Jeremiah
Chapter 49
1 About the Ammonites, this is what God says: Does Israel have no children? Do they have no one to inherit their land? Why then does the king of the Ammonites take over the land of Gad, and why do his people live in its towns?
2 So, listen, the time will come, God says, when I will make the sound of war heard in Rabbah of the Ammon people; it will become a ruined mound, and its towns will be set on fire. Then Israel will take over the land from those who took their land, God says.
3 Cry out, O Heshbon, because Ai is destroyed: weep, you women of Rabbah, put on rough cloth; mourn, and walk back and forth by the fences; for their king will be taken as prisoner, along with his religious leaders and officials.
4 Why do you boast about your valleys, your fertile valley, you unfaithful city? You trust in your riches and think, ‘Who will attack me?’
5 Look, I will cause you to be very afraid, says God of all, from everyone around you; and you will all be forced to leave straight away; and no one will help those who stray.
6 Afterward, God will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites’ descendants.
7 About Edom, God says: Has wisdom disappeared from Teman? Has good advice ended for the wise? Is their wisdom gone?
8 Run away, turn around, hide well, people of Dedan; because I will bring Esau’s disaster on him, when it’s time for me to punish him.
9 If grape pickers come to you, wouldn’t they leave some grapes behind? If thieves come at night, they will destroy only until they have enough.
10 I have left Esau exposed, revealed his hiding spots, and he can’t hide: his descendants, his brothers, and his neighbors are ruined, and he no longer exists.
11 Leave your children without a father to me; I will keep them safe, and your widows can rely on me.
12 God says, “Look, those who were not supposed to drink from the cup have definitely drunk it; and do you think you will go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but you will certainly drink from it.”
13 I promise, says God, that Bozrah will become ruined, shamed, empty, and cursed; all its cities will be forever deserted.
14 I have heard news from God: a messenger has been sent to the nations saying, “Come together and attack her; get ready for battle.”
15 I will make you unimportant among the nations and scorned by people.
16 Your fearsomeness has tricked you, with the arrogance of your heart, you who live in the rock cracks and hold the hilltops high. Even if you set your home as high as an eagle’s, I will bring you down from there, says God.
17 Edom will become a wasteland; everyone who passes by will be shocked and will scorn its many disasters.
18 Just like when Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby towns were destroyed, says God, no one will live there, nor will any person stay there.
19 Look, he will rise like a lion from the Jordan’s banks against the powerful place: but I will quickly make him flee from there: and who is the capable man I can put in charge of it? Who is equal to me? Who can set a time for me? And who is the shepherd that can face me?
20 Listen to God’s plan against Edom and his intentions for the people of Teman: Even the weakest will lead them away; yes, their homes will be made empty and ruined.
21 The earth shakes when they fall, and their loud cry is heard all the way to the Red Sea.
22 Look, he will rise and soar like an eagle, and stretch his wings over Bozrah. On that day, the brave people of Edom will be as scared as a woman in labor.
23 About Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are worried because they have heard bad news. They are afraid; there is sadness on the sea; it cannot calm down.
24 Damascus has become weak and tries to run away; fear has grabbed her, and pain and sorrow have caught her like a woman giving birth.
25 Why is the praised city abandoned, the city of my happiness?
26 So her young men will die in the streets, and all her soldiers will be wiped out on that day, says God.
27 I will start a fire in the walls of Damascus, and it will burn down Benhadad’s palaces.
28 About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon will strike, this is what God says: Get up, attack Kedar, and take the goods of the eastern people.
29 They will take their tents and animals; they will take their covers, all their things, and camels; and they will shout to them, “Fear is all around.”
30 Run away, go far away, hide well, people of Hazor, says God; because Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has made plans against you and intends to attack you.
31 Get up and go to the rich country that lives safely, says God, a country without gates or bars, living on its own.
32 They will lose their camels and lots of their livestock; I will scatter those in the far corners to every direction, and disaster will come at them from all sides, says God.
33 Hazor will become a home for wild creatures and will be empty forever; no person will live there, nor will anyone stay there.
34 God’s message that came to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam, at the start of King Zedekiah’s rule in Judah, was:
35 God says: I will break Elam’s strongest weapon, their bow.
36 I will send winds from all four directions against Elam and scatter its people in every direction; there will be no country where its refugees do not go.
37 I will make Elam afraid before their enemies and those who want to kill them. I will bring disaster on them, with my intense anger, says God. I will send the sword after them until they are destroyed.
38 I will put my throne in Elam and destroy their king and leaders, says God.
39 In the future, God will restore Elam’s fortunes.