Jeremiah 49

¹Concerning the Ammonites . Thus says the Lord: Has Israel no sons ? Has he no heir ? Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad , and his people settled in its cities ?

²Therefore , behold , the days are coming , declares the Lord, when I will cause the battle cry to be heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites ; it shall become a desolate mound , and its villages shall be burned with fire ; then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him, says the Lord.

³Wail , O Heshbon , for Ai is laid waste ! Cry out , O daughters of Rabbah ! Put on sackcloth , lament , and run to and fro among the hedges ! For Milcom shall go into exile , with his priests and his officials .

⁴Why do you boast of your valleys , O faithless daughter , who trusted in her treasures , saying, Who will come against me?

⁵Behold , I will bring terror upon you , declares the Lord God of hosts , from all who are around you, and you shall be driven out , every man straight before him, with none to gather the fugitives .

⁶But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites , declares the Lord.

⁷Concerning Edom . Thus says the Lord of hosts : Is wisdom no more in Teman ? Has counsel perished from the prudent ? Has their wisdom vanished ?

⁸Flee , turn back , dwell in the depths , O inhabitants of Dedan ! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time when I punish him.

⁹If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings ? If thieves came by night , would they not destroy only enough for themselves?

¹⁰But I have stripped Esau bare ; I have uncovered his hiding places , and he is not able to conceal himself. His children are destroyed , and his brothers , and his neighbors ; and he is no more .

¹¹Leave your fatherless children ; I will keep them alive ; and let your widows trust in me.

¹²For thus says the Lord: If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished ? You shall not go unpunished , but you must drink .

¹³For I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a horror , a taunt , a waste , and a curse , and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes .

¹⁴I have heard a message from the Lord, and an envoy has been sent among the nations : Gather yourselves together and come against her, and rise up for battle !

¹⁵For behold , I will make you small among the nations , despised among mankind .

¹⁶The horror you inspire has deceived you, and the pride of your heart , you who live in the clefts of the rock , who hold the height of the hill . Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s , I will bring you down from there , declares the Lord.

¹⁷Edom shall become a horror . Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters .

¹⁸As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown , says the Lord, no man shall dwell there , no man shall sojourn in her.

¹⁹Behold , like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture , I will suddenly make him run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose . For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me?

²⁰Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman : Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away . Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate.

²¹At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble ; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea .

²²Behold , one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah , and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains .

²³Concerning Damascus : Hamath and Arpad are confounded , for they have heard bad news ; they melt in fear , they are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet .

²⁴Damascus has become feeble , she turned to flee , and panic seized her; anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in labor .

²⁵How is the famous city not forsaken , the city of my joy ?

²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares , and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day , declares the Lord of hosts .

²⁷And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus , and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad .

²⁸Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down . Thus says the Lord: Rise up , advance against Kedar ! Destroy the people of the east !

²⁹Their tents and their flocks shall be taken , their curtains and all their goods ; their camels shall be led away from them, and men shall cry to them: Terror on every side !

³⁰Flee , wander far away , dwell in the depths , O inhabitants of Hazor ! declares the Lord. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you and formed a purpose against you.

³¹Rise up , advance against a nation at ease, that dwells securely , declares the Lord, that has no gates or bars , that dwells alone .

³²Their camels shall become plunder , their herds of livestock a spoil . I will scatter to every wind those who cut the corners of their hair, and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, declares the Lord.

³³Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals , an everlasting waste ; no man shall dwell there ; no man shall sojourn in her.

³⁴The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam , in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah .

³⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts : Behold , I will break the bow of Elam , the mainstay of their might .

³⁶And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven . And I will scatter them to all those winds , and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of Elam shall not come .

³⁷I will terrify Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their life . I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger , declares the Lord. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them,

³⁸and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials , declares the Lord.

³⁹But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam , declares the Lord.