Jeremiah 49

1 Of the people of Ammon. "Thus says YHWH: 'Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Milcom possess Gad, and his people dwell in its 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 look, the days come,' says YHWH, 'that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the people of Ammon; and it shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel possess those who possessed him,' says YHWH.

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, 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 Milcom shall go into captivity, his priests and his officials together.

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 glory in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? You who trusted in her treasures, saying, "Who shall come to 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 Look, I will bring a fear on you,' says YHWH of hosts, 'from all who are around you; and you shall be driven out every man right forth, and there shall be none to gather together 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 But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the people of Ammon,' says YHWH."

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 Of Edom. "Thus says YHWH of hosts: 'Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished?

And it came to pass after ten days, [that] the word of the Lord came to Jeremias.

8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I shall visit 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 gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, wouldn't they destroy until they had enough?

and he said to them, Thus says the Lord;

10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors; and he is 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 Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and 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 thus says YHWH: 'Look, they to whom it did not pertain to drink of the cup shall certainly drink; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink.

And I will grant you mercy, and pity you, and will restore you to your land.

13 For I have sworn by myself,' says YHWH, 'that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.'"

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 news from YHWH, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, "Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the 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, look, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men.

then hear the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord;

16 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 YHWH.

If you set your face towards 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 shall become an astonishment: everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues.

And all the men, and all the strangers who have set their face towards 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 in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it," says YHWH, "no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man live in it.

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 Look, he shall 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, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? And who will appoint me a time? And who is the shepherd who will stand before 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 counsel of YHWH, that he has taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they shall drag them away, the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over 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 The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in the Red Sea.

And you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, with which he sent me to you.

22 Look, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah: and the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs."

Now therefore you shall perish by sword and by famine, in the place which you desire to go into to dwell there.

23 Of Damascus. "Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil news, they are melted away: there is sorrow on the sea; it can't be quiet.

24 Damascus has grown feeble, she turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail.

25 How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?

26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be brought to silence in that day," says YHWH of hosts.

27 "I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben Hadad."

28 Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck. "Thus says YHWH: 'Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the people of the east.'

29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take; they shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry to them, 'Terror on every side.'

30 Flee, wander far off, dwell in the depths, you inhabitants of Hazor," says YHWH; "for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you."

31 "Arise, go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care, says YHWH; that have neither gates nor bars, that dwell alone.

32 Their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their livestock a spoil: and 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 YHWH.

33 "Hazor shall be a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man live in it."

34 The word of YHWH that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

35 "Thus says YHWH of hosts: 'Look, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

36 On Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

37 I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life; and I will bring evil on them, even my fierce anger,' says YHWH; 'and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them;

38 and I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and officials,' says YHWH.

39 'But it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam,' says YHWH."