Jeremiah 49:1–6

A Message to Ammon

49This message is to the Ammonite people.

This is what the Lord says:

“Do you think that Israel has no children?

Do you think there is no one to take the land when the parents die?

If that were true, why did Molech take Gad’s land

and why did Molech’s people settle in Gad’s towns?”

²The Lord says,

“The time will come when I will make Rabbah,

the capital city of the Ammonites, hear the battle cry.

It will become a hill covered with ruins,

and the towns around it will be burned.

Those people forced Israel out of that land,

but now Israel will force them out!” says the Lord.

³“People in the town of Heshbon, cry sadly because the town of Ai is destroyed!

Those who live in Rabbah, cry out!

Put on your rough cloth to show your sadness, and cry loudly.

Run here and there for safety inside the walls,

because Molech will be taken captive

and his priests and officers with him.

⁴You brag about your valleys

and about the fruit in your valleys.

You are like an unfaithful child

who believes his treasures will save him.

You think, ‘Who would attack me?’

⁵I will soon bring terror on you

from everyone around you,”

says the Lord God All-Powerful.

“You will all be forced to run away,

and no one will be able to gather you.

⁶“But the time will come

when I will make good things happen to the Ammonites again,”

says the Lord.