Jeremia 49 | New International Reader’s Version

A message about Ammon

1 Here is what the LORD says about the people of Ammon. He says, ‘Doesn’t Israel have any sons? Doesn’t Israel have anyone to take over the family property? Then why has the god named Molek taken over Gad? Why do those who worship him live in its towns? 2 But a new day is coming,’ announces the LORD. ‘At that time I will sound the battle cry. I will sound it against Rabbah in the land of Ammon. It will become a pile of broken-down buildings. The villages around it will be set on fire. Then Israel will drive out those who drove her out,’ says the LORD. 3 ‘Heshbon, weep for Ai! It is destroyed! Cry out, you who live in Rabbah! Put on the clothes of sadness and mourn. Run here and there inside the walls. Your god named Molek will be carried away. So will its priests and officials. 4 Why do you boast about your valleys? You boast that they produce so many crops. Ammon, you are an unfaithful country. You trust in your riches. You say, “Who will attack me?” 5 I will bring terror on you. It will come from all those around you,’ announces the Lord. He is the LORD who rules over all. ‘Every one of you will be driven away. No one will bring back those who escape. 6 ‘But after that, I will bless the people of Ammon with great success again,’ announces the LORD.

A message about Edom

7 Here is what the LORD says about Edom. The LORD who rules over all says, ‘Isn’t there wisdom in the town of Teman anymore? Can’t those who are wise give advice? Has their wisdom disappeared completely? 8 Turn round and run away, you who live in Dedan. Hide in deep caves. I will bring trouble on Esau’s family line. I will do this at the time I punish them. 9 Edom, suppose grape-pickers came to harvest your vines. They would still leave a few grapes. Suppose robbers came at night. They would steal only as much as they wanted. 10 But I will strip everything away from Esau’s people. I will uncover their hiding places. They will not be able to hide anywhere. Their army is destroyed. Their friends and neighbours are destroyed. So there is no one to say, 11 “Leave your children whose fathers have died. I will keep them alive. Your widows can also depend on me.” ’ 12 The LORD says, ‘What if those who do not have to drink the cup must drink it anyway? Then shouldn’t you be punished? You will certainly be punished. You must drink the cup. 13 I make a promise in my own name. Bozrah will be destroyed,’ announces the LORD. ‘People will be shocked at it. They will say Bozrah is a shameful place. They will use its name as a curse. And all its towns will be destroyed for ever.’ 14 I’ve heard a message from the LORD. A messenger was sent to the nations. The LORD told him to say, ‘Gather yourselves together to attack Edom! Prepare for battle!’ 15 The LORD says to Edom, ‘I will make you weak among the nations. They will hate you. 16 You live in the safety of the rocks. You live on top of the hills. But the terror you stir up has now turned against you. Your proud heart has tricked you. You build your nest as high as an eagle does. But I will bring you down from there,’ announces the LORD. 17 ‘People of Edom, all those who pass by you will be shocked. They will make fun of you because of all your wounds. 18 Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. So were the towns that were near them,’ says the LORD. ‘You will be just like them. No one will live in your land. No human beings will stay there. 19 ‘I will be like a lion coming up from the bushes by the River Jordan. I will hunt in rich grasslands. I will chase you from your land in an instant. What nation will I choose to do this? Which one will I appoint? Is anyone like me? Who would dare to argue with me? What leader can stand against me?’ 20 So listen to what the LORD has planned against the people of Edom. Hear what he has planned against those who live in Teman. Edom’s young people will be dragged away. Their grasslands will be shocked at their fate. 21 When the earth hears Edom fall, it will shake. The people’s cries will be heard all the way to the Red Sea. 22 Look! An enemy is coming. It’s like an eagle diving down. It will spread its wings over Bozrah. At that time the hearts of Edom’s soldiers will tremble in fear. They’ll be like the heart of a woman having a baby.

A message about Damascus

23 Here is what the LORD says about Damascus. He says, ‘The people of Hamath and Arpad are terrified. They have heard bad news. They have lost all hope. They are troubled like the rolling sea. 24 The people of Damascus have become weak. They have turned to run away. Panic has taken hold of them. Suffering and pain have taken hold of them. Their pain is like the pain of a woman having a baby. 25 Why hasn’t the famous city been deserted? It is the town I take delight in. 26 You can be sure its young men will fall dead in the streets. All its soldiers will be put to death at that time,’ announces the LORD who rules over all. 27 ‘I will set the walls of Damascus on fire. It will burn down the strong towers of King Ben-Hadad.’

A message about Kedar and Hazor

28 Here is what the LORD says about the people of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was planning to attack them. The LORD says to the armies of Babylon, ‘Prepare for battle. Attack Kedar. Destroy the people of the east. 29 Their tents and flocks will be taken away from them. Their tents will be carried off. All their goods and camels will be stolen. People will shout to them, “There is terror on every side!” 30 ‘Run away quickly! You who live in Hazor, stay in deep caves,’ announces the LORD. ‘Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has made plans against you. He has decided to attack you. 31 ‘Armies of Babylon, prepare for battle. Attack a nation that feels secure. Its people do not have any worries,’ announces the LORD. ‘That nation does not have gates or bars that lock them. Its people live far from danger. 32 Their camels will be stolen. Their large herds will be taken away. I will scatter to the winds those who are in places far away. I will bring trouble on them from every side,’ announces the LORD. 33 ‘Hazor will become a home for wild dogs. It will be a dry and empty desert for ever. No one will live in that land. No human beings will stay there.’

A message about Elam

34 A message from the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet. It was about Elam. It came shortly after Zedekiah became king of Judah. 35 The LORD who rules over all said, ‘Elam’s bow is the secret of its strength. But I will break it. 36 I will bring the four winds against Elam. I will bring them from all four directions. I will scatter Elam’s people to the four winds. They will be taken away to every nation on earth. 37 I will use Elam’s enemies to smash them. Those who want to kill them will kill them. I will bring trouble on Elam’s people. My anger will be great against them,’ announces the LORD. ‘I will chase them with swords. I will hunt them down until I have destroyed them. 38 I will set up my throne in Elam. I will destroy its king and officials,’ announces the LORD. 39 ‘But in days to come I will bless Elam with great success again,’ announces the LORD.

English Standard Version

Judgment on Ammon

1 Concerning 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? 2 Therefore, 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. 3 “Wail, 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. 4 Why do you boast of your valleys,* O faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’ 5 Behold, 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. 6 “But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the Lord.”

Judgment on Edom

7 Concerning Edom. Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? 8 Flee, 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. 9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, would they not destroy only enough for themselves? 10 But 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. 11 Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in me.” 12 For 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. 13 For 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.” 14 I 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! 15 For behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among mankind. 16 The 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. 17 “Edom shall become a horror. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. 18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown, says the Lord, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. 19 Behold, 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? 20 Therefore 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. 21 At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. 22 Behold, 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.”

Judgment on Damascus

23 Concerning 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. 24 Damascus 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. 25 How is the famous city not forsaken, the city of my joy? 26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day, declares the Lord of hosts. 27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.”

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

28 Concerning 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! 29 Their 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!’ 30 Flee, 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. 31 “Rise up, advance against a nation at ease, that dwells securely, declares the Lord, that has no gates or bars, that dwells alone. 32 Their 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. 33 Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals, an everlasting waste; no man shall dwell there; no man shall sojourn in her.”

Judgment on Elam

34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. 35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. 36 And 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. 37 I 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, 38 and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, declares the Lord. 39 “But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the Lord.”

Jeremia 49 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version