Jeremiah 49–50

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,ⁿ

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 Jordan against a strong sheepfold, I will suddenly make them^o run away from her; and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? ²⁰Therefore hear the plan which the Lord has made against Edom and the purposes which he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. ²¹At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. ²²Behold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle, and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her pangs.”

²³Concerning Damascus.

“Hamath and Arpad are confounded,

for they have heard evil tidings;

they melt in fear, they are troubled like the sea^p

which cannot be quiet.

²⁴Damascus has become feeble, she turned to flee,

and panic seized her;

anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,

as of a woman in travail.

²⁵How the famous city is forsaken,^q

the joyful city!

²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,

and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,

says the Lord of hosts.

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

and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.”

²⁸Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote.

Thus says the Lord:

“Rise up, advance against Kedar!

Destroy the people of the east!

²⁹Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,

their curtains and all their goods;

their camels shall be borne away from them,

and men shall cry to them: ‘Terror on every side!’

³⁰Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Hazor!

says the Lord.

For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon

has made a plan against you,

and formed a purpose against you.

³¹“Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,

that dwells securely,

says the Lord,

that has no gates or bars,

that dwells alone.

³²Their camels shall become booty,

their herds of cattle a spoil.

I will scatter to every wind

those who cut the corners of their hair,

and I will bring their calamity

from every side of them, says the Lord.

³³Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals,

an everlasting waste;

no man shall dwell there,

no man shall sojourn in her.”

³⁴The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

³⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might; ³⁶and I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; and I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of Elam shall not come. ³⁷I will terrify Elam before their enemies, and before those who seek their life; I will bring evil upon them, my fierce anger, says the Lord. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them; ³⁸and I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy their king and princes, says the Lord.

³⁹“But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, says the Lord.”

Chapter 50

¹The word which the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet:

²“Declare among the nations and proclaim,

set up a banner and proclaim,

conceal it not, and say:

‘Babylon is taken,

Bel is put to shame,

Merodach is dismayed.

Her images are put to shame,

her idols are dismayed.’

³“For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away.

⁴“In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come; and they shall seek the Lord their God. ⁵They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant which will never be forgotten.’

⁶“My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their fold. ⁷All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their true habitation, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’

⁸“Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as he-goats before the flock. ⁹For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a company of great nations, from the north country; and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed. ¹⁰Chaldea shall be plundered; all who plunder her shall be sated, says the Lord.

¹¹“Though you rejoice, though you exult,

O plunderers of my heritage,

though you are wanton as a heifer at grass,

and neigh like stallions,

¹²your mother shall be utterly shamed,

and she who bore you shall be disgraced.

Lo, she shall be the last of the nations,

a wilderness dry and desert.

¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited,

but shall be an utter desolation;

every one who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,

and hiss because of all her wounds.

¹⁴Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about,

all you that bend the bow;

shoot at her, spare no arrows,

for she has sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵Raise a shout against her round about,

she has surrendered;

her bulwarks have fallen,

her walls are thrown down.

For this is the vengeance of the Lord:

take vengeance on her,

do to her as she has done.

¹⁶Cut off from Babylon the sower,

and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;

because of the sword of the oppressor,

every one shall turn to his own people,

and every one shall flee to his own land.

¹⁷“Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. ¹⁸Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. ²⁰In those days and in that time, says the Lord, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none; and sin in Judah, and none shall be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

²¹“Go up against the land of Merathaim,^s

and against the inhabitants of Pekod.^t

Slay, and utterly destroy after them,

says the Lord,

and do all that I have commanded you.

²²The noise of battle is in the land,

and great destruction!

²³How the hammer of the whole earth

is cut down and broken!

How Babylon has become

a horror among the nations!

²⁴I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,

and you did not know it;

you were found and caught,

because you strove against the Lord.

²⁵The Lord has opened his armory, …