Jeremiah 44:3
Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.
The verse belongs to the account of the Jews left after Zedekiah's captivity and their flight into Egypt. It belongs to the part of Jeremiah covering the history of the two years before Jerusalem fell. It exposes the insincerity of those who came to Jeremiah for counsel, with empty promises and loss of discernment between right and wrong and hearts laid bare by the Spirit of God, since they desired only counsel in harmony with their own wishes and purposes.
It involves refusal to remain in the land under the king of Babylon, who would have given every necessary protection while they heeded Jeremiah's voice, because that king had learned to highly esteem Jeremiah, and the choice instead to go down into Egypt where many went hilariously into idolatry to provoke God to anger. It is a divine rebuke of Jews who disobeyed God's express command by going down to Egypt to live and falling in with the customs of the country by burning incense to Egyptian gods and serving other gods they did not know. The wickedness that provoked God to anger was going to burn incense to and serve other gods whom neither they nor their ancestors knew. The suffering and calamity of Judah's people came because that wickedness provoked God.
The verse shows that Judah's political and religious failure came from rejecting the counsel of God's prophets and persisting in wickedness and idolatry, so that where heeding prophetic counsel brings success, as when Hezekiah kept close connection with Isaiah, rejecting the prophets brings sad ruin. It reminds its hearers of judgments already brought upon Israel in the past for departing from God and warns that God will bring similar punishment upon them in Egypt. It is connected with Jeremiah's answer predicting the futility of their plans in the defeat of Egypt, even pointing out the very place where Nebuchadnezzar would set his standard in the capital of Egypt.