Jeremiah 49

Prophecies against Ammon

1 About the Ammonites,  * 49:1 Gn 19:38; Dt 2:19; 23:3; Jdg 10:6–7; 1Sm 11:11; 12:12; 1Kg 11:5–7,33; 2Kg 24:2; Neh 2:10; Is 11:14; Jr 40:14; Ezk 21:28–32; 25:2–10; Am 1:13–15; Zph 2:8–9 this is what the Lord says:

Does Israel have no sons?

Is he without an heir?

Why then has Milcom  * 49:1 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads Malkam,* 49:1 = Molech dispossessed Gad  * 49:1 1Kg 11:5,7,33; Zph 1:5

and his people settled in their cities?

2 Therefore look, the days are coming  * 49:2 Jr 7:32; 16:14; 19:6; 23:7; 48:12; 51:47,52  —

this is the  Lord’s declaration —

when I will make the shout of battle  * 49:2 Jr 4:19  heard

against Rabbah  * 49:2 Dt 3:11; 2Sm 11:1; 12:26–29; Ezk 25:5; Am 1:14 of the Ammonites.

It will become a desolate mound,

and its surrounding villages will be set on fire.

Israel will dispossess their dispossessors,

says the Lord.

3 Wail, Heshbon,  * 49:3 Nm 21:21–25,34; Dt 2:24,30; Jos 12:2; Jdg 11:26; Jr 48:2 for Ai is devastated;

cry out, daughters of Rabbah!

Clothe yourselves with sackcloth,  * 49:3 Jr 48:37 and lament;

run back and forth within your walls,  * 49:3 Or sheep pens

because Milcom will go into exile

together with his priests and officials.  * 49:3 Jr 48:7

4 Why do you boast about your valleys,

your flowing valley,  * 49:4 Or about your strength, your ebbing strength

you faithless daughter —

you who trust in your treasures

and say, "Who can attack me? "

5 Look, I am about to bring terror on you  * 49:5 Jr 48:43–44  —

this is the declaration of the Lord  God of Armies —

from all those around you.

You will be banished, each person headlong,

with no one to gather up the fugitives.

6 But after that, I will restore the fortunes  * 49:6 Or will end the captivity, also in v. 39 of the Ammonites.  * 49:6 Jr 48:47; 49:39

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

Prophecies against Edom

7 About Edom,  * 49:7 Gn 25:30; 32:3; 36:1; Nm 20:18–21; 24:18; Jdg 11:17–18; 2Sm 8:14; 2Kg 8:20–22; Ps 60:8; Is 34:5–8 this is what the Lord of Armies says:

Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?  * 49:7 Gn 36:15; Ezk 25:13; Am 1:12

Has counsel perished from the prudent?

Has their wisdom rotted away?  * 49:7 Ob 8–9

8 Run! Turn back! Lie low,

residents of Dedan,  * 49:8 Gn 25:1–3; Ezk 25:13

for I will bring Esau’s calamity on him  * 49:8 Gn 25:25,30; 36:1; Ob 8,18

at the time I punish him.  * 49:8 Jr 6:15; 8:12; Ob 8–13

9 If grape harvesters came to you,

wouldn’t they leave a few grapes?  * 49:9 Dt 24:21

Were thieves to come in the night,

they would destroy only what they wanted.  * 49:9 Ob 5

10 But I will strip Esau bare;

I will uncover his secret places.  * 49:10 Jr 23:24; Ob 6

He will try to hide,  * 49:10 Ob 3 but he will be unable.

His descendants will be destroyed

along with his relatives and neighbors.

He will exist no longer.  * 49:10 Mal 1:3–4

11 Abandon your fatherless; I will preserve them;

let your widows trust in me.  * 49:11 Dt 10:18; Ps 68:5; Pr 15:25; Jms 1:27

12 For this is what the Lord says: "If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not remain unpunished, for you must drink it too. 13 For by myself I have sworn"  * 49:13 Gn 22:16; 1Sm 3:14; Ps 89:3,35; Is 45:23; 54:9; Jr 22:5; 44:26  — this is the Lord’s declaration — "Bozrah  * 49:13 = Edom’s capital will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and an example for cursing, and all its surrounding cities will become ruins forever."  * 49:12–13 Jr 25:28–29; Am 1:12

14 I have heard an envoy from the  Lord;

a messenger has been sent among the nations:

Assemble yourselves to come against her.

Rise up for war!

15 I will certainly make you insignificant among the nations,

despised among humanity.

16 As to the terror you cause,  * 49:16 Lit Your horror

your arrogant heart has deceived you.

You who live in the clefts of the rock,  * 49:16 = Petra

you who occupy the mountain summit,

though you elevate your nest like the eagles,

even from there I will bring you down.

This is the  Lord’s declaration.  * 49:14–16 Ob 1–4

17 "Edom will become a desolation. Everyone who passes by her will be appalled and scoff because of all her wounds.  * 49:17 Dt 28:37; 2Ch 29:8; 30:7; Jr 5:30; 18:16; 19:8; 25:9,18; 29:18; 42:18; 44:12,22; 50:13; Mc 6:16; Zph 2:1518 As when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,"  * 49:18 Gn 19:24–25 says the Lord, "no one will live there; no human being will stay in it even temporarily.  * 49:18 Jr 49:33; 50:40; Zph 2:9

19 "Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets  * 49:19 Lit pride of the Jordan to the watered grazing land.  * 49:19 Jr 50:44 I will chase Edom away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like me?  * 49:19 Mc 7:18 Who will issue me a summons?  * 49:19 Jb 9:19; Jr 12:5; 50:44; Zch 11:3 Who is the shepherd who can stand against me? "  * 49:19 2Ch 20:6; Jb 41:10

20 Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Edom and the strategies he has devised against the people of Teman:  * 49:20 Is 14:26; 19:12,17; 23:8; Jr 18:11; 49:30; 50:45; 51:12; Mc 2:3 The flock’s little lambs will certainly be dragged away,  * 49:20 Jr 15:3; 22:19 and their grazing land will be made desolate because of them.  * 49:20 Jr 9:10; 23:10; 25:30–3821 At the sound of their fall the earth will quake;  * 49:21 Is 29:6; 64:1; Ezk 26:15; 31:16; 38:19; Mt 28:2; Rv 8:5 the sound of her cry will be heard at the Red Sea.  * 49:18–21 Jr 50:40,44–4622 Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.  * 49:22 Jr 48:40–41

Prophecies against Damascus

23 About Damascus:  * 49:23 Is 17:1; Am 1:3

Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,  * 49:23 2Kg 18:34

for they have heard a bad report and are agitated,

like  * 49:23 Lit in the anxious sea that cannot be calmed.

24 Damascus has become weak;

she has turned to run;

panic has gripped her.

Distress and labor pains have seized her

like a woman in labor.  * 49:24 Is 13:8; 42:14; Jr 4:31; 6:24; 22:23; 30:6; 50:43; Mc 4:9–10

25 How can the city of praise not be abandoned,  * 49:25 Jr 33:9

the town that brings me joy?

26 Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares;

all the warriors will perish in that day.

This is the declaration of the  Lord of Armies.  * 49:26 Jr 50:30

27 I will set fire to the wall of Damascus;

it will consume Ben-hadad’s citadels.  * 49:27 Am 1:4

Prophecies against Kedar and Hazor

28 About Kedar  * 49:28 Gn 25:13; Ps 120:5; Is 21:16–17; 60:7; Jr 2:10; Ezk 27:21 and the kingdoms of Hazor, which King Nebuchadnezzar  * 49:28 2Kg 24:11; 25:22; 2Ch 36:6–13 of Babylon defeated, this is what the Lord says:

Rise up, attack Kedar,

and destroy the people of the east!

29 They will take their tents and their flocks

along with their tent curtains and all their equipment.

They will take their camels for themselves.

They will call out to them,

"Terror is on every side! "  * 49:29 Ps 31:13; Jr 6:25; 20:3–4,10

30 Run! Escape quickly! Lie low,

residents of Hazor —

this is the  Lord’s declaration —

for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon

has drawn up a plan against you;

he has devised a strategy against you.

31 Rise up, attack a nation at ease,

one living in security.

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

They have no doors, not even a gate bar;

they live alone.  * 49:31 Jdg 18:7–10; Ps 73:12; Is 47:8; Ezk 38:10–11; Zph 2:15; Zch 7:7

32 Their camels will become plunder,

and their massive herds of cattle will become spoil.  * 49:32 Is 10:6; Ezk 25:7; Nah 2:9

I will scatter them to the wind in every direction,

those who clip the hair on their temples;

I will bring calamity on them across all their borders.

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

33 Hazor will become a jackals’ den,  * 49:33 Jr 9:11; 10:22; 51:37

a desolation forever.

No one will live there;

no human being will stay in it even temporarily.  * 49:33 Jr 49:18; 50:40

Prophecies against Elam

34 This is the word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam  * 49:34 = modern Iran at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.  * 49:34 Jr 27:12; 28:1; 29:335 This is what the Lord of Armies says:

I am about to shatter Elam’s bow,  * 49:35 Is 22:6

the source  * 49:35 Lit first of their might.

36 I will bring the four winds against Elam

from the four corners of the heavens,

and I will scatter them to all these winds.

There will not be a nation

to which Elam’s banished ones will not go.

37 I will devastate Elam before their enemies,

before those who intend to take their lives.

I will bring disaster on them,

my burning anger.

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

I will send the sword after them  * 49:37 Jr 9:16

until I finish them off.

38 I will set my throne in Elam,

and I will destroy the king and officials from there.

This is the  Lord’s declaration.

39 Yet, in the last days,

I will restore the fortunes of Elam.  * 49:39 Jr 48:47; 49:6

This is the  Lord’s declaration.