Jeremiah 49–50

CHAPTER 49

Word Against Ammon

¹Concerning the sons of ^aAmmon. Thus says Yahweh:

“Does Israel have no sons?

Or has he no one who can take possession?

Why then has ¹Malcam taken possession of Gad

And his people settled in its cities?

²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh,

“That I will cause a ^1atrumpet blast of war to be heard

Against ^bRabbah of the sons of Ammon;

And it will become a desolate heap,

And her ^ctowns will be set on fire.

Then Israel will take ^dpossession of his possessors,”

Says Yahweh.

³“Wail, O ^aHeshbon, for ^bAi has been destroyed!

Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah,

^cGird yourselves with sackcloth and lament,

And rush back and forth inside the walls;

For ¹Malcam will ^dgo into exile

Together with his priests and his princes.

⁴“How ^aboastful you are about the valleys!

Your valley is flowing away,

O ^bfaithless daughter

Who trusts in her ^ctreasures, saying,

‘^dWho will come against me?’

⁵“Behold, I am going to bring ^adread upon you,”

Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts,

“From all around you;

And each of you will be ^bbanished ¹headlong,

With no one to gather the ^cone who flees.

⁶“But afterward I will ^1areturn

The ²fortunes of the sons of Ammon,”

Declares Yahweh.

Word Against Edom

⁷Concerning ^aEdom.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Is there no longer any ^bwisdom in ^cTeman?

Has counsel been lost to the understanding?

Has their wisdom decayed?

⁸“Flee away, turn back, inhabit the depths,

O inhabitants of ^aDedan,

For I ¹will bring the ^bdisaster of Esau upon him

At the time I ²punish him.

⁹“^aIf grape gatherers came to you,

Would they not have gleanings remain?

If thieves came by night,

They would ruin only ¹until they had enough.

¹⁰“But I have ^astripped Esau bare;

I have uncovered his hiding places,

So that he will not be able to conceal himself;

His seed has been destroyed along with his ¹relatives

And his neighbors, and ^bhe is no more.

¹¹“Leave your ^1aorphans behind, I will keep them alive;

And let your ^bwidows trust in Me.”

¹²For thus says Yahweh, “Behold, those who are not under judgment to drink the ^acup will certainly drink it, but are you the one who will go ^bcompletely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but you will certainly drink it.

¹³“For I have ^asworn by Myself,” declares Yahweh, “that ^bBozrah will become an ^cobject of horror, a reproach, a ruin, and an imprecation; and all its cities will become perpetual ¹ruins.”

¹⁴I have ^aheard a message from Yahweh,

And an ^benvoy is sent among the nations, saying,

“^cGather yourselves together and come against her,

And rise up for battle!”

¹⁵“For behold, I have made you small among the nations,

Despised among men.

¹⁶“As for the terror of you,

The arrogance of your heart has deceived you,

O you who dwell in the clefts of ¹the ^arock,

Who seize the height of the hill.

Though you make your nest as ^bhigh as an eagle’s,

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

¹⁷“Edom will become ¹an ^aobject of horror; everyone who passes by it will ²be horrified and will ^bhiss at all its wounds.

¹⁸“Like the ^aoverthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with its neighbors,” says Yahweh, “^bno one will live there, nor will a son of man sojourn in it.

¹⁹“^aBehold, one will come up like a lion from the ^1bthickets of the Jordan against an enduring pasture; for in an instant I will make him run away from it, and whoever is ^cchosen I shall appoint over it. For who is ^dlike Me, and who will ^dsummon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd ^ewho can stand against Me?”

²⁰Therefore hear the ^acounsel of Yahweh which He has counseled against Edom, and His purposes which He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their pasture ^bdesolate because of them.

²¹The ^aearth has quaked at the noise of their downfall. There is an outcry! The noise of it has been heard at the ¹Red Sea.

²²Behold, ¹He will mount up and ^aswoop like an eagle and spread out His wings ²against Bozrah; and the ^bhearts of the mighty men of Edom in that day will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Word Against Damascus

²³Concerning ^aDamascus.

“^bHamath and ^cArpad are put to shame,

For they have heard a bad report;

They are ^dmelting away.

There is anxiety by the sea,

It ^ecannot be quieted.

²⁴“Damascus has become limp in their hands;

She has turned away to flee,

And panic has taken hold of her;

^aDistress and pangs have seized her

Like a woman in childbirth.

²⁵“How ¹the ^acity of praise has not been forsaken,

The town of My joy!

²⁶“Therefore, her ^ayoung men will fall in her open squares,

And all the men of war will be ¹silenced in that day,” declares Yahweh of hosts.

²⁷“I will ^aset fire to the wall of Damascus,

And it will devour the ¹fortified towers of ^bBen-hadad.”

Word Against Kedar and Hazor

²⁸Concerning ^aKedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down. Thus says Yahweh,

“Arise, go up to Kedar

And destroy the ^1bmen of the east.

²⁹“They will take away their tents and their flocks;

They will carry off for themselves

Their tent ^acurtains, all their goods, and their ^bcamels,

And they will call out to one another, ‘^cTerror on every side!’

³⁰“Run away, flee earnestly! Inhabit the depths,

O inhabitants of Hazor,” declares Yahweh;

“For ^aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you

And purposed a purpose against you.

³¹“Arise, go up against a nation which is ^aat ease,

Which inhabits its land securely,” declares Yahweh.

“It has ^bno gates or bars;

They ^cdwell alone.

³²“Their camels will become plunder,

And their many cattle for spoil,

And I will ^ascatter to all the winds those who ^bcut the corners of their hair;

And I will bring their ¹disaster from every side,” declares Yahweh.

³³“Hazor will become a ^ahaunt of jackals,

A desolation forever;

No one will inhabit there,

Nor will a son of man sojourn in it.”

Word Against Elam

³⁴That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet concerning ^aElam, ^bin the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:

³⁵“Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

‘Behold, I am going to ^abreak the bow of Elam,

The ¹finest of their might.

³⁶‘I will bring upon Elam the ^afour winds

From the four ends of heaven,

And I will ^bscatter them to all these winds;

And there will be no nation

To which the banished ones of Elam will not go.

³⁷‘So I will ¹shatter Elam before their enemies

And before those who seek their lives;

And I will ^abring calamity upon them,

Even My ^bburning anger,’ declares Yahweh,

‘And I will ^csend out the sword after them

Until I have consumed them.

³⁸‘Then I will set My throne in Elam

And cause king and princes from there to perish,’

Declares Yahweh.

³⁹‘But it will be in the last days

That I will ^1areturn the ²fortunes of Elam,’”

Declares Yahweh.

CHAPTER 50

Word Against Babylon

¹The word which Yahweh spoke concerning ^aBabylon, the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:

²“^aDeclare and make it heard among the nations.

Make it heard and ^blift up a standard.

Do not conceal it but say,

‘^cBabylon has been captured;

^dBel has been put to shame; ¹Marduk has been ²shattered;

Her ^eimages have been put to shame; her idols have been shattered.’

³“For a nation has come up against her out of the ^anorth; it will make her land ^ban object of horror, and there will be ^cno inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off; they have gone away!

⁴“In those days and at that time,” declares Yahweh, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah ^aas well; they will go along ^bweeping as they go, and it will be ^cYahweh their God they will seek.

⁵“They will ^aask for the way to Zion—turning their faces ¹in its direction and saying, ‘²Come!’—in order that they may join themselves to Yahweh in an ^beverlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

⁶“My people have become ^alost sheep;

^bTheir shepherds have led them astray.

They have made them turn away on the ^cmountains;

They have gone along from mountain to hill

And have forgotten their ^dresting place.

⁷“All who came out against them have devoured them;

And their adversaries have said, ‘^aWe are not guilty,

Inasmuch as they have sinned against Yahweh, who is the ^babode of righteousness,

Even Yahweh, the ^chope of their fathers.’

⁸“Wander away from the ^amidst of Babylon

And ¹go forth from the land of the Chaldeans;

Be also like male goats ²at the head of the flock.

⁹“For behold, I am going to ^aarouse and bring up against Babylon

An assembly of great nations from the land of the north,

And they will arrange their battle lines against her;

From there she will be taken captive.

Their arrows will be like ¹a warrior who makes one childless

Who does not return empty-handed.

¹⁰“^1aChaldea will become spoil;

All who take her spoil will have enough,” declares Yahweh.

¹¹“Because you are glad, because you exult,

O you who ^aplunder My inheritance,

Because you skip about ¹like a threshing ^bheifer

And neigh like ²valiant steeds,

¹²Your ^amother ¹will be greatly ashamed;

She who gave you birth ²will be humiliated.

Behold, she will be the least of the nations,

A ^bwilderness, a parched land, and a desert.

¹³“Because of the wrath of Yahweh she will ^anot be inhabited,

But she will be ^bcompletely desolate;

Everyone who passes by Babylon ^cwill be in desolation

And will hiss because of all her wounds.

¹⁴“Arrange your battle lines against Babylon on every side,

All you who ¹bend the bow;

Shoot at her, do not be sparing with your arrows,

For she has ^asinned against Yahweh.

¹⁵“Raise a loud shout against her on every side!

She has ^agiven ¹herself up, her pillars have fallen,

Her ^bwalls have been pulled down.

For this is the ^cvengeance of Yahweh:

Take vengeance on her;

^dAs she has done to others, so do to her.

¹⁶“Cut off the ^asower from Babylon

And the one who seizes the sickle at the time of harvest;

From before ¹the ^bsword of the oppressor

^cThey will each turn back to his own people,

And they will each flee to his own land.

¹⁷“Israel is a ^ascattered ¹flock; the ^blions have banished them away. The first one who devoured…