, chapters 20 to 46 are out of order, so that in chronological order chapter 44 follows chapters 40, 41, 42 and 43 and comes before chapter 46. It falls within the section covering the history of the two years before Jerusalem fell.
The verse sets forth the guilt and punishment of the Jews left in the land after Zedekiah's captivity who fled into Egypt against counsel. They should have remained in the land under the king of Babylon, who had learned to highly esteem Jeremiah and would have given them every necessary protection so long as they heeded his voice. Those who came to Jeremiah for advice were insincere and unable to discern between right and wrong, their promises were nothing, they wanted only advice in harmony with their own wishes and purposes, while the discernment of the Spirit laid bare the secrets of their hearts.
The burning of incense, sinning against the Lord, and failure to obey His voice or walk in His law, statutes, and testimonies means worshiping other gods, including burning incense to the queen of heaven, and many who went down into Egypt went eagerly into that idolatry. That disobedience included disregarding the Sabbath and turning to sun worship, which brought the desolation that overtook the land in the destruction of Jerusalem. The verse corrects the claim that hardship came because the people had stopped making offerings to the queen of heaven; their disobedience and idolatry, not their cessation of that worship, is why the evil came upon them. Therefore this evil happened to them as at that day, in present calamity and desolation. Jeremiah faithfully exposed the fugitives and predicted the futility of their plans by prophesying the defeat of Egypt and pointing out the very place where Nebuchadnezzar would set his standard in the capital of Egypt.
The keeping of years of release and Jubilee by the Jews ended at the close of Josiah's reign in 607 B.C., Josiah being the last king of Jerusalem who obeyed the commandments and kept His statutes. Because of the incense-burning, sin, and disobedience described in the verse this evil came upon them, and afterward neither their kings, nobles, people, nor lands could be redeemed and no year of release or Jubilee was ever kept. Only 21 Jubilees had been kept by that point, lacking 23 of coming to the great Jubilee. From that stopping point the land was to lie desolate while God's people were in their enemies' land until the 2450-year Jubilee of Jubilees ending in A.D. 1843.