Jeremiah 44:17

The queen of heaven. This goddess is usually identified with the Assyro-Babylonian Ishtar. Inasmuch as there were immoral ceremonies connected with this worship, it aroused Jeremiah’s hot indignation, particularly since it appears to have been a prominent part of the idolatry then practiced. The Assyro-Babylonian Ishtar, the mother goddess, was the equivalent of the divinity known to the Hebrews as Ashtoreth and to the Canaanites as Astarte, whose figurines are found in Palestine (see Vol. II, pp. 39, 319.) This goddess of fertility, of maternity, of sexual love, and of war was worshiped in rites of a grossly immoral and debasing character. She was essentially the same goddess though worshipped under many names and in many aspects, such as the earth-mother, the virgin-mother, and is identified in a general sense with Atargatis, the “Great Mother” of Asia Minor, Artemis (Diana) of Ephesus, Venus, and others. Various names applied to the virgin-mother goddess contain an element meaning “lady,” or “mistress,” as Nana, hmini, Imini, Beltis. Some of the designations were Belti, “my lady” (the exact equivalent of the Italian Madonna), Belit-ni, “our lady,” and “queen of heaven,” the name under which Ishtar was worshiped on the housetops as morning or evening star, with an offering of baked cakes, wine, and incense. Ishtar was also known as the merciful mother who intercedes with the gods for her worshipers. Some of these names and attributes are today applied to the virgin Mary, and many of the localized virgin cults in the Old World are believed to be the modern survivals of the worship of some of these various aspects of the ancient mother goddess.

Judah, ... Jerusalem. They had engaged in idolatry long before the Captivity, and reforms like those of Hezekiah and Josiah had not been permanent.