Chapter 49
1 Of the children of Ammon . Yahweh says : " Has Israel no sons ? Has he no heir ? Why then does Malcam possess Gad , and his people dwell in its cities ?
2 Therefore behold , the days come ," says Yahweh , " that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon , and it will become a desolate heap , and her daughters will be burned with fire ; then Israel will possess those who possessed him ," says Yahweh .
3 " Wail , Heshbon , for Ai is laid waste ! Cry , you daughters of Rabbah ! Clothe yourself in sackcloth . Lament , and run back and forth among the fences; for Malcam will go into captivity , his priests and his princes together .
4 Why do you boast in the valleys , your flowing valley , backsliding daughter ? You trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘ Who will come to me ?’
5 Behold , I will bring a terror on you ," says the Lord , Yahweh of Armies , " from all who are around you . All of you will be driven completely out , and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives .
6 " But afterward I will reverse the captivity of the children of Ammon ," says Yahweh .
7 Of Edom, Yahweh of Armies says : " Is wisdom no more in Teman ? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished ?
8 Flee ! Turn back ! Dwell in the depths , inhabitants of Dedan ; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him when I visit him .
9 If grape gatherers came to you , would they not leave some gleaning grapes ? If thieves came by night , wouldn’t they steal until they had enough ?
10 But I have made Esau bare , I have uncovered his secret places , and he will not be able to hide himself . His offspring is destroyed , with his brothers and his neighbors ; and he is no more .
11 Leave your fatherless children . I will preserve them alive . Let your widows trust in me ."
12 For Yahweh says : " Behold , they to whom it didn’t pertain to drink of the cup will certainly drink ; and are you he who will altogether go unpunished ? You won’t go unpunished , but you will surely drink .
13 For I have sworn by myself," says Yahweh , " that Bozrah will become an astonishment , a reproach , a waste , and a curse . All its cities will be perpetual wastes ."
14 I have heard news from Yahweh , and an ambassador is sent among the nations , saying, " Gather yourselves together ! Come against her ! Rise up to the battle !"
15 " For , behold , I have made you small among the nations , and despised among men.
16 As for your terror , the pride of your heart has deceived you , O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock , who hold the height of the hill , though you should make your nest as high as the eagle , I will bring you down from there ," says Yahweh .
17 "Edom will become an astonishment . Everyone who passes by it will be astonished , and will hiss at all its plagues .
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities," says Yahweh , " no man will dwell there , neither will any son of man live therein .
19 " Behold , he will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation ; for I will suddenly make them run away from it , and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it . For who is like me ? Who will appoint me a time ? Who is the shepherd who will stand before me ?"
20 Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh , that he has taken against Edom, and his purposes that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman : Surely they will drag them away , the little ones of the flock . Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them .
21 The earth trembles at the noise of their fall ; there is a cry , the noise which is heard in the Red Sea .
22 Behold , he will come up and fly as the eagle , and spread out his wings against Bozrah . The heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs .
23 Of Damascus : " Hamath and Arpad are confounded, for they have heard evil news . They have melted away . There is sorrow on the sea . It can ’t be quiet .
24 Damascus has grown feeble , she turns herself to flee , and trembling has seized her . Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her , as of a woman in travail .
25 How is the city of praise not forsaken , the city of my joy ?
26 Therefore her young men will fall in her streets , and all the men of war will be brought to silence in that day ," says Yahweh of Armies .
27 "I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus , and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad."
28 Of Kedar , and of the kingdoms of Hazor , which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck , Yahweh says : " Arise , go up to Kedar , and destroy the children of the east .
29 They will take their tents and their flocks . they will carry away for themselves their curtains , all their vessels , and their camels ; and they will cry to them , ‘ Terror on every side !’
30 Flee ! Wander far off ! Dwell in the depths , you inhabitants of Hazor ," says Yahweh ; " for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you , and has conceived a purpose against you .
31 Arise ! Go up to a nation that is at ease , that dwells without care," says Yahweh ; " that has neither gates nor bars , that dwells alone.
32 Their camels will be a booty , and the multitude of their livestock a plunder . I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their beards cut off ; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them ," says Yahweh .
33 Hazor will be a dwelling place of jackals , a desolation forever . No man will dwell there , neither will any son of man live therein ."
34 Yahweh ’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam , in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah , saying ,
35 " Yahweh of Armies says : ‘ Behold , I will break the bow of Elam , the chief of their might .
36 I will bring on Elam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky , and will scatter them toward all those winds . There will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come .
37 I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life . I will bring evil on them , even my fierce anger ,’ says Yahweh ; ‘ and I will send the sword after them , until I have consumed them .
38 I will set my throne in Elam , and will destroy from there king and princes ,’ says Yahweh .
39 ‘ But it will happen in the latter days that I will reverse the captivity of Elam ,’ says Yahweh ."