Jeremiah 49–50

Chapter 49

Prophecy against Ammon

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

“Does Israel have no sons?

Or has he no heirs?

Why then has ¹Malcam taken possession of Gad

And his people settled in its cities?

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

“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 the Lord.

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 ^bbacksliding daughter

Who trusts in her ^ctreasures, saying,

‘^dWho will come against me?’

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

Declares the Lord ¹God of hosts,

“From all directions around you;

And each of you will be ^bdriven out ²headlong,

With no one to gather the ^cfugitives together.

⁶“But afterward I will ^arestore

The ¹fortunes of the sons of Ammon,”

Declares the Lord.

Prophecy against Edom

⁷Concerning ^aEdom.

Thus says the Lord of hosts,

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

Has good counsel been lost to the prudent?

Has their wisdom decayed?

⁸“Flee away, turn back, dwell in 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 leave gleanings?

If thieves came by night,

They would destroy 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 ¹offspring has been destroyed along with his ²relatives

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 the Lord, “Behold, those ¹who were not sentenced to drink the ^acup will certainly drink it, and are you the one who will be ^bcompletely acquitted? You will not be acquitted, but you will certainly drink it.

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

¹⁴I have ^aheard a message from the Lord,

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 live in the clefts of ¹the ^arock,

Who occupy the height of the hill.

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

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

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

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

¹⁹“^aBehold, one will come up like a lion from the ^1bthickets of the Jordan against ²a perennially watered 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 summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd ^ewho can stand against Me?”

²⁰Therefore hear the ^aplan of the Lord which He has planned 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 ¹pasture ^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.

Prophecy against Damascus

²³Concerning ^aDamascus.

“^bHamath and ^cArpad are put to shame,

For they have heard bad news;

They are ^ddisheartened.

There is anxiety by the sea,

It ^ecannot be calmed.

²⁴“Damascus has become helpless;

She has turned away to flee,

And panic has gripped her;

^aDistress and pangs have taken hold of her

Like a woman in childbirth.

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

The town of My joy!

²⁶“Therefore, her ^ayoung men will fall in her streets,

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

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

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

Prophecy against Kedar and Hazor

²⁸Concerning ^aKedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. Thus says the Lord,

“Arise, go up to Kedar

And devastate 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! Dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Hazor,” declares the Lord;

“For ^aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has formed a plan against you

And devised a scheme against you.

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

Which lives securely,” declares the Lord.

“It has ^bno gates or bars;

They ^cdwell alone.

³²“Their camels will become plunder,

And their many cattle for booty,

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

And I will bring their disaster from every side,” declares the Lord.

³³“Hazor will become a ^ahaunt of jackals,

A desolation forever;

No one will live there,

Nor will a son of man reside in it.”

Prophecy against Elam

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

³⁵“Thus says the Lord 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 will ^bscatter them to all these winds;

And there will be no nation

To which the outcasts 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 ^bfierce anger,’ declares the Lord,

‘And I will ^csend out the sword after them

Until I have consumed them.

³⁸‘Then I will set My throne in Elam

And destroy ¹out of it king and princes,’

Declares the Lord.

³⁹‘But it will come about in the last days

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

Declares the Lord.

Chapter 50

Prophecy against Babylon

¹The word which the Lord spoke concerning ^aBabylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:

²“^aDeclare and proclaim among the nations.

Proclaim it 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 the Lord, “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 ^cthe Lord their God they will seek.

⁵“They will ^aask for the way to Zion, turning their faces ¹in its direction; ²they ³will come that they may join themselves to the Lord 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 aside on the ^cmountains;

They have gone along from mountain to hill

And have forgotten their ^dresting place.

⁷“All who came upon them have devoured them;

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

Inasmuch as they have sinned against the Lord who is the ^bhabitation of righteousness,

Even the Lord, 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

A horde of great nations from the land of the north,

And they will draw up their battle lines against her;

From there she will be taken captive.

Their arrows will be like ¹an expert warrior

Who does not return empty-handed.

¹⁰“^1aChaldea will become plunder;

All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the Lord.

¹¹“Because you are glad, because you are jubilant,

O you who ^apillage My heritage,

Because you skip about ¹like a threshing ^bheifer

And neigh like ²stallions,

¹²Your ^amother ¹will be greatly ashamed,

She who gave you birth will be humiliated.

Behold, she will be the least of the nations,

A ^bwilderness, a parched land and a desert.

¹³“Because of the indignation of the Lord she will ^anot be inhabited,

But she will be ^bcompletely desolate;

Everyone who passes by Babylon ^cwill be horrified

And will hiss because of all her wounds.

¹⁴“Draw up 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 the Lord.

¹⁵“Raise your battle cry against her on every side!

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

Her ^bwalls have been torn down.

For this is the ^cvengeance of the Lord:

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 wields 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 driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the ^cking of Assyria,…