Jeremiah 47–51

Chapter 47

¹The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gaza.

²“Thus says the Lord:

Behold, waters are rising out of the north,

and shall become an overflowing torrent;

they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,

the city and those who dwell in it.

Men shall cry out,

and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.

³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,

at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,

the fathers look not back to their children,

so feeble are their hands,

⁴because of the day that is coming to destroy

all the Philistines,

to cut off from Tyre and Sidon

every helper that remains.

For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,

the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.

⁵Baldness has come upon Gaza,

Ashkelon has perished.

O remnant of the Anakim,

how long will you gash yourselves?

⁶Ah, sword of the Lord!

How long till you are quiet?

Put yourself into your scabbard,

rest and be still!

⁷How can it be quiet,

when the Lord has given it a charge?

Against Ashkelon and against the seashore

he has appointed it.”

Chapter 48

¹Concerning Moab. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste!

Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;

the fortress is put to shame and broken down;

²the renown of Moab is no more.

In Heshbon they planned evil against her:

‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’

You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;

the sword shall pursue you.

³“Hark! a cry from Horonaim,

‘Desolation and great destruction!’

⁴Moab is destroyed;

a cry is heard as far as Zoar.

⁵For at the ascent of Luhith

they go up weeping;

for at the descent of Horonaim

they have heard the cry of destruction.

⁶Flee! Save yourselves!

Be like a wild ass in the desert!

⁷For, because you trusted in your strongholds and your treasures,

you also shall be taken;

and Chemosh shall go forth into exile,

with his priests and his princes.

⁸The destroyer shall come upon every city,

and no city shall escape;

the valley shall perish,

and the plain shall be destroyed,

as the Lord has spoken.

⁹“Give wings to Moab,

for she would fly away;

her cities shall become a desolation,

with no inhabitant in them.

¹⁰“Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

¹¹“Moab has been at ease from his youth

and has settled on his lees;

he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,

nor has he gone into exile;

so his taste remains in him,

and his scent is not changed.

¹²“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall send to him tilters who will tilt him, and empty his vessels, and break his jars in pieces. ¹³Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴“How do you say, ‘We are heroes

and mighty men of war’?

¹⁵The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,

and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,

says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near at hand

and his affliction hastens apace.

¹⁷Bemoan him, all you who are round about him,

and all who know his name;

say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken,

the glorious staff.’

¹⁸“Come down from your glory,

and sit on the parched ground,

O inhabitant of Dibon!

For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;

he has destroyed your strongholds.

¹⁹Stand by the way and watch,

O inhabitant of Aroer!

Ask him who flees and her who escapes;

say, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;

wail and cry!

Tell it by the Arnon,

that Moab is laid waste.

²¹“Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mepha-ath, ²²and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, ²³and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, ²⁴and Keri-oth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. ²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord.

²⁶“Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the Lord; so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. ²⁷Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

²⁸“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,

O inhabitants of Moab!

Be like the dove that nests

in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.

²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab—

he is very proud—

of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,

and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰I know his insolence, says the Lord;

his boasts are false,

his deeds are false.

³¹Therefore I wail for Moab;

I cry out for all Moab;

for the men of Kir-heres I mourn.

³²More than for Jazer I weep for you,

O vine of Sibmah!

Your branches passed over the sea,

reached as far as Jazer;

upon your summer fruits and your vintage

the destroyer has fallen.

³³Gladness and joy have been taken away

from the fruitful land of Moab;

I have made the wine cease from the wine presses;

no one treads them with shouts of joy;

the shouting is not the shout of joy.

³⁴“Heshbon and Ele-aleh cry out; as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. ³⁵And I will bring to an end in Moab, says the Lord, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and burns incense to his god. ³⁶Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-heres; therefore the riches they gained have perished.

³⁷“For every head is shaved and every beard cut off; upon all the hands are gashes, and on the loins is sackcloth. ³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation; for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, says the Lord. ³⁹How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are round about him.”

⁴⁰For thus says the Lord:

“Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle,

and spread his wings against Moab;

⁴¹the cities shall be taken

and the strongholds seized.

The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day

like the heart of a woman in her pangs;

⁴²Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people,

because he magnified himself against the Lord.

⁴³Terror, pit, and snare

are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!

says the Lord.

⁴⁴He who flees from the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For I will bring these things upon Moab

in the year of their punishment,

says the Lord.

⁴⁵“In the shadow of Heshbon

fugitives stop without strength;

for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon,

a flame from the house of Sihon;

it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,

the crown of the sons of tumult.

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab!

The people of Chemosh is undone;

for your sons have been taken captive,

and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab

in the latter days, says the Lord.”

Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

Chapter 49

¹Concerning the Ammonites.

Thus says the Lord:

“Has Israel no sons?

Has he no heir?

Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad,

and his people settled in its cities?

²Therefore, behold, the days are coming,

says the Lord,

when I will cause the battle cry to be heard

against Rabbah of the Ammonites;

it shall become a desolate mound,

and its villages shall be burned with fire;

then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,

says the Lord.

³“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!

Cry, O daughters of Rabbah!

Gird yourselves with sackcloth,

lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!

For Milcom shall go into exile,

with his priests and his princes.

⁴Why do you boast of your valleys,

O faithless daughter,

who trusted in her treasures, saying,

‘Who will come against me?’

⁵Behold, I will bring terror upon you,

says the Lord GOD of hosts,

from all who are round about you,

and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,

with none to gather the fugitives.

⁶But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, says the Lord.”

⁷Concerning Edom.

Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Is wisdom no more in Teman?

Has counsel perished from the prudent?

Has their wisdom vanished?

⁸Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Dedan!

For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,

the time when I punish him.

⁹If grape-gatherers came to you,

would they not leave gleanings?

If thieves came by night,

would they not destroy only enough for themselves?

¹⁰But I have stripped Esau bare,

I have uncovered his hiding places,

and he is not able to conceal himself.

His children are destroyed, and his brothers,

and his neighbors; and he is no more.

¹¹Leave your fatherless children, I will keep them alive;

and let your widows trust in me.”

¹²For thus says the Lord: “If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink. ¹³For I have sworn by myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse; and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.”

¹⁴I have heard tidings from the Lord,

and a messenger has been sent among the nations:

“Gather yourselves together and come against her,

and rise up for battle!”

¹⁵For behold, I will make you small among the nations,

despised among men.

¹⁶The horror you inspire has deceived you,

and the pride of your heart,

you who live in the clefts of the rock,

who hold the height of the hill.

Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,

I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.

¹⁷“Edom shall become a horror; every one who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. ¹⁸As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbor cities were overthrown, says the Lord, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. ¹⁹Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the…