18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, ^gand the women knead dough, to ^hmake cakes for ⁱthe queen of heaven. And ^jthey pour out drink offerings to other gods, ^kto provoke me to anger.

17 ^mBut we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to ⁿthe queen of heaven ^oand pour out drink offerings to her, ^pas we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. 18 But since we left off making offerings to ⁿthe queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything ^qand have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” 19 And the women said,¹ “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven ^rand poured out drink offerings to her, was it ^swithout our husbands’ approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^eYou and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, ^fto make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows!