CHAPTER 49
1Concerning the Ammonites, thus said the LORD:
does he have no heir?
Why has Milcom dispossessed Gad,
and his people has dwelled in Gad’s towns?
2Therefore days are coming, said the LORD,
when I will make Rabbah of the Ammonites hear
the trumpet blast of war,
and she shall become a desolate heap,
and her villages shall be burned in fire,
and Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed her
—said the LORD.
3Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been ravaged,
scream, O daughters of Rabbah,
gird sackcloth and lament,
and run about among the sheep pens,
for Milcom shall go into exile,
his priests and his nobles together.
4Why should you boast of the valleys?
—Your valley oozes sickly, wayward daughter
who trusts in her treasures:
“Who can come against me?”
5I am about to bring upon you terror
—said the Master, LORD of Armies—
from all sides round you,
and you shall be dispossessed, each before him,
with none taking in the wanderer.
6And afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, said the LORD.
7Concerning Edom. Thus said the LORD of Armies:
Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
Counsel is lost to the discerning,
their wisdom is brought down.
8Flee, turn round, sit low,
O dwellers of Dedan!
For Esau’s disaster have I brought upon him,
the time when I reckon with him.
9If grape harvesters came to you,
would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves in the night,
they would despoil just what they need.
10For I have stripped Esau,
have laid bare his hidden places,
and he cannot be concealed,
his seed and brothers are ravaged
and his neighbors—he is no more.
11Leave your orphans with me, I will sustain them,
and your widows, rely on me!
12For thus said the LORD, “Look, those who are not wont to drink the cup will surely drink, and as for you, you shall not go scot free, you shall not go scot-free, for you surely shall drink. 13For by Myself do I vow, said the LORD, that a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse shall be Bosra, and all its towns shall be everlasting ruins.”
14A report I have heard from the LORD,
and an envoy among the nations is sent:
Gather and come against her
and rise up for battle.
15For, look, I have made you least among the nations,
spurned by humankind
16The horror you imposed deceived you,
the arrogance of your heart.
Dweller in crevices of the rock,
who seizes the height of the hill,
though you raise high your nest like the eagle,
from there I will bring you down, said the LORD.
17And Edom shall become a desolation. All who pass by her shall be shocked and hiss at her blows. 18Like the overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbors, said the LORD, no man shall dwell there and no human being sojourn within her.
19Look, as a lion comes up
from the Jordan’s thicket to a secure pasture,
so in a flash I will rush him off from her,
and who is the young man I could appoint over her,
for who is like Me, who can fix a time for Me,
who the shepherd that can stand against Me?
20Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD
that He conceived against Edom
and the plans that He devised
against the dwellers of Teman—
they shall surely drag them off, the young of the flock,
they shall surely desolate their pastures.
21From the sound of their falling the earth shook
the sound of a scream at the Reed Sea was heard.
22Look, as the eagle goes up and soars and spreads its wings over Bosra, the heart of the warriors of Edom on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in travail.
23Concerning Damascus.
Be shamed, Hamath and Arpad,
for an evil report they have heard.
They quailed in a sea of unease,
they cannot be quiet.
24Damascus has gone slack,
turned back to flee,
and trembling has seized her,
distress and pangs gripped her like a woman in labor.
25“How is the city of praise forsaken,
the town of my joy!”
26Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets and all the men of war shall be silent on that day, said the LORD of Armies.
27And I will light a fire in the wall of Damascus,
and it shall consume the citadels of Ben-Hadad.
28Concerning Kedar and the kingdom of Hazor that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylonia struck down, thus said the LORD:
Arise, go up to Kedar,
and ravage the Easterners.
29Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,
their curtains and all their gear.
And their camels they shall bear off for themselves,
and they shall call them: Terror All Round.
30Flee, wander far, sit low,
O dwellers of Hazor, said the LORD.
For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylonia has conceived counsel against you,
and devised plans against you.
31Arise, go up against a tranquil nation
dwelling safely, said the LORD.
No double doors nor bolt he has,
Alone do they dwell.
32And their camels shall become spoil,
and their crowd of cattle become booty.
And I will scatter them to every wind,
the men of cropped hair,
and from all sides I will bring their disaster
—said the LORD.
33And Hazor shall become a jackals’ den,
an everlasting desolation.
No man shall dwell there,
and no human being sojourn within her.
34Which was the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet at the beginning of the kingship of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35“Thus said the LORD of Armies: I am about to break the bow of Elam, the prime of their valor. 36And I will bring against Elam four winds from the four corners of the heavens and I will scatter them to all these winds, and there shall be no nation where the dispersed of Elam will not go.
37And I will shatter Elam before their enemies
and before those who seek their life,
and I will bring harm upon them,
My smoldering wrath, said the LORD.
And I will send the sword after them
until I make an end of them.
38And I will set My throne in Elam
and destroy from there king and nobles, said the LORD.
39And it will happen in the days after
that I will restore the fortunes of Elam.”