Judgment on Ammon
1 Against theAmmonites.
Thus says theLord:
“Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
# Whythendoes Milcom inheritGad,
And his people dwell in its cities?
2 Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says theLord,
“That I will cause to be heard an alarm of war
# InRabbah of the Ammonites;
It shall be a desolate mound,
And her villages shall be burned with fire.
Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance,” says theLord.
3 “Wail, OHeshbon, for Ai is plundered!
Cry, you daughters of Rabbah,
# Gird yourselves with sackcloth!
Lament and run to and fro by the walls;
For Milcom shall go into captivity
# With hispriests and his princes together.
4 Whydo you boast in the valleys,
# Your flowing valley, Obacksliding daughter?
# Who trusted in hertreasures,saying,
‘Who will come against me?’
5 Behold, I will bring fear upon you,”
Says the LordGodof hosts,
“From all those who are around you;
You shall be driven out, everyone headlong,
And no one will gather those who wander off.
6 Butafterward I will bring back
The captives of the people of Ammon,” says theLord.
Judgment on Edom
7 Against Edom.
Thus says theLordof hosts:
# “Iswisdom no more in Teman?
# Has counsel perished from the prudent?
# Has their wisdomvanished?
8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants ofDedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
The timethatI will punish him.
9 If grape-gatherers came to you,
Would they not leavesomegleaning grapes?
If thieves by night,
Would they not destroy until they have enough?
10 But I have made Esau bare;
I have uncovered his secret places,
And he shall not be able to hide himself.
His descendants are plundered,
His brethren and his neighbors,
# Andheisno more.
11 Leave your fatherless children,
I will preservethemalive;
And let your widows trust in Me.”
12 For thus says theLord: “Behold,those whose judgmentwasnot to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. Andareyou the one who will altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drinkofit.
13 ForI have sworn by Myself,” says theLord, “thatBozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.”
14 I have heard a message from theLord,
And an ambassador has been sent to the nations:
“Gather together, come against her,
And rise up to battle!
15 “For indeed, I will make you small among nations,
Despised among men.
16 Your fierceness has deceived you,
# Thepride of your heart,
O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
Who hold the height of the hill!
# Though you make yournest as high as the eagle,
# I will bring you down from there,” says theLord.
17 “Edom also shall be an astonishment;
# Everyone who goes by it will be astonished
And will hiss at all its plagues.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says theLord,
“No one shall remain there,
Nor shall a son of man dwell in it.
19 “Behold,he shall come up like a lion fromthe floodplain of the Jordan
Against the dwelling place of the strong;
But I will suddenly make him run away from her.
And whoisa chosenmanthatI may appoint over her?
# Forwhoislike Me?
Who will arraign Me?
# Andwhoisthat shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”
20 Therefore hear the counsel of theLordthat He has taken against Edom,
And His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman:
Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He shall make their dwelling places desolate with them.
21 The earth shakes at the noise of their fall;
At the cry its noise is heard at the Red Sea.
22 Behold,He shall come up and fly like the eagle,
And spread His wings over Bozrah;
The heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be
Like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.
Judgment on Damascus
23 Against Damascus.
# “Hamath and Arpad are shamed,
For they have heard bad news.
They are fainthearted;
# Thereistrouble on the sea;
It cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus has grown feeble;
She turns to flee,
And fear has seizedher.
# Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor.
25 Why isthe city of praise not deserted, 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 theLordof hosts.
27 “Iwill kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”
Judgment on Kedar and Hazor
28 Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike.
Thus says theLord:
“Arise, go up to Kedar,
# And devastatethe men of the East!
29 Theirtents and their flocks they shall take away.
They shall take for themselves their curtains,
All their vessels and their camels;
And they shall cry out to them,
# ‘Fearison every side!’
30 “Flee, get far away! Dwell in the depths,
O inhabitants of Hazor!” says theLord.
“For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you,
And has conceived a plan against you.
31 “Arise, go up tothe wealthy nation that dwells securely,” says theLord,
“Which has neither gates nor bars,
# Dwelling alone.
32 Their camels shall be for booty,
And the multitude of their cattle for plunder.
# I willscatter to all winds those in the farthest corners,
And I will bring their calamity from all its sides,” says theLord.
33 “Hazorshall be a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever;
No one shall reside there,
Nor son of man dwell in it.”
Judgment on Elam
34 The word of theLordthat came to Jeremiah the prophet againstElam, in thebeginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 “Thus says theLordof hosts:
# ‘Behold, I will breakthe bow of Elam,
The foremost of their might.
36 Against Elam I will bring the four winds
From the four quarters of heaven,
And scatter them toward all those winds;
There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.
37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies
And before those who seek their life.
# I will bring disaster upon them,
My fierce anger,’ says theLord;
‘And I will send the sword after them
Until I have consumed them.
38 I willset My throne in Elam,
And will destroy from there the king and the princes,’ says theLord.
39 ‘But it shall come to passin the latter days:
I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says theLord.”