< Jeremias 49 >

1 Then came all the leaders of the host, and Joanan, and Azarias the son of Maasaeas, and all the people great and small,
Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith Yhwh; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?
2 to Jeremias the prophet, and said to him, Let now our supplication come before your face, and pray you to the Lord your God for this remnant; for we are left few out of many, as your eyes see.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Yhwh, 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, saith Yhwh.
3 And let the Lord your God declare to us the way wherein we should walk, and the thing which we should do.
Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.
4 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] whatever word the Lord God shall answer, I will declare [it] to you; I will not hide anything from you.
Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?
5 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.
Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord Yhwh of Armies, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.
6 And whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, because we shall listen to the voice of the Lord our God.
And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith Yhwh.
7 And it came to pass after ten days, [that] the word of the Lord came to Jeremias.
Concerning Edom, thus saith Yhwh of Armies; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
8 And he called Joanan, and the leaders of the host, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
Flee ye, 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.
9 and he said to them, Thus says the Lord;
If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
10 If you 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.
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.
11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; be not afraid of him, says the Lord: for I am with you, to deliver you, and save you out of their hand.
Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.
12 And I will grant you mercy, and pity you, and will restore you to your land.
For thus saith Yhwh; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
13 But if you say, We will not dwell in this land, that we may not listen to the voice of the Lord;
For I have sworn by myself, saith Yhwh, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.
14 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:
I have heard a rumour from Yhwh, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.
15 then hear the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord;
For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.
16 If you set your face toward Egypt, and go in there to dwell; then it shall be, [that] the sword which you fear shall find you in the land of Egypt, and the famine to which you have regard, shall overtake you, [coming] after you in Egypt; and there you shall die.
Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith Yhwh.
17 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.
Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
18 For thus says the Lord; As my wrath has dropped upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath drop upon you, when you have entered into Egypt: and you shall be a desolation, and under the power of others, and a curse and a reproach: and you shall no more see this place.
As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith Yhwh, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.
19 [These are the words] which the Lord has spoken concerning you the remnant of Juda; Enter you not into Egypt: and now know you for a certainty,
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?
20 that you have wrought wickedness in your hearts, when you sent me, saying, Pray you for us to the Lord; and according to all that the Lord shall speak to you we will do.
Therefore hear the counsel of Yhwh, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath 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.
21 And you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, with which he sent me to you.
The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.
22 Now therefore you shall perish by sword and by famine, in the place which you desire to go into to dwell there.
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.
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.
Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith Yhwh of Armies.
And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben–hadad.
Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith Yhwh; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.
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.
Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith Yhwh; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.
Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith Yhwh, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.
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, saith Yhwh.
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.
The word of Yhwh that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
Thus saith Yhwh of Armies; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.
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 whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
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, saith Yhwh; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:
And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith Yhwh.
But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith Yhwh.

< Jeremias 49 >