Jeremiah 49–50

A Message Concerning Ammon

49Concerning the Ammonites:^a Thus says Yahweh,

“Are there no sons for Israel?

Or is there no heir for him?

Why has Milcom taken possession of Gad,

and his people dwelled in its towns?

²Therefore^b look, days are coming,” declares^c Yahweh,

“and I will sound against Rabbah, the Ammonites,^d

the alarm of the war,

and it will become as a mound of desolation,

and its daughters will burn in the fire.

Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors,” says Yahweh.

³“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated.

Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth.

Lament and run back and forth among the walls.

For Milcom will go into exile,

his priests and his officials together.

⁴Why do you boast in your valleys?

Your valleys^e are ebbing.

O unfaithful daughter, who trusted in her treasures,

who said, ‘Who will come against me?’

⁵Look, I am going to bring dread on you,”

declares^f Lord Yahweh of hosts,

“from all your surrounding neighbors.

And you will be scattered,

each one before it,^g

and there is no one who gathers the fugitives.^h

⁶Yet afterwardⁱ I will restore

the fortunes^j of the Ammonites,”^k declares^l Yahweh.

A Message Concerning Edom

⁷Concerning Edom, thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?

Has counsel become lost from those who understand?

Is their wisdom rotting?

⁸Flee! Turn back! Get down low!^m

O inhabitants of Dedan.

For I will bring upon him the disaster of Esau

at the time when I will punish him.

⁹If grape-gatherers come to you,

would they not leave gleanings?

If thieves in the night,

they destroy only enough for them.ⁿ

¹⁰But I have stripped Esau bare.

I have uncovered his hiding places,

and he is not able to hide himself.

His offspring are devastated, along with^o his brothers,

and his neighbors, and he is no more.^p

¹¹Leave your orphans. I will let them^q live.

And your widows, let them trust in me.”

¹²For thus says Yahweh, “Look, those who are not condemned^r to drink the cup must certainly drink it.^s And are you the one who will go entirely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must certainly drink it.^{t 13}For I have sworn by myself,” declares^u Yahweh, “that Bozrah will become as a horror, as a disgrace, as a waste, and as a curse. And all her towns will be everlasting sites of ruins.”^v

¹⁴I have heard a message from Yahweh,

and a messenger has been sent among the nations.

“Gather and come against her,

and rise for the battle.”

¹⁵“For look, I will make you small among the nations,

despised by the humankind.

¹⁶Your terror has deceived you,

the pride of your heart,

O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock,

you who seize the height of the hill.

Though you make your nest high like the eagle,

from there I will bring you down,” declares^w Yahweh.

¹⁷“And Edom will become as a horror,

everyone who passes by it^x will be appalled,

and will hiss because of all its blows.

¹⁸As the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah

and their neighbors,” says Yahweh,

“no one^y will live there,

and the son of humankind will not dwell as an alien in it.

¹⁹Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets of the Jordan

to a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream.^z

So I will chase him away hurriedly^a from it.

And whoever is chosen I will appoint over it.

For who is like me, and who can summon me?

And who is this, the shepherd who can stand before me?”^b

²⁰Therefore^c hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Edom,

and his plans that he has planned against the inhabitants of Teman.

Surely^d they will drag them away,

the little ones of the flock.

Surely^e he will cause to be desolated over them

their grazing place.

²¹The earth will quake from the sound of their falling.

A cry of distress! Their voice will be heard at the Red Sea.^f

²²Look, like an eagle he will go up and he will swoop down,

and he will spread out his wings against Bozrah.

And the heart of the warriors of Edom will be in that day

like the heart of a woman who is in labor.

A Message Concerning Damascus

²³Concerning Damascus:

“Hamath and Arpad are ashamed,

for they have heard bad news;

they melt.

There is concern in the sea.

It is not able to keep quiet.

²⁴Damascus has grown slack.

She has turned away to flee and panic.

Anxiety has seized her,

and labor pains have grasped her,

like a woman in labor.

²⁵How the city of praise has not been abandoned!

The city of my joy!

²⁶Therefore^g her young men will fall in her public squares,

and all the soldiers^h will perish in that day,” declaresⁱ Yahweh of hosts.

²⁷“And I will kindle a fire at the wall of Damascus,

and it will devour the citadel fortresses of Ben-hadad.”

A Message Concerning Kedar and the Kingdoms of Hazor

²⁸Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon defeated. Thus says Yahweh:

“Rise up, go up against Kedar

and destroy the people^j of the east.

²⁹They will take their tents, and their flocks,

their tent curtains, and all their equipment,

and their camels they will carry away for themselves,

and they will call to them, ‘Terror is from all around.’

³⁰Flee! Wander far away! Get down low!^k

O inhabitants of Hazor,” declares^l Yahweh.

“For Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has planned a plan against you.

And he has schemed^m a schemeⁿ against you.

³¹Rise up, go up against a nation which is at ease,

living securely,”^o declares^p Yahweh.

“There are no gates and there are no bars^q for them,

they dwell alone.

³²And their camels will become as plunder,

and the multitude of their livestock as spoil.

And I will scatter to every wind those who are trimmed to the side,

and from every side^r I will bring their disaster,” declares^s Yahweh.

³³“And Hazor will become as a lair of jackals,

a waste forever;

no one will live there,

and no son of humankind will dwell as an alien in it.”

A Message Concerning Elam

³⁴The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the king of Judah, saying,^{t 35}“Thus says Yahweh of hosts:

‘Look, I am going to break the bow of Elam,

the first and best of their might.

³⁶And I will bring to Elam four winds,

from the four corners of heaven,

and I will scatter them to all these winds,

and there will not be a nation

where the scattered people of Elam will not go.

³⁷So I will shatter Elam before^u their enemies,

and before^v the seekers of their life.

And I will bring disaster upon them,

my burning anger,^w’ declares^x Yahweh.

‘And I will send after them the sword

until I have destroyed them.

³⁸And I will set my throne in Elam

and I will destroy from there king and officials,’ declares^y Yahweh.

³⁹‘And then^z in the last of the days

I will restore the fortunes^a of Elam,’ declares^b Yahweh.”

A Message Concerning Babylon

50The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:

²“Declare among the nations and proclaim,

and lift up a banner.

Proclaim, you must not conceal it.

Say, ‘Babylon is captured,

Bel is ashamed,

Merodach is filled with terror,

her idols are ashamed,

her idols are filled with terror.

³For a nation will come up against her from the north.

It will make her land as a horror,

and an inhabitant will not be in her.

From humans^a to animals^b they all will wander off.

They will go away.

⁴In those days and in that time,’ ” declares^c Yahweh,

“the people^d of Israel will come,

they and the people^e of Judah together.

Weeping as they go,^f they will go,

and Yahweh their God they will seek.

⁵They will ask the way to Zion,

turning their faces there.

They will come and join themselves to Yahweh

by an everlasting covenant^g that will not be forgotten.

⁶My people have become lost sheep,

their shepherds have caused them to go astray.

They led them away to the mountains.

From mountain to hill they have gone,

they have forgotten their resting place.

⁷All those who found them have devoured them.

And their foes have said, ‘We are not guilty,

because^h they have sinned against Yahweh, the true pasture,ⁱ

even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.’^j

⁸Flee from the midst of Babylon,

and from the land of the Chaldeans.

Go out and be like he-goats

before^k the flock.

⁹For look, I am going to stir up,

and I am going to bring against Babylon

a contingent of great nations

from the land of the north.

And they will draw up a battle formation against her,

from there she will be captured.

Their arrows are like a warrior who has achieved success,

he does not return without success.

¹⁰And Chaldea will be as booty,

all those who plunder her will be satisfied,” declares^l Yahweh.

¹¹“Though you rejoice, though you exult,

O plunderers of my inheritance,

though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass,

and you neigh like the powerful stallions,

¹²your mother will be very ashamed.

She who gave birth to you will be humiliated.^m

Look, she will be the least of the nations,

a desert,ⁿ dry land, and wilderness.^o

¹³Because of the anger of Yahweh she will not be inhabited,

but she will be a wasteland, all of her.

Everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled

and will hiss because of all her wounds.

¹⁴Draw up a battle formation at Babylon all around,

all those who bend the bow, shoot at her.

You must not spare arrows,^p

for she has sinned against Yahweh.

¹⁵Raise a war cry against her on all sides.

She has surrendered.^q

Her towers have fallen,

her walls are ruined.

For this is the vengeance of Yahweh.

Take revenge on her.

As she has done to others,

so do to her.

¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon,

and the one who uses the sickle in the time of harvest.

Because of^r the sword of the oppressor

each one will turn to their people,

and each one will flee to their land.

¹⁷Israel is a sheep scattered,

lions drove them away.

The first who devoured it was the king of Assyria,

and now at the end Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, gnawed its bones.”

¹⁸Therefore^s thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,

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

just as I punished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹And…