Jeremiah 49
1 Concerning the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says: “Has Israel no sons? Is he without heir? Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad? Why have his people settled in their cities?
Then came all the leaders of the host, and Joanan, and Azarias the son of Maasaeas, and all the people great and small,
2 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned. Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors, says the LORD.
to Jeremias the prophet, and said to him, Let now our supplication come before your face, and pray you to the Lord your God for this remnant; for we are left few out of many, as your eyes see.
3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.
And let the Lord your God declare to us the way wherein we should walk, and the thing which we should do.
4 Why do you boast of your valleys— your valleys so fruitful, O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, ‘Who can come against me?’
And Jeremias said to them, I have heard [you]; behold, I will pray for you to the Lord our God, according to your words; and it shall come to pass, [that] whatever word the Lord God shall answer, I will declare [it] to you; I will not hide anything from you.
5 Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you, declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, from all those around you. You will each be driven headlong, with no one to regather the fugitives.
And they said to Jeremias, Let the Lord be between us for a just and faithful witness, if we do not according to every word which the Lord shall send to us.
6 Yet afterward I will restore the Ammonites from captivity,” declares the LORD.
And whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, because we shall listen to the voice of the Lord our God.
7 Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?
And it came to pass after ten days, [that] the word of the Lord came to Jeremias.
8 Turn and run! Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.
And he called Joanan, and the leaders of the host, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, would they not steal only what they wanted?
and he said to them, Thus says the Lord;
10 But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his hiding places, and he will be unable to conceal himself. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and neighbors, and he will be no more.
If you will indeed dwell in this land, I will build you, and will not pull [you] down, but will plant you, and in no wise pluck you up: for I have ceased from the calamities which I brought upon you.
11 Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives. Let your widows trust in Me.”
Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; be not afraid of him, says the Lord: for I am with you, to deliver you, and save you out of their hand.
12 For this is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must drink it too.
And I will grant you mercy, and pity you, and will restore you to your land.
13 For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”
But if you say, We will not dwell in this land, that we may not listen to the voice of the Lord;
14 I have heard a message from the LORD; an envoy has been sent to the nations: “Assemble yourselves to march against her! Rise up for battle!”
for we will go into the land of Egypt, and we shall see no war, and shall not hear the sound of a trumpet, and we shall not hunger for bread; and there we will dwell:
15 “For behold, I will make you small among nations, despised among men.
then hear the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord;
16 The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,”
If you set your face toward Egypt, and go in there to dwell; then it shall be, [that] the sword which you fear shall find you in the land of Egypt, and the famine to which you have regard, shall overtake you, [coming] after you in Egypt; and there you shall die.
17 “Edom will become an object of horror. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.
And all the men, and all the strangers who have set their face toward the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall be consumed by the sword, and by the famine: and there shall not one of them escape from the evils which I bring upon them.
18 As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.
For thus says the Lord; As my wrath has dropped upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath drop upon you, when you have entered into Egypt: and you shall be a desolation, and under the power of others, and a curse and a reproach: and you shall no more see this place.
19 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
[These are the words] which the Lord has spoken concerning you the remnant of Juda; Enter you not into Egypt: and now know you for a certainty,
20 Therefore hear the plans that the LORD has drawn up against Edom and the strategies He has devised against the people of Teman: Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away; certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.
that you have wrought wickedness in your hearts, when you sent me, saying, Pray you for us to the Lord; and according to all that the Lord shall speak to you we will do.
21 At the sound of their fall the earth will quake; their cry will resound to the Red Sea.
And you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, with which he sent me to you.
22 Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s mighty men will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
Now therefore you shall perish by sword and by famine, in the place which you desire to go into to dwell there.
23 Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea; their anxiety cannot be calmed.
24 Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee. Panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her like a woman in labor.
25 How is the city of praise not forsaken, the town that brings Me joy?
26 For her young men will fall in the streets, and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,”
27 “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”
28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says: “Rise up, advance against Kedar, and destroy the people of the east!
29 They will take their tents and flocks, their tent curtains and all their goods. They will take their camels for themselves. They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’
30 Run! Escape quickly! Lie low, O residents of Hazor,” declares the LORD, “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has drawn up a plan against you; he has devised a strategy against you.
31 Rise up, advance against a nation at ease, one that dwells securely,” declares the LORD. “They have no gates or bars; they live alone.
32 Their camels will become plunder, and their large herds will be spoil. I will scatter to the wind in every direction those who shave their temples; I will bring calamity on them from all sides,”
33 “Hazor will become a haunt for jackals, a desolation forever. No one will dwell there; no man will abide there.”
34 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.
35 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow, the mainstay of their might.
36 I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds. There will not be a nation to which Elam’s exiles will not go.
37 So I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who seek their lives. I will bring disaster upon them, even My fierce anger,” declares the LORD. “I will send out the sword after them until I finish them off.
38 I will set My throne in Elam, and destroy its king and officials,”
39 “Yet in the last days, I will restore Elam from captivity,”
