Jeremiah 49
1 Concerning the Ammonites. This is what the LORD says: “Does Israel have no children? Does he have no heir? Why, then, has their king taken possession of Gad, and why do his people live in the towns of Gad?”
2 Therefore, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a desolate heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned with fire. Then Israel will take possession of those who took possession of it,” declares the LORD.
3 Wail, Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth, mourn, and rush back and forth among the walls, for their king will go into exile, together with his priests and leaders.
4 Why do you boast in the valleys, in your flowing valley, rebellious daughter? You trusted in your treasures and said, ‘Who will come against me?’
5 Look, I am bringing terror on you,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, “from all around you. You will be driven out, each one straight ahead, and no one will gather those who wander.
6 But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites,” declares the LORD.
7 Concerning Edom. This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Is there no more wisdom in Teman? Has counsel vanished from her people? Has their wisdom grown rotten?
8 Flee, turn back, go deep to dwell, inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring Esau’s calamity upon him, the time when I punish him.
9 If grape gatherers come against you, will they not leave some gleanings? If thieves come by night, they will destroy only as much as they need.
10 But I have stripped Esau bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he cannot hide. His descendants have been destroyed, as have his brothers and neighbors, and he is no more.
11 Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive. Your widows can trust in me.
12 For this is what the LORD says: ‘Look, those who had no right to drink the cup will indeed drink it. And would you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished; you will surely drink it.’
13 For I swear by myself,” declares the LORD, “that Bozrah will become an object of horror, shame, ruin, and a curse; and all its towns will lie in ruins forever.”
14 I have heard a report from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: ‘Gather together and come against her! Rise up for battle!’
15 For I am making you the smallest among the nations, despised among people.
16 The terror you inspire has deceived you, as has the arrogance of your heart, you who live in the clefts of the rock and occupy the heights of the hill. Even if you build your nest as high as the eagle’s, I will bring you down from there,” declares the LORD.
17 Edom will become an object of horror; everyone who passes by will be appalled and will whistle at all its wounds.
18 It will be like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns,” says the LORD. “No one will live there; no human being will dwell in it.
19 Look, like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan to a lush pasture, in an instant I will make him flee from there; and I will appoint over it whoever I choose. For who is like me? Who can summon me to court? And what shepherd can stand before me?
20 Therefore, hear the plan the LORD has made against Edom, and the thoughts he has conceived against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the youngest of the flock will drag them away; surely their pasture will be appalled because of them.
21 At the sound of their fall, the earth trembled; a cry was heard, and its voice reached the Red Sea.
22 Look, he will rise and swoop like an eagle, spreading his wings over Bozrah. On that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
23 Concerning Damascus. Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard bad news; they have melted away. There is turmoil on the sea, and it cannot be calmed.
24 Damascus has lost heart; she has turned to flee, and panic has seized her. Distress and anguish have gripped her, like a woman in labor.
25 How has the city of praise, the town of my joy, not been abandoned?
26 Therefore her young men will fall in her squares, and all her warriors will be silenced on that day,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
27 I will set fire to the wall of Damascus, and it will consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.
28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. This is what the LORD says: “Rise up, go against Kedar, and destroy the people of the East.
29 They will take their tents and their flocks; they will carry off their tent curtains, all their goods, and their camels. They will shout against them, ‘Terror on every side!’
30 Flee, wander far away, go deep to dwell, inhabitants of Hazor,” declares the LORD. “For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you and conceived a plot against you.
31 Rise up, go against a peaceful nation that lives securely,” declares the LORD. “It has no gates or bars; they live alone.
32 Their camels will become plunder, and their vast herds will become spoil. I will scatter to every wind those who cut the hair at their temples, and from every side I will bring calamity upon them,” declares the LORD.
33 Hazor will become a dwelling place for jackals, a desolation forever. No one will live there; no human being will dwell in it.”
34 The word of the LORD that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah:
35 “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Look, I am about to break Elam’s bow, the chief of its strength.
36 I will bring against Elam the four winds from the four corners of heaven, and scatter them to all these winds. There will be no nation to which Elam’s exiles do not come.
37 I will make Elam tremble before its enemies and before those who seek its life. I will bring disaster upon them, the heat of my anger,” declares the LORD, “and I will send the sword after them until I have destroyed them.
38 I will set my throne in Elam and destroy its king and leaders from there,” declares the LORD.
39 But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam,” declares the LORD.
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