Jeremiah 49
1 About the children of Ammon. These are the words of the Lord: Has Israel no sons? has he no one to take the heritage? why then has Milcom taken Gad for himself, putting his people in its towns?
Of the children of Ammon. The LORD says: “Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in its cities?
2 Because of this, see, the days are coming when I will have a cry of war sounded against Rabbah, the town of the children of Ammon; it will become a waste of broken walls, and her daughter-towns will be burned with fire: then Israel will take the heritage of those who took his heritage, says the Lord.
Therefore behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and it will become a desolate heap, and her daughters will be burned with fire; then Israel will possess those who possessed him,” says the LORD.
3 Make sounds of grief, O Heshbon, for Ai is wasted; give loud cries, O daughters of Rabbah, and put haircloth round you: give yourselves to weeping, running here and there and wounding yourselves; for Milcom will be taken prisoner together with his rulers and his priests.
“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourself in sackcloth. Lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malcam will go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
4 Why are you lifted up in pride on account of your valleys, your flowing valley, O daughter ever turning away? who puts her faith in her wealth, saying, Who will come against me?
Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? You trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come to me?’
5 See, I will send fear on you, says the Lord, the Lord of armies, from those who are round you on every side; you will be forced out, every man straight before him, and there will be no one to get together the wanderers.
Behold, I will bring a terror on you,” says the Lord, GOD of Armies, “from all who are around you. All of you will be driven completely out, and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives.
6 But after these things, I will let the fate of the children of Ammon be changed, says the Lord.
“But afterward I will reverse the captivity of the children of Ammon,” says the LORD.
7 About Edom. This is what the Lord of armies has said. Is there no more wisdom in Teman? have wise suggestions come to an end among men of good sense? has their wisdom completely gone?
Of Edom, the LORD of Armies says: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?
8 Go in flight, go back, take cover in deep places, you who are living in Dedan; for I will send the fate of Edom on him, even the time of his punishment.
Flee! Turn back! Dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him when I visit him.
9 If men came to get your grapes, would they not let some be uncut on the vines? if thieves came by night, would they not make waste till they had enough?
If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves came by night, would not they steal until they had enough?
10 I have had Esau searched out, uncovering his secret places, so that he may not keep himself covered: his seed is wasted and has come to an end, and there is no help from his neighbours.
But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he will not be able to hide himself. His offspring is destroyed, with his brothers and his neighbors; and he is no more.
11 Put in my care your children who have no father, and I will keep them safe; and let your widows put their faith in me.
Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me.”
12 For the Lord has said, Those for whom the cup was not made ready will certainly be forced to take of it; and are you to go without punishment? you will not be without punishment, but will certainly be forced to take from the cup.
For the LORD says: “Behold, they to whom it did not pertain to drink of the cup will certainly drink; and are you he who will altogether go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but you will surely drink.
13 For I have taken an oath by myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah will become a cause of wonder, a name of shame, a waste and a curse; and all its towns will be waste places for ever.
For I have sworn by myself,” says the LORD, “that Bozrah will become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. All its cities will be perpetual wastes.”
14 Word has come to me from the Lord, and a representative has been sent to the nations, to say, Come together and go up against her, and take your places for the fight.
I have heard news from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, “Gather yourselves together! Come against her! Rise up to the battle!”
15 For see, I have made you small among the nations, looked down on by men.
“For, behold, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men.
16 ... the pride of your heart has been a false hope, O you who are living in the cracks of the rock, keeping your place on the top of the hill: even if you made your living-place as high as the eagle, I would make you come down, says the Lord.
As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill, though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says the LORD.
17 And Edom will become a cause of wonder: everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder, and make sounds of fear at all her punishments.
“Edom will become an astonishment. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and will hiss at all its plagues.
18 As at the downfall of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbouring towns, says the Lord, no man will be living in it, no son of man will have a resting-place there.
As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities,” says the LORD, “no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.
19 See, he will come up like a lion from the thick growth of Jordan against the resting-place of Teman: but I will suddenly make him go in flight from her; and I will put over her the man of my selection: for who is like me? and who will put forward his cause against me? and what keeper of sheep will be able to keep his place before me?
“Behold, he will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation; for I will suddenly make them run away from it, and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it. For who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who will stand before me?”
20 For this cause give ear to the decision of the Lord which he has made against Edom, and to his purposes designed against the people of Teman: Truly, they will be pulled away by the smallest of the flock; truly, he will make waste their fields with them.
Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Edom, and his purposes that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they will drag them away, the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them.
21 The earth is shaking with the noise of their fall; their cry is sounding in the Red Sea.
The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in the Red Sea.
22 See, he will come up like an eagle in flight, stretching out his wings against Bozrah: and the hearts of Edom's men of war on that day will be like the heart of a woman in birth-pains.
Behold, he will come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah. The heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
23 About Damascus. Hamath is put to shame, and Arpad; for the word of evil has come to their ears, their heart in its fear is turned to water, it will not be quiet.
Of Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are confounded, for they have heard evil news. They have melted away. There is sorrow on the sea. It cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus has become feeble, she is turned to flight, fear has taken her in its grip: pain and sorrows have come on her, as on a woman in birth-pains.
Damascus has grown feeble, she turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail.
25 How has the town of praise been wasted, the place of joy!
How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?
26 So her young men will be falling in her streets, and all the men of war will be cut off in that day, says the Lord of armies.
Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all the men of war will be brought to silence in that day,” says the LORD of Armies.
27 And I will have a fire lighted on the wall of Damascus, burning up the great houses of Ben-hadad.
“I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.”
28 About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, overcame. This is what the Lord has said: Up! go against Kedar, and make an attack on the children of the east.
Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck, The LORD says: “Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east.
29 Their tents and their flocks they will take; they will take away for themselves their curtains and all their vessels and their camels: they will give a cry to them, Fear on every side.
They will take their tents and their flocks. they will carry away for themselves their curtains, all their vessels, and their camels; and they will cry to them, ‘Terror on every side!’
30 Go in flight, go wandering far off, take cover in deep places, O people of Hazor, says the Lord; for Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has made a design against you, he has a purpose against you in mind.
Flee! Wander far off! Dwell in the depths, you inhabitants of Hazor,” says the LORD; “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.
31 Up! go against a nation which is living in comfort and without fear of danger, says the Lord, without doors or locks, living by themselves.
Arise! Go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care,” says the LORD; “that has neither gates nor bars, that dwells alone.
32 And their camels will be taken from them by force, and their great herds will come into the hands of their attackers: those who have the ends of their hair cut I will send in flight to all the winds; and I will send their fate on them from every side, says the Lord.
Their camels will be a booty, and the multitude of their livestock a plunder. I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their beards cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them,” says the LORD.
33 And Hazor will be a hole for jackals, a waste for ever: no one will be living in it, and no son of man will have a resting-place there.
Hazor will be a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever. No man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.”
34 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam, when Zedekiah first became king of Judah, saying,
The LORD’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 This is what the Lord of armies has said: See, I will have the bow of Elam, their chief strength, broken.
“The LORD of Armies says: ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.
36 And I will send on Elam four winds from the four quarters of heaven, driving them out to all those winds; there will be no nation into which the wanderers from Elam do not come.
I will bring on Elam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds. There will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come.
37 And I will let Elam be broken before their haters, and before those who are making designs against their lives: I will send evil on them, even my burning wrath, says the Lord; and I will send the sword after them till I have put an end to them:
I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life. I will bring evil on them, even my fierce anger,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.
38 I will put the seat of my power in Elam, and in Elam I will put an end to kings and rulers, says the Lord.
I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and princes,’ says the LORD.
39 But it will come about that, in the last days, I will let the fate of Elam be changed, says the Lord.
‘But it will happen in the latter days that I will reverse the captivity of Elam,’ says the LORD.”
