Jeremiah 49–50

¹Concerning the sons of Ammon: ‘Thus said Jehovah: Sons—hath Israel none? heir—hath he none? Wherefore hath Malcam possessed Gad? And his people in its cities have dwelt? ²Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have sounded unto Rabbah of the sons of Ammon a shout of battle, And it hath been for a heap—a desolation, And her daughters with fire are burnt, And Israel hath succeeded its heirs, Said hath Jehovah. ³Howl, Heshbon, for spoiled is Ai, Cry, daughters of Rabbah, gird on sackcloth, Lament, and go to and fro by the hedges, For Malcam into captivity doth go, His priests and his princes together. ⁴What—dost thou boast thyself in valleys? Flowed hath thy valley, O backsliding daughter, Who is trusting in her treasures: Who doth come in unto me? ⁵Lo, I am bringing in upon thee a fear, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, From all round about thee, And ye have been driven out each before it, And there is no gatherer of the wandering. ⁶And after this I turn back the captivity of the sons of Ammon, An affirmation of Jehovah.’

⁷Concerning Edom: ‘Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Perished hath counsel from the intelligent? Vanished hath their wisdom? ⁸Flee, turn, go deep to dwell, ye inhabitants of Dedan, For the calamity of Esau I brought in upon him, The time I inspected him. ⁹If gatherers have come in to thee, They do not leave gleanings, If thieves in the night, They have destroyed their sufficiency! ¹⁰For I—I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, And to be hidden he is not able, Spoiled is his seed, and his brethren, And his neighbours, and he is not. ¹¹Leave thine orphans—I do keep alive, And thy widows—on Me trust ye, ¹²For thus said Jehovah: They whose judgment is not to drink of the cup, Do certainly drink, And thou art he that is entirely acquitted! Thou art not acquitted, for thou certainly drinkest. ¹³For, by Myself, I have sworn, An affirmation of Jehovah, That for a desolation, for a reproach, For a waste, and for a reviling—is Bozrah, And all her cities are for wastes age-during. ¹⁴A report I have heard from Jehovah, And an ambassador among nations is sent, Gather yourselves and come in against her, And rise ye for battle. ¹⁵For, lo, little I have made thee among nations, Despised among men. ¹⁶Thy terribleness hath lifted thee up, The pride of thy heart, O dweller in clefts of the rock, Holding the high place of the height, For thou makest high as an eagle thy nest, From thence I bring thee down, An affirmation of Jehovah. ¹⁷And Edom hath been for a desolation, Every passer by her is astonished, And doth hiss because of all her plagues. ¹⁸As the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, And its neighbours, said Jehovah, No one doth dwell there, Nor sojourn in her doth a son of man. ¹⁹Lo, as a lion he cometh up, Because of the rising of the Jordan, Unto the enduring habitation, But I cause to rest, I cause him to run from off her, And who is chosen? concerning her I lay a charge, For who is like Me? and who conveneth Me? And who is this shepherd who standeth before Me? ²⁰Therefore, hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, That He hath counselled concerning Edom, And His devices that He hath devised Concerning the inhabitants of Teman: Drag them out do not little ones of the flock, Make desolate over them doth he not their habitation? ²¹From the noise of their fall hath the earth shaken, The cry—at the sea of Suph is its voice heard. ²²Lo, as an eagle he cometh up, and flieth, And he spreadeth his wings over Bozrah, And the heart of the mighty of Edom hath been in that day, As the heart of a distressed woman!’

²³Concerning Damascus: Ashamed hath been Hamath and Arpad, For an evil report they have heard, They have been melted, in the sea is sorrow, To be quiet it is not able. ²⁴Feeble hath been Damascus, She turned to flee, and fear strengthened her, Distress and pangs have seized her, as a travailing woman. ²⁵How is it not left—the city of praise, The city of my joy! ²⁶Therefore fall do her young men in her broad places, And all the men of war are cut off in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts. ²⁷And I have kindled a fire against the wall of Damascus, And it consumed palaces of Ben-Hadad!’

²⁸Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath smitten: ‘Thus said Jehovah: Arise ye, go ye up unto Kedar, And spoil the sons of the east. ²⁹Their tents and their flock they do take, Their curtains, and all their vessels, And their camels, they bear away for themselves, And they called concerning them, Fear is round about. ³⁰Flee, bemoan mightily, go deep to dwell, Ye inhabitants of Hazor—an affirmation of Jehovah, For given counsel against you hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, Yea, he deviseth against them a device. ³¹Rise ye, go up unto a nation at rest, Dwelling confidently, an affirmation of Jehovah, It hath no two-leaved doors nor bar, Alone they do dwell. ³²And their camels have been for a prey, And the multitude of their cattle for a spoil, And I have scattered them to every wind, Who cut off the corner of the beard, And from all its passages I bring in their calamity, An affirmation of Jehovah. ³³And Hazor hath been for a habitation of dragons, A desolation—unto the age, No one doth dwell there, nor sojourn in it doth a son of man!’

³⁴That which hath been the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying: ³⁵‘Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, I am breaking the bow of Elam, The beginning of their might. ³⁶And I have brought in to Elam four winds, From the four ends of the heavens, And have scattered them to all these winds, And there is no nation whither outcasts of Elam come not in. ³⁷And I have affrighted Elam before their enemies, And before those seeking their life, And I have brought in against them evil, The heat of Mine anger, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have sent after them the sword, Till I have consumed them; ³⁸And I have set My throne in Elam, And I have destroyed thence King and princes—an affirmation of Jehovah. ³⁹And it hath come to pass, in the latter end of the days, I turn back to the captivity of Elam, An affirmation of Jehovah!’

Chapter 50

¹The word that Jehovah hath spoken concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet: ²‘Declare ye among nations, and sound, And lift up an ensign, sound, do not hide, Say ye: Captured hath been Babylon, Put to shame hath been Bel, Broken hath been Merodach, Put to shame have been her grievous things, Broken have been her idols. ³For come up against her hath a nation from the north, It maketh her land become a desolation, And there is not an inhabitant in it. From man even unto beast, They have moved, they have gone. ⁴In those days, and at that time, An affirmation of Jehovah, Come in do sons of Israel, They and sons of Judah together, Going on and weeping they go, And Jehovah their God they seek. ⁵To Zion they ask the way, Thitherward are their faces: Come in, and we are joined unto Jehovah, A covenant age-during—not forgotten. ⁶A perishing flock hath My people been, Their shepherds have caused them to err, To the mountains causing them to go back, From mountain unto hill they have gone, They have forgotten their crouching-place. ⁷All finding them have devoured them, And their adversaries have said: We are not guilty, Because that they sinned against Jehovah, The habitation of righteousness, And the hope of their fathers—Jehovah. ⁸Move ye from the midst of Babylon, And from the land of the Chaldeans go out. And be as he-goats before a flock.

⁹For, lo, I am stirring up, And am causing to come up against Babylon, An assembly of great nations from a land of the north, And they have set in array against her, From thence she is captured, Its arrow—as a skilful hero—returneth not empty, ¹⁰And Chaldea hath been for a spoil, All her spoilers are satisfied, An affirmation of Jehovah. ¹¹Because thou rejoicest, because thou exultest, O spoilers of Mine inheritance, Because thou increasest as a heifer at the tender grass, And dost cry aloud as bulls, ¹²Ashamed hath been your mother greatly, Confounded hath she been that bare you, Lo, the hindermost of nations is a wilderness, A dry land, and a desert. ¹³Because of the wrath of Jehovah it is not inhabited, And it hath been a desolation—all of it. Every passer by at Babylon is astonished, And doth hiss because of all her plagues. ¹⁴Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, All ye treading a bow, Shoot at her, have no pity on the arrow, For against Jehovah she hath sinned. ¹⁵Shout against her round about, She hath given forth her hand, Fallen have her foundations, Thrown down have been her walls, For it is the vengeance of Jehovah, Be avenged of her, as she did—do ye to her. ¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon, And him handling the sickle in the time of harvest, Because of the oppressing sword, Each unto his people—they turn, And each to his land—they flee. ¹⁷A scattered sheep is Israel, lions have driven away, At first, devour him did the king of Asshur, And now, at last, broken his bone Hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. ¹⁸Therefore thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am seeing after the king of Babylon, And after his land, As I have seen after the king of Asshur; ¹⁹And I have brought back Israel unto his habitation, And he hath fed on Carmel, and on Bashan. And in mount Ephraim, and on Gilead is his soul satisfied. ²⁰In those days, and at that time, An affirmation of Jehovah, Sought is the iniquity of Israel, and it is not, And the sin of Judah, and it is not found, For I am propitious to those whom I leave!

²¹Against the land of Merathaim: Go up against it, and unto the inhabitants of Pekod, Waste and devote their posterity, An affirmation of Jehovah, And do according to all that I have commanded thee. ²²A noise of battle is in the land, and of great…