Jeremiah 49

1 Concerning the Ammonites, thus says the LORD; Has Israel no sons? has he no heir? why then does their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?

Then came all the leaders of the host, and Joanan, and Azarias the son of Maasaeas, and all the people great and small,

2 Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, says the LORD.

to Jeremias the prophet, and said to him, Let now our supplication come before thy face, and pray thou to the Lord thy God for this remnant; for we are left few out of many, as thine eyes see.

3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, all of you daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run back and forth by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

And let the Lord thy God declare to us the way wherein we should walk, and the thing which we should do.

4 Wherefore glory you in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

And Jeremias said to them, I have heard [you]; behold, I will pray for you to the Lord our God, according to your words; and it shall come to pass, [that] whatsoever word the Lord God shall answer, I will declare [it] to you; I will not hide anything from you.

5 Behold, I will bring a fear upon you, says the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about you; and all of you shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wanders.

And they said to Jeremias, Let the Lord be between us for a just and faithful witness, if we do not according to every word which the Lord shall send to us.

6 And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, says the LORD.

And whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil, we will hearken to the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, because we shall hearken to the voice of the Lord our God.

7 Concerning Edom, thus says the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?

And it came to pass after ten days, [that] the word of the Lord came to Jeremias.

8 Flee all of you, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.

And he called Joanan, and the leaders of the host, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,

9 If grape-gatherers come to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.

and he said to them, Thus saith the Lord;

10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

If ye will indeed dwell in this land, I will build you, and will not pull [you] down, but will plant you, and in no wise pluck you up: for I have ceased from the calamities which I brought upon you.

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

Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for I am with you, to deliver you, and save you out of their hand.

12 For thus says the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and are you he that shall altogether go unpunished? you shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it.

And I will grant you mercy, and pity you, and will restore you to your land.

13 For I have sworn by myself, says the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.

But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, that we may not hearken to the voice of the Lord;

14 I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather all of you together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.

for we will go into the land of Egypt, and we shall see no war, and shall not hear the sound of a trumpet, and we shall not hunger for bread; and there we will dwell:

15 For, lo, I will make you small among the heathen, and despised among men.

then hear the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord;

16 Your terribleness has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, O you that dwell in the clefts of the rock, that hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from thence, says the LORD.

If ye set your face toward Egypt, and go in there to dwell; then it shall be, [that] the sword which ye fear shall find you in the land of Egypt, and the famine to which ye have regard, shall overtake you, [coming] after you in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.

And all the men, and all the strangers who have set their face toward the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall be consumed by the sword, and by the famine: and there shall not one of them escape from the evils which I bring upon them.

18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, says the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

For thus saith the Lord; As my wrath has dropped upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath drop upon you, when ye have entered into Egypt: and ye shall be a desolation, and under the power of others, and a curse and a reproach: and ye shall no more see this place.

19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

[These are the words] which the Lord has spoken concerning you the remnant of Juda; Enter ye not into Egypt: and now know ye for a certainty,

20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.

that ye have wrought wickedness in your hearts, when ye sent me, saying, Pray thou for us to the Lord; and according to all that the Lord shall speak to thee we will do.

21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.

And ye have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, with which he sent me to you.

22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

Now therefore ye shall perish by sword and by famine, in the place which ye desire to go into to dwell there.

23 Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.

24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turns herself to flee, and fear has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.

25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!

26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD of hosts.

27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.

28 Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall strike, thus says the LORD; Arise all of you, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.

29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.

30 Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O all of you inhabitants of Hazor, says the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.

31 Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwells without care, says the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.

32 And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, says the LORD.

33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.

34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

35 Thus says the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, says the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:

38 And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, says the LORD.

39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, says the LORD.