Jeremiah 49

1Concerning the Ammonites. This is what Yahweh says: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then has their king taken possession of Gad, and why do his people live in its towns?

2Therefore the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will make the battle cry heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a desolate mound, and its villages will be burned with fire. Then Israel will dispossess those who dispossessed him, says Yahweh.

3Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed! Cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth among the walls, for their king will go into exile, together with his priests and his officials.

4Why do you boast of your valleys, of your fruitful valley, you faithless daughter? You trust in your treasures and say, “Who will come against me?”

5I am about to bring terror on you from all around you, declares the Lord Yahweh of Armies. You will be driven out, each of you headlong, and no one will gather the fugitives.

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

7Concerning Edom. This is what Yahweh of Armies says: Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom gone bad?

8Flee, turn back, hide in deep places, you who live in Dedan! For I will bring disaster on Esau at the time when I punish him.

9If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? If thieves came at night, would they not destroy only as much as they wanted?

10But I have stripped Esau bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he cannot hide himself. His offspring are destroyed, and his relatives and his neighbors; he is no more.

11Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive. Let your widows trust in me.

12For this is what Yahweh says: If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, are you the one who will go unpunished? You will not go unpunished; you must drink it.

13For I have sworn by myself, declares Yahweh, that Bozrah will become a horror, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all its towns will be ruins forever.

14I have heard a message from Yahweh; an envoy has been sent among the nations: “Gather together and come against her! Rise up for battle!”

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

16The terror 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 build your nest as high as the eagle’s, from there I will bring you down, declares Yahweh.

17Edom will become a horror; everyone who passes by will be appalled and will hiss in scorn at all its wounds.

18As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors were overthrown, says Yahweh, no one will live there; no human being will stay in it.

19Look, like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan against a pasture that never fails, I will suddenly chase Edom away from it, and I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who can summon me to court? What shepherd can stand against me?

20Therefore hear the plan that Yahweh has made against Edom and the purposes he has devised against the people of Teman: Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away; surely their pasture will be appalled at their fate.

21At the sound of their fall the earth quakes; their cry is heard at the Red Sea.

22Look, like an eagle he will soar and swoop down and spread his wings over Bozrah. On that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

23Concerning Damascus. Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard bad news. They melt with fear; they are troubled like the sea, which cannot be still.

24Damascus has grown weak; she has turned to flee, and panic has seized her. Anguish and pains have gripped her, like a woman in labor.

25How can the city of renown not be abandoned, the town of my joy?

26Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all her soldiers will be silenced on that day, declares Yahweh of Armies.

27I will set fire to the wall of Damascus, and it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.

28Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. This is what Yahweh says: Rise up, advance against Kedar, and destroy the people of the east!

29Their tents and their flocks will be taken, their tent curtains and all their goods; their camels will be carried off. People will shout to them, “Terror on every side!”

30Flee! Get far away! Hide in deep places, you who live in Hazor, declares Yahweh. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you and devised a purpose against you.

31Rise up, advance against a nation at ease, one that lives in security, declares Yahweh, a nation that has neither gates nor bars, whose people live alone.

32Their camels will become plunder, and their great herds of livestock will become spoil. I will scatter to every wind those who clip the edges of their hair, and I will bring disaster on them from every side, declares Yahweh.

33Hazor will become a haunt of jackals, a desolation forever. No one will live there; no human being will stay in it.

34This is the word of Yahweh that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah:

35This is what Yahweh of Armies says: I am about to break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might.

36I will bring against Elam the four winds from the four ends of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds. There will not be a nation to which the exiles of Elam do not go.

37I will shatter Elam before their enemies, before those who seek their lives. I will bring disaster on them, my fierce anger, declares Yahweh. I will send the sword after them until I have finished them off.

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

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