Jeremiah 49
49
What the Lord Says about Ammon
1 #
Ez 21.28-32; 25.1-7; Am 1.13-15; Zep 2.8-11. The Lord has this to say about the nation of Ammon:
The people of Israel
have plenty of children
to inherit their lands.
So why have you worshipers
of the god Milcom#49.1 Milcom: The national god of Ammon, probably the same as the god Molech in 32.35.
taken over towns and land
belonging to the tribe of Gad?
2Someday I will send an army
to attack you in Rabbah,
your capital city.
It will be left in ruins,
and the surrounding villages
will lie in ashes.
You took some of Israel's land,
but on that day
Israel will take yours!
3Cry, people of Heshbon;#49.3 Heshbon: See also 48.45; since Heshbon was near the border of Moab and Ammon, it was probably ruled by the country that was stronger at the time.
your town will become
a pile of rubble.#49.3 your town will become a pile of rubble: Or “because the town of Ai has been destroyed”; referring to an Ammonite town named Ai, not the town of that name near Bethel in the land of Israel.
You will turn here and there,
but your path will be blocked.#49.3 You will turn … blocked: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
Put on sackcloth#49.3 sackcloth: See the note at 4.8. and mourn,
you citizens of Rabbah,
because the idol you worship#49.3 the idol you worship: Hebrew “Milcom” (see verse 1 and the note there).
will be taken
to a foreign country,
along with its priests
and temple officials.
4You rebellious Ammonites
trust your wealth and ask,
“Who could attack us?”
But I warn you not to boast
when your strength is fading.#49.4 when … fading: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
5I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will send neighboring nations
to strike you with terror.
You will be scattered,
with no one to care
for your refugees.
6Yet someday, I will bring
your people back home.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
What the Lord Says about Edom
7 #
Is 34.5-17; 63.1-6; Ez 25.12-14; 35.1-15; Am 1.11,12; Ob 1-14; Ml 1.2-5. #Ba 3.22,23. The Lord All-Powerful says about Edom:
Wisdom and common sense
have vanished from Teman.#49.7,8 Teman: The name of a town in Edom, sometimes used as the name of the northern half of the nation of Edom; here it probably stands for the whole nation.
8I will send disaster to punish
you descendants of Esau,#49.7,8 Esau: The ancestor of the nation of Edom.
so anyone from Dedan#49.7,8 Dedan: The name of a town in northwest Arabia, also used of the northwest region of Arabia along the Red Sea.
had better turn around
and run back home.#49.7,8 anyone … home: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
9People who harvest grapes
leave some for the poor.
Thieves who break in at night
take only what they want.
10But I will take everything
that belongs to you,
people of Edom,
and I will uncover every place
where you try to hide.
Then you will die,
and so will your children,
relatives, and neighbors.
11But I can be trusted
to care for your orphans
and widows.
12Even those nations that don't deserve to be punished will have to drink from the cup of my anger. So how can you possibly hope to escape? 13I, the Lord, swear in my own name that your city of Bozrah#49.13 Bozrah: The main city and capital of Edom. and all your towns will suffer a horrible fate. They will lie in ruins forever, and people will use the name “Bozrah” as a curse word.
14I have sent a messenger
to command the nations
to prepare for war
against you people of Edom.
15Your nation will be small,
yet hated by other nations.
16Pride tricks you into thinking
that other nations
look at you with fear.#49.16 Pride … fear: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
You live along the cliffs
and high in the mountains
like the eagles,
but I am the Lord,
and I will bring you down.
17People passing by your country
will be shocked and horrified
to see a disaster
18 #
Gn 19.24,25. as bad as the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah
and towns nearby.
The towns of Edom will be empty.
19 #
Ws 12.12. I, the Lord, will attack you
like a lion from the forest,
attacking sheep in a meadow
along the Jordan.
In a moment the flock runs,
and the land is empty.
Who will I choose to attack you?
I will do it myself!
No one can force me to fight
or chase me away.
20Listen to my plans for you,
people of Edom.#49.20 Edom: The Hebrew text also uses the name “Teman” (see the note at 49.7,8).
Your children will be dragged off
and your country destroyed.
21The sounds of your destruction
will reach the Red Sea#49.21 Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, here referring to the Gulf of Aqaba, since the term is extended to include the northeastern arm of the Red Sea (see also the note at Exodus 13.18).
and cause the earth to shake.
22An enemy will swoop down
to attack you,
like an eagle spreading its wings
and circling over Bozrah.
Your warriors will be as fearful
as women giving birth.#49.22 as fearful … birth: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
What the Lord Says about Damascus
23 #
Is 17.1-3; Am 1.3-5; Zec 9.1. The Lord says about Damascus:
The towns of Hamath and Arpad#49.23 Hamath and Arpad: Two towns in Syria that had been the capitals of small kingdoms allied with the more powerful kingdom whose capital was Damascus.
have heard your bad news.
They have lost hope,
and worries roll over them
like ocean waves.#49.23 worries … waves: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
24You people of Damascus
have lost your courage,
and in panic you turn to run,
gripped by fear and pain.#49.24 gripped by fear and pain: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
25Once I was pleased
with your famous city.
But now I warn you, “Escape
while you still can!”#49.25 can: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 25.
26Soon, even your best soldiers
will lie dead in your streets.
I, the Lord All-Powerful,
have spoken.
27I will set fire to your city walls
and burn down the fortresses
King Benhadad built.
Nebuchadnezzar and the People of the Desert
28Here is what the Lord says about the Kedar tribe and the desert villages#49.28 desert villages: The Hebrew text has “kingdoms of Hazor,” which probably refers to several kingdoms of desert peoples who were not nomads, but who lived in small villages. that were conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar#49.28 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. of Babylonia:
Listen, you people of Kedar
and the other tribes
of the eastern desert.
I have told Nebuchadnezzar
to attack and destroy you.
29His fearsome army
will surround you,
taking your tents and possessions,
your sheep and camels.
30Run and hide,
you people of the desert
who live in villages!#49.30 villages: See the note at 49.28.
Nebuchadnezzar has big plans
for you.
31You have no city walls
and no neighbors to help,
yet you think you're safe—
so I told him to attack.
32Then your camels
and large herds
will be yours no longer.
People of the Arabian Desert,#49.32 People of the Arabian Desert: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
disaster will strike you
from every side,
and you will be scattered
everywhere on earth.
33Only jackals#49.33 jackals: See the note at 9.11. will live
where your villages#49.33 villages: See the note at 49.28. once stood.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
What the Lord Says about Elam
34-35Not long after Zedekiah#49.34,35 Zedekiah: See the note at 1.3. became king of Judah, the Lord told me to say:
People of Elam,#49.34,35 Elam: A nation east of Babylonia, attacked by Nebuchadnezzar about 596 b.c.
I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will kill the archers
who make your army strong.
36Enemies will attack
from all directions,
and you will be led captive
to every nation on earth.
37Their armies will crush
and kill you,
and you will face the disaster
that my anger brings.
38Your king and his officials
will die, and I will rule
in their place.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
39But I promise that someday
I will bring your people
back to their land.
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Jeremiah 49: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 49
49
1Concerning the sons of Ammon: ‘Thus said Jehovah: Sons — hath Israel none? heir — hath he none? Wherefore hath Malcam possessed Gad? And his people in its cities have dwelt?
2Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have sounded unto Rabbah of the sons of Ammon a shout of battle, And it hath been for a heap — a desolation, And her daughters with fire are burnt, And Israel hath succeeded its heirs, Said hath Jehovah.
3Howl, Heshbon, for spoiled is Ai, Cry, daughters of Rabbah, gird on sackcloth, Lament, and go to and fro by the hedges, For Malcam into captivity doth go, His priests and his princes together.
4What — dost thou boast thyself in valleys? Flowed hath thy valley, O backsliding daughter, Who is trusting in her treasures: Who doth come in unto me?
5Lo, I am bringing in upon thee a fear, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, From all round about thee, And ye have been driven out each before it, And there is no gatherer of the wandering.
6And after this I turn back the captivity of the sons of Ammon, An affirmation of Jehovah.’
7Concerning Edom: ‘Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Perished hath counsel from the intelligent? Vanished hath their wisdom?
8Flee, turn, go deep to dwell, ye inhabitants of Dedan, For the calamity of Esau I brought in upon him, The time I inspected him.
9If gatherers have come in to thee, They do not leave gleanings, If thieves in the night, They have destroyed their sufficiency!
10For I — I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, And to be hidden he is not able, Spoiled [is] his seed, and his brethren, And his neighbours, and he is not.
11Leave thine orphans — I do keep alive, And thy widows — on Me trust ye,
12For thus said Jehovah: They whose judgment is not to drink of the cup, Do certainly drink, And thou [art] he that is entirely acquitted! Thou art not acquitted, for thou certainly drinkest.
13For, by Myself, I have sworn, An affirmation of Jehovah, That for a desolation, for a reproach, For a waste, and for a reviling — is Bozrah, And all her cities are for wastes ageduring.
14A report I have heard from Jehovah, And an ambassador among nations is sent, Gather yourselves and come in against her, And rise ye for battle.
15For, lo, little I have made thee among nations, Despised among men.
16Thy terribleness hath lifted thee up, The pride of thy heart, O dweller in clefts of the rock, Holding the high place of the height, For thou makest high as an eagle thy nest, From thence I bring thee down, An affirmation of Jehovah.
17And Edom hath been for a desolation, Every passer by her is astonished, And doth hiss because of all her plagues.
18As the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, And its neighbours, said Jehovah, No one doth dwell there, Nor sojourn in her doth a son of man.
19Lo, as a lion he cometh up, Because of the rising of the Jordan, Unto the enduring habitation, But I cause to rest, I cause him to run from off her, And who is chosen? concerning her I lay a charge, For who is like Me? and who conveneth Me? And who [is] this shepherd who standeth before Me?
20Therefore, hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, That He hath counselled concerning Edom, And His devices that He hath devised Concerning the inhabitants of Teman: Drag them out do not little ones of the flock, Make desolate over them doth he not their habitation?
21From the noise of their fall hath the earth shaken, The cry — at the sea of Suph is its voice heard.
22Lo, as an eagle he cometh up, and flieth, And he spreadeth his wings over Bozrah, And the heart of the mighty of Edom hath been in that day, As the heart of a distressed woman!’
23Concerning Damascus: Ashamed hath been Hamath and Arpad, For an evil report they have heard, They have been melted, in the sea [is] sorrow, To be quiet it is not able.
24Feeble hath been Damascus, She turned to flee, and fear strengthened her, Distress and pangs have seized her, as a travailing woman.
25How is it not left — the city of praise, The city of my joy!
26Therefore fall do her young men in her broad places, And all the men of war are cut off in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.
27And I have kindled a fire against the wall of Damascus, And it consumed palaces of Ben-Hadad!’
28Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath smitten: ‘Thus said Jehovah: Arise ye, go ye up unto Kedar, And spoil the sons of the east.
29Their tents and their flock they do take, Their curtains, and all their vessels, And their camels, they bear away for themselves, And they called concerning them, Fear [is] round about.
30Flee, bemoan mightily, go deep to dwell, Ye inhabitants of Hazor — an affirmation of Jehovah, For given counsel against you hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, Yea, he deviseth against them a device.
31Rise ye, go up unto a nation at rest, Dwelling confidently, an affirmation of Jehovah, It hath no two-leaved doors nor bar, Alone they do dwell.
32And their camels have been for a prey, And the multitude of their cattle for a spoil, And I have scattered them to every wind, Who cut off the corner [of the beard], And from all its passages I bring in their calamity, An affirmation of Jehovah.
33And Hazor hath been for a habitation of dragons, A desolation — unto the age, No one doth dwell there, nor sojourn in it doth a son of man!’
34That which hath been the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:
35‘Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, I am breaking the bow of Elam, The beginning of their might.
36And I have brought in to Elam four winds, From the four ends of the heavens, And have scattered them to all these winds, And there is no nation whither outcasts of Elam come not in.
37And I have affrighted Elam before their enemies, And before those seeking their life, And I have brought in against them evil, The heat of Mine anger, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have sent after them the sword, Till I have consumed them;
38And I have set My throne in Elam, And I have destroyed thence King and princes — an affirmation of Jehovah.
39And it hath come to pass, in the latter end of the days, I turn back [to] the captivity of Elam, An affirmation of Jehovah!’
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