Jeremiah 49–50

49TH CHAPTER

A Prophecy against Ammon—Obadiah 1–5

¹This is what the Lord says about the people of Ammon: 

Doesn’t Israel have any children? Doesn’t it have any heirs? 

Why, then, has the god Milcom^ataken over the inheritance 

of Gad’s descendants? 

Why do Milcom’s people live in Gad’s cities? 

²That is why the days are coming, declares the Lord, 

when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah, 

where the people of Ammon live. 

It will become a pile of rubble. 

Its villages will be burned down. 

Then Israel will take possession of its inheritance, says the Lord. 

³Cry loudly, Heshbon, because Ai is destroyed. 

Cry, people of Rabbah, put on your sackcloth, and mourn. 

Run back and forth between the walls. 

Milcom will be taken away into captivity 

with its priests and officials. 

⁴Why do you brag about your valleys, 

your fertile valleys, you unfaithful people? 

You trust your treasures. 

You think, “Who would attack me?” 

⁵I am going to bring terror on you from all around, 

declares the Almighty Lord of Armies. 

Everyone will be scattered. 

No one will gather the refugees. 

⁶But afterward, I will return the captives of Ammon, declares the Lord. 

A Prophecy against Edom—Obadiah 1–5

⁷This is what the Lord of Armies says about Edom: 

Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman? 

Has wisdom disappeared from your people? 

Has their wisdom vanished? 

⁸Turn and run. 

Hide in deep caves, inhabitants of Dedan. 

When I punish them, 

I will bring disaster on the descendants of Esau. 

⁹If people come to pick your grapes, 

won’t they leave a few grapes behind? 

If thieves come during the night, 

won’t they steal only until they’ve had enough? 

¹⁰Yet, I will strip the descendants of Esau. 

I will find their hiding places. 

They won’t be able to hide. 

Their children and relatives will be destroyed. 

None of their neighbors will say, 

¹¹“Abandon your orphans, and I will keep them alive. 

Your widows can trust me.” 

¹²This is what the Lord says: If those who don’t deserve to drink from the cup still drink from it, why should you go unpunished? You won’t go unpunished. You must drink from it. ¹³I take an oath on myself, declares the Lord, that Bozrah will become a pile of rubble. It will become something horrifying, ridiculed, ruined, and cursed. All its cities will lie in ruins permanently. 

¹⁴I heard a message from the Lord. 

A messenger was sent among the nations to say, 

“Assemble, and attack Edom. 

Get ready for battle.” 

¹⁵“Edom, I will make you the smallest of nations 

and despised among humanity. 

¹⁶You have frightened other people. 

Your arrogance has deceived you. 

You live on rocky cliffs 

and occupy the highest places in the hills. 

Even though you build your nest as high as an eagle, 

I will bring you down from there,” declares the Lord. 

¹⁷“Then Edom will become something horrible. 

Everyone who passes by it will be horrified 

and hiss at all its wounds. 

¹⁸Edom will be like Sodom, Gomorrah, and their neighboring cities 

when they were destroyed. 

No one will live there. 

No human will stay there,” says the Lord. 

¹⁹“I will suddenly chase them from their places 

like a lion coming out of the jungle 

along the Jordan River into pastureland. 

I will appoint over Edom whomever I choose. 

Who is like me? Who can challenge me? 

Is there any leader who can stand up to me?” 

²⁰Listen to the plans that the Lord is making against Edom 

and the things he intends to do to those who live in Teman. 

He will surely drag away the little ones of the flock. 

He will surely destroy the pasture 

because of the people who live in Teman. 

²¹The earth will quake at the sound of their downfall. 

The sound of their crying will be heard at the Red Sea. 

²²The enemy will swoop down like eagles 

and spread their wings over Bozrah. 

On that day Edom’s soldiers will be like women in childbirth. 

A Prophecy against Damascus

²³This is a message about Damascus. 

“Hamath and Arpad are worried because they heard the bad news. 

They melt in fear. 

They are troubled like a sea that can’t be calmed. 

²⁴The people of Damascus are weak. 

They turn to flee, but panic grips them. 

Anguish and pain grip them like a woman in labor. 

²⁵Why isn’t that famous, happy city abandoned? 

²⁶That is why its young men will die in the streets, 

and its soldiers will be silenced that day,” 

declares the Lord of Armies. 

²⁷“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus 

and burn down Benhadad’s palaces.” 

A Prophecy against Kedar and Hazor

²⁸This is about the tribe of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated. This is what the Lord says: 

Get ready, attack Kedar, 

and loot the people from the east. 

²⁹Their tents and their flocks will be taken. 

Their tent curtains, utensils, and camels will be carried away. 

People will shout to them, “Terror is all around!” 

³⁰Run far away! Find a place to hide, 

inhabitants of Hazor, declares the Lord. 

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has made plans against you 

and intends to attack you. 

³¹Get ready! Attack the nation living peacefully and securely, 

declares the Lord. 

It is a nation with no gates or bars. 

Its people live alone. 

³²Their camels will be taken as prizes. 

Their large herds will be taken as loot. 

I will scatter to the winds 

those who shave the hair on their foreheads. 

I will bring disaster on them from every side, 

declares the Lord. 

³³Hazor will be a place where only jackals live. 

It will become a permanent wasteland. 

No one will live there. 

No human will stay there. 

A Prophecy against Elam

³⁴Early in the rule of King Zedekiah of Judah, the Lord spoke his word to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam. 

³⁵This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

I’m going to break the bows of Elam’s archers, 

the most important weapon of their strength. 

³⁶I’ll bring the four winds 

from the four corners of heaven against Elam 

and scatter its people in every direction. 

There won’t be a nation 

where Elam’s refugees won’t go. 

³⁷I’ll defeat the people of Elam in the presence of their enemies, 

in the presence of those who want to kill them. 

I’ll bring disaster with my burning anger, declares the Lord. 

I’ll send armies after them until I put an end to them. 

³⁸I’ll set my throne in Elam and destroy its king and officials, 

declares the Lord. 

³⁹But afterward, I’ll return the captives of Elam, declares the Lord. 

50TH CHAPTER

A Prophecy against Babylon

¹This is the message that the Lord spoke about Babylon and the land of the Babylonians through the prophet Jeremiah. 

²“Announce this among the nations, and spread the news. 

Raise a flag, and announce it. 

Don’t hide anything. 

Say, ‘Babylon will be captured. 

Bel will be put to shame. 

Marduk will be filled with terror. 

Babylon’s statues will be put to shame. 

Its idols will be filled with terror.’ 

³A nation from the north will attack Babylon 

and destroy its land so that no one will live in it. 

People and animals will run away. 

⁴“In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, 

“the people of Israel and Judah will cry as they go together 

to seek the Lord their God. 

⁵They will ask which road goes to Zion and turn in that direction. 

They will go there to make a permanent agreement with the Lord. 

It will not be forgotten. 

⁶My people have been lost sheep. 

Their shepherds have led them astray. 

They wander around on the mountains. 

They go from mountains to hills. 

They have forgotten their resting place. 

⁷Everyone who finds them eats them. 

Their enemies say, ‘We’re not guilty. 

They have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture. 

They have sinned against the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.’ 

⁸“Run away from Babylon. 

Leave the land of the Babylonians. 

Be like the male goats that lead the flock. 

⁹I am going to stir up an alliance of strong nations from the north 

and bring it against Babylon. 

Those nations will take up positions against Babylon. 

Babylon will be captured from the north. 

Its enemy’s arrows will be like skilled soldiers 

who don’t come back empty-handed. 

¹⁰The Babylonians will become the prize. 

All who loot them will get everything they want,” 

declares the Lord. 

¹¹“You are happy and excited. 

You have looted the people who belong to me. 

You dance around like calves on the grass 

and neigh like stallions. 

¹²But your mother will be greatly ashamed. 

The woman who gave birth to you will be disgraced. 

Babylon, you will be the least important nation. 

You will become a parched desert. 

¹³No one will live in Babylon because of the Lord’s anger. 

It will be completely abandoned. 

Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified 

and hiss at all its wounds. 

¹⁴“Take up your positions around Babylon, all you archers with bows. 

Shoot at it; don’t save any arrows, 

because the people of Babylon have sinned against the Lord. 

¹⁵Shout a war cry against them on every side. 

They’ll surrender. 

Their towers will fall and their walls will be torn down. 

Since this is the Lord’s vengeance, take revenge against them. 

Do to them what they did to others. 

¹⁶Don’t allow anyone in Babylon to plant or harvest. 

Everyone will turn to his own people and flee to his own homeland 

because of the enemies’ swords. 

¹⁷“The people of Israel are like scattered sheep that lions have chased. 

The first to devour them was the king of Assyria. 

The last to gnaw at their bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. 

¹⁸“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: 

I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land 

as I punished the king of Assyria. 

¹⁹I will bring the people of Israel back to their pastures. 

They will eat on Mount Carmel and Mount Bashan. 

They will eat until they are full 

on the mountains of Ephraim and Gilead. 

²⁰In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, 

“people will look for Israel’s crimes, but they will find none. 

They will look for Judah’s sins, but none will be found. 

I will forgive the faithful few whom I have spared. 

²¹Attack the land of Merathaim 

and the people who live in Pekod. 

Claim them for me by killing them with a sword,” 

declares the Lord. 

“Do everything I commanded you. 

²²The noise of battle and great destruction fills the land. 

²³The…