LEB JER Chapter 49

A Message Concerning Ammon

49 Concerning the ⌊Ammonites⌋:[fn] Thus says Yahweh,

• “Are there no sons for Israel?
  • Or is there no heir for him?
• Why has Milcom taken possession of Gad,
  • and his people dwelled in its towns?
• 2 Therefore[fn] look, days are coming,” declares[fn] Yahweh,
• “and I will sound against Rabbah, the Ammonites ,[fn]
  • the alarm of the war,
• and it will become as a mound of desolation,
  • and its daughters will burn in the fire.
• Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors,” says Yahweh.
• 3 “Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated.
  • Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth.
  • Lament and run back and forth among the walls.
• For Milcom will go into exile,
  • his priests and his officials together.
• 4 Why do you boast in your valleys?
  • Your valleys[fn] are ebbing.
• O unfaithful daughter, who trusted in her treasures,
  • who said, ‘Who will come against me?’
• 5 Look, I am going to bring dread on you,”
• declares[fn] Lord Yahweh of hosts,
  • “from all your surrounding neighbors.
• And you will be scattered,
  • each one before it ,[fn]
• and there is no one who gathers the fugitives.[fn]
• 6 Yet afterward[fn] I will restore
  • the fortunes[fn] of the Ammonites ,”[fn] declares[fn] Yahweh.

A Message Concerning Edom

7 Concerning Edom, thus says Yahweh of hosts:

• “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
  • Has counsel become lost from those who understand?
  • Is their wisdom rotting?
• 8 Flee! Turn back! Get down low ![fn]
  • O inhabitants of Dedan.
• For I will bring upon him the disaster of Esau
  • at the time when I will punish him.
• 9 If grape-gatherers come to you,
  • would they not leave gleanings?
• If thieves in the night,
  • they destroy only enough for them .[fn]
• 10 But I have stripped Esau bare.
  • I have uncovered his hiding places,
  • and he is not able to hide himself.
• His offspring are devastated, along with[fn] his brothers,
  • and his neighbors, and he is no more .[fn]
• 11 Leave your orphans. I will let them[fn] live.
  • And your widows, let them trust in me.”

12 For thus says Yahweh, “Look, those ⌊who are not condemned⌋[fn] to drink the cup must certainly drink it.[fn] And are you the one who will go entirely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must certainly drink it.[fn] 13 For I have sworn by myself,” ⌊declares⌋[fn] Yahweh, “that Bozrah will become as a horror, as a disgrace, as a waste, and as a curse. And all her towns will be ⌊everlasting sites of ruins⌋.”[fn]

• 14 I have heard a message from Yahweh,
  • and a messenger has been sent among the nations.
• “Gather and come against her,
  • and rise for the battle.”
• 15 “For look, I will make you small among the nations,
  • despised by the humankind.
• 16 Your terror has deceived you,
  • the pride of your heart,
• O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
  • you who seize the height of the hill.
• Though you make your nest high like the eagle,
  • from there I will bring you down,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
• 17 “And Edom will become as a horror,
  • everyone who passes by it[fn] will be appalled,
  • and will hiss because of all its blows.
• 18 As the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah
  • and their neighbors,” says Yahweh,
• “ no one[fn] will live there,
  • and the son of humankind will not dwell as an alien in it.
• 19 Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets of the Jordan
  • to a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream .[fn]
• So I will chase him away hurriedly[fn] from it.
  • And whoever is chosen I will appoint over it.
• For who is like me, and who can summon me?
  • And who is this, the shepherd who can stand before me ?”[fn]
• 20 Therefore[fn] hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Edom,
  • and his plans that he has planned against the inhabitants of Teman.
• Surely[fn] they will drag them away,
  • the little ones of the flock.
• Surely[fn] he will cause to be desolated over them
  • their grazing place.
• 21 The earth will quake from the sound of their falling.
  • A cry of distress! Their voice will be heard at the Red Sea .[fn]
• 22 Look, like an eagle he will go up and he will swoop down,
  • and he will spread out his wings against Bozrah.
• And the heart of the warriors of Edom will be in that day
  • like the heart of a woman who is in labor.

A Message Concerning Damascus

23 Concerning Damascus:

• “Hamath and Arpad are ashamed,
  • for they have heard bad news;
  • they melt.
• There is concern in the sea.
  • It is not able to keep quiet.
• 24 Damascus has grown slack.
  • She has turned away to flee and panic.
• Anxiety has seized her,
  • and labor pains have grasped her,
  • like a woman in labor.
• 25 How the city of praise has not been abandoned!
  • The city of my joy!
• 26 Therefore[fn] her young men will fall in her public squares,
  • and all the soldiers[fn] will perish in that day,” declares[fn] Yahweh of hosts.
• 27 “And I will kindle a fire at the wall of Damascus,
  • and it will devour the citadel fortresses of Ben-hadad.”

A Message Concerning Kedar and the Kingdoms of Hazor

28 Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon defeated. Thus says Yahweh:

• “Rise up, go up against Kedar
  • and destroy the people[fn] of the east.
• 29 They will take their tents, and their flocks,
  • their tent curtains, and all their equipment,
• and their camels they will carry away for themselves,
  • and they will call to them, ‘Terror is from all around.’
• 30 Flee! Wander far away! Get down low ![fn]
  • O inhabitants of Hazor,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
• “For Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has planned a plan against you.
  • And he has schemed[fn] a scheme[fn] against you.
• 31 Rise up, go up against a nation which is at ease,
  • living securely ,”[fn] declares[fn] Yahweh.
• “ There are no gates and there are no bars[fn] for them,
  • they dwell alone.
• 32 And their camels will become as plunder,
  • and the multitude of their livestock as spoil.
• And I will scatter to every wind those who are trimmed to the side,
  • and from every side[fn] I will bring their disaster,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
• 33 “And Hazor will become as a lair of jackals,
  • a waste forever;
• no one will live there,
  • and no son of humankind will dwell as an alien in it.”

A Message Concerning Elam

34 The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the king of Judah, ⌊saying⌋,[fn] 35 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts:

• ‘Look, I am going to break the bow of Elam,
  • the first and best of their might.
• 36 And I will bring to Elam four winds,
  • from the four corners of heaven,
• and I will scatter them to all these winds,
  • and there will not be a nation
  • where the scattered people of Elam will not go.
• 37 So I will shatter Elam before[fn] their enemies,
  • and before[fn] the seekers of their life.
• And I will bring disaster upon them,
  • my burning anger ,[fn]’ declares[fn] Yahweh.
• ‘And I will send after them the sword
  • until I have destroyed them.
• 38 And I will set my throne in Elam
  • and I will destroy from there king and officials,’ declares[fn] Yahweh.
• 39 ‘ And then[fn] in the last of the days
  • I will restore the fortunes[fn] of Elam,’ declares[fn] Yahweh.”