NET JER Chapter 49

Judgment Against Edom

7 The Lord who rules over all spoke about Edom.

“Is wisdom no longer to be found in Teman?

Can Edom’s counselors not give her any good advice?

Has all of their wisdom turned bad?

8 Turn and flee! Take up refuge in remote places,

you people who live in Dedan.

For I will bring disaster on the descendants of Esau.

I have decided it is time for me to punish them.

9 If grape pickers came to pick your grapes,

would they not leave a few grapes behind?

If robbers came at night,

would they not pillage only what they needed?

10 But I will strip everything away from Esau’s descendants.

I will uncover their hiding places so they cannot hide.

Their children, relatives, and neighbors will all be destroyed.

Not one of them will be left!

11 Leave your orphans behind and I will keep them alive.

Your widows too can depend on me.”

12 For the Lord says, “If even those who did not deserve to drink from the cup of my wrath must drink from it, do you think you will go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but must certainly drink from the cup of my wrath. 13 For I solemnly swear,” says the Lord, “that Bozrah will become a pile of ruins. It will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example to be used in curses. All the towns around it will lie in ruins forever.”

14 I said, “I have heard a message from the Lord.

A messenger has been sent among the nations to say,

‘Gather your armies and march out against her!

Prepare to do battle with her!’ ”

15 The Lord says to Edom,

“I will certainly make you small among nations.

I will make you despised by all humankind.

16 The terror you inspire in others

and the arrogance of your heart have deceived you.

You may make your home in the clefts of the rocks;

you may occupy the highest places in the hills.

But even if you made your home where the eagles nest,

I would bring you down from there,”

says the Lord.

17 “Edom will become an object of horror.

All who pass by it will be filled with horror;

they will hiss out their scorn

because of all the disasters that have happened to it.

18 Edom will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah

and the towns that were around them.

No one will live there.

No human being will settle in it,”

says the Lord.

19 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan

scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it.

So too I will chase the Edomites off their land.

Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose.

For there is no one like me, and there is no one who can call me to account.

There is no ruler who can stand up against me.

20 So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Edom,

what I intend to do to the people who live in Teman.

Their little ones will be dragged off.

I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.

21 The people of the earth will quake when they hear of their downfall.

Their cries of anguish will be heard all the way to the Gulf of Aqaba.

22 Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings,

a nation will soar up and swoop down on Bozrah.

At that time the soldiers of Edom will be as fearful

as a woman in labor.”

Judgment Against Damascus

23 The Lord spoke about Damascus.

“The people of Hamath and Arpad will be dismayed

because they have heard bad news.

Their courage will melt away because of worry.

Their hearts will not be able to rest.

24 The people of Damascus will lose heart and turn to flee.

Panic will grip them.

Pain and anguish will seize them

like a woman in labor.

25 How deserted will that once-famous city be,

that city that was once filled with joy!

26 For her young men will fall in her city squares.

All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,”

says the Lord who rules over all.

27 “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;

it will burn up the palaces of Ben Hadad.”

Judgment Against Kedar and Hazor

28 The Lord spoke about Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered.

“Army of Babylon, go and attack Kedar.

Lay waste those who live in the eastern desert.

29 Their tents and their flocks will be taken away.

Their tent curtains, equipment, and camels will be carried off.

People will shout to them,

‘Terror is all around you!’ ”

30 The Lord says, “Flee quickly, you who live in Hazor.

Take up refuge in remote places.

For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has laid out plans to attack you.

He has formed his strategy on how to defeat you.”

31 The Lord says, “Army of Babylon, go and attack

a nation that lives in peace and security.

They have no gates or walls to protect them.

They live all alone.

32 Their camels will be taken as plunder.

Their vast herds will be taken as spoil.

I will scatter to the four winds

those desert peoples who cut their hair short at the temples.

I will bring disaster against them

from every direction,” says the Lord.

33 “Hazor will become a permanent wasteland,

a place where only jackals live.

No one will live there.

No human being will settle in it.”

Judgment Against Elam

34 Early in the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam.

35 The Lord who rules over all said,

“I will kill all the archers of Elam,

who are the chief source of her military might.

36 I will cause enemies to blow through Elam from every direction

like the winds blowing in from the four quarters of heaven.

I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds.

There will not be any nation where the refugees of Elam will not go.

37 I will make the people of Elam terrified of their enemies,

who are seeking to kill them.

I will vent my fierce anger

and bring disaster upon them,” says the Lord.

“I will send armies chasing after them

until I have completely destroyed them.

38 I will establish my sovereignty over Elam.

I will destroy their king and their leaders,” says the Lord.

39 “Yet in days to come

I will reverse Elam’s ill fortune.”

says the Lord.