Jeremiah 49

About the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says: Does Israel have no sons? Has Israel no one to inherit his land? Then why has their king taken over the land of Gad, and why do his people live in Gad's towns?

1Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?

NoteThe Ammonites lived east of the Jordan River, in what is now central Jordan; Israel had regarded them as long-standing rivals. Gad was the territory of one of Israel's tribes, on the same eastern side of the Jordan and next to Ammonite land; when Assyria deported the tribes east of the Jordan in the eighth century BC, Ammon moved in. "Their king" translates a Hebrew word (malkam) that can equally be read as Milcom, the name of Ammon's national god, the same consonants serve for both, and translators differ. LORD printed in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, which the Hebrew text writes but does not pronounce.

2So the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make the shout of battle heard against Rabbah, the chief city of the Ammonites. It will become a pile of ruins, and the villages around it will be burned. Then Israel will drive out those who drove him out, says the LORD.

2Therefore, behold, the days come, saith 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, saith the LORD.

NoteRabbah was the Ammonite capital, on the site of modern Amman. In Hebrew idiom the "daughters" of a city are the smaller settlements dependent on it. The closing line is a deliberate reversal that is hard to carry over: literally, "Israel will take possession of those who took possession of him", the dispossessor becomes the dispossessed.

3Wail, Heshbon, because Ai has been destroyed. Cry out, you villages around Rabbah. Put on rough cloth for mourning, weep, and run back and forth inside your walls. For their king will be carried off into exile, and his priests and his officials with him.

3Howl, 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.

NoteHeshbon was a town in the disputed border country between Moab and Ammon. This Ai is not the well-known town near Bethel in Israel; it is otherwise unrecorded and its location is unknown. Sackcloth was coarse goat-hair cloth worn next to the skin as a public sign of grief. "Their king" is again the ambiguous malkam: either the human ruler led away captive, or the image of the god Milcom carried off as plunder, which is why priests are mentioned alongside officials.

4Why do you brag about your valleys, about your rich valley, you unfaithful daughter? You trusted in your riches and said, Who would dare attack me?

4Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

NoteSpeaking of a city or nation as a "daughter" is standard Hebrew personification, not a reference to any individual. The Hebrew word rendered "unfaithful" carries the sense of turning away or backsliding.

5Look, I am going to bring terror on you from every side, says the Lord GOD of the armies of heaven. You will each be driven straight out, and no one will gather up those who run away.

5Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, 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.

Note"The LORD of hosts" means the LORD commanding armies, usually understood as the heavenly armies, sometimes as Israel's fighting forces. The phrase is a title of overwhelming power, not a statement about any particular battle.

6But later on I will bring the people of Ammon back from captivity, says the LORD.

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

7About Edom, this is what the LORD of the armies of heaven says: Is there no wisdom left in Teman? Have those with good sense run out of advice? Has their wisdom rotted away?

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

NoteEdom lay south of the Dead Sea, in the rocky highlands of southern Jordan. Its people were traced back to Esau, Jacob's twin brother, so Israel and Edom were spoken of as estranged brothers. Teman was a district or town of Edom with an old reputation for wise men and advisers, hence the taunt.

8Turn and run. Hide yourselves deep in the ground, you people of Dedan. For I will bring disaster on Esau at the time when I punish him.

8Flee 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.

NoteDedan was a caravan oasis in northwest Arabia, on the trade route south of Edom; its merchants did business through Edomite territory. "Hide deep" means take refuge in the caves and rock crevices of the region.

9If grape pickers came to you, wouldn't they leave a few grapes behind? If thieves came at night, they would only take as much as they wanted.

9If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.

NotePickers working a vineyard by law and custom left behind whatever they missed on the first pass, for the poor to gather; even thieves stop when they have what they came for. The point of the comparison is that this stripping will leave nothing at all.

10But I have stripped Esau bare. I have uncovered his hiding places, and he will not be able to hide. His children are destroyed, and so are his relatives and his neighbors, and he is gone.

10But 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.

11Leave your orphaned children behind; I will keep them alive. And let your widows put their trust in me.

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

NoteOrphans and widows had no male relative to hold property or press their case in court, and were the standard example of people with no protection. The line is bitter in context: it is addressed to men about to die, telling them what will be left of their households.

12For this is what the LORD says: If those who did not deserve to drink from the cup have had to drink it, should you go free with no punishment at all? You will not go free. You will certainly drink from it too.

12For thus saith the LORD; 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.

NoteA cup that must be drunk is a stock image in the prophets for a share of punishment handed out and forced down. "Those who did not deserve to drink" points to Judah, already punished; the argument is that if they had to drink, Edom certainly will.

13I have sworn by my own name, says the LORD, that Bozrah will become a ruin, a thing people sneer at, a wasteland, and a name used in curses. All the towns around it will be ruins forever.

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

NoteBozrah was Edom's principal city, in the highlands south of the Dead Sea. "A name used in curses" means its fate would become the standard comparison in curse formulas, "may you end up like Bozrah."

14I have heard a message from the LORD. A messenger has been sent to the nations, saying: Gather together and march against her. Get up and go to battle.

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

NoteThe messenger is a herald carrying a summons to war between states; "the nations" translates the word the King James Version renders "the heathen," which simply means the non-Israelite peoples, with no comment on their beliefs.

15For look, I will make you small among the nations, and people will look down on you.

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

16The terror you spread and the pride in your heart have fooled you. You live in the cracks of the rocks and hold the high ground on the hill. But even if you build your nest as high as an eagle's, I will bring you down from there, says the LORD.

16Thy 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 the LORD.

NoteEdom's towns were built on cliff ledges and in sandstone crevices in country so steep it was thought impossible to attack, the same region as the later rock city of Petra. "The terror you spread" renders a Hebrew word for the dread others felt at Edom, which is presented as the source of its own overconfidence.

17Edom will become a ruin. Everyone who passes by will be shocked and will jeer at all the wounds it has taken.

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

NoteJeering here translates a word meaning to hiss or whistle, the noise a passer-by makes at a shocking sight, part disgust and part amazement.

18It will be as when Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them were destroyed, says the LORD. No one will live there; no human being will settle in it.

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

NoteSodom and Gomorrah were the cities destroyed in Genesis 19; by Jeremiah's time they were the standard byword for total and permanent ruin, a place never rebuilt or resettled.

19Look, someone will come up like a lion from the thickets along the Jordan and attack the rich pastureland. But I will chase Edom away from her land in an instant. Who is the chosen one I will put in charge of her? For who is like me? Who can set a time to challenge me? What shepherd can stand up to me?

19Behold, 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?

NoteThe Jordan's banks were dense scrub that flooded every spring, driving out the lions that lived there into the open grazing land, a familiar image of sudden, unstoppable attack. The attacker is unnamed in the Hebrew, which is why the rendering says "someone." "Shepherd" was ordinary Near Eastern language for a ruler; the last three questions are the challenge of an overlord who cannot be summoned to court or called to account by anyone.

20So listen to the plan the LORD has made against Edom, and what he has decided to do to the people of Teman: the smallest of the flock will be dragged away, and their pastureland will be left empty because of them.

20Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, 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.

NoteThe flock-and-pasture picture continues from verse 19: even the smallest and least valuable animals will be hauled off, meaning nothing is left behind.

21The earth shakes at the sound of their fall. Their cry is heard as far away as the Red Sea.

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

Note"The Red Sea" translates a Hebrew name that here means the Gulf of Aqaba, the arm of water at Edom's southern edge, the sound carries the length of the country.

22Look, someone will rise and swoop down like an eagle, spreading his wings over Bozrah. On that day the hearts of Edom's soldiers will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

22Behold, 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.

NoteThe bird named is a large raptor, eagle or griffon vulture; the Hebrew does not distinguish them. Comparing terrified soldiers to a woman in labor was a conventional way of describing helpless, gripping pain, not a comment on women.

23About Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are ashamed, because they have heard bad news. They have lost their courage. They are churning like the sea, and cannot be calmed.

23Concerning 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.

NoteDamascus was the chief city of Aram (Syria). Hamath and Arpad were major Syrian cities further north, on the road an invader from Mesopotamia would take first, bad news from them meant the danger was coming south.

24Damascus has grown weak. She has turned to run away, and panic has taken hold of her. Pain and grief have gripped her, like a woman giving birth.

24Damascus 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.

25How is it that the famous city has not been left behind, the town that gave me joy?

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

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is broken and much disputed. It can be read as a lament ("how the famous city is abandoned"), as a question, or as words spoken by the city's own people; the rendering keeps the puzzle rather than smoothing it out.

26So her young men will fall in her streets, and all her soldiers will be silenced on that day, says the LORD of the armies of heaven.

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

27I will set fire to the wall of Damascus, and it will burn up the strong buildings of Ben-hadad.

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

NoteBen-hadad was the name borne by several kings of Damascus, used here for the royal house in general. The "strong buildings" are the fortified palaces and towers inside the city wall.

28About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says: Get up, march against Kedar, and destroy the people of the east.

28Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.

NoteKedar was a confederation of Arab tribes who lived in tents and herded sheep and camels in the Syrian desert. This Hazor is not the famous Canaanite city in northern Israel but a name for desert settlements, unwalled encampments, east of Palestine. Nebuchadnezzar (the King James spells it Nebuchadrezzar, closer to the Babylonian form) ruled Babylon from 605 to 562 BC.

29Their tents and their flocks will be taken away. Their tent cloths, all their goods, and their camels will be carried off. People will shout at them: Terror is all around.

29Their 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.

Note"Tent cloths" are the woven panels that make the tent itself; for nomads, the tents, herds and camels were the whole of their wealth. "Terror is all around" is a phrase Jeremiah uses repeatedly, both as a war cry and as a nickname for doom.

30Run away. Get far from here. Hide deep in the ground, you people of Hazor, says the LORD. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you and has decided what he will do to you.

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

31Get up and march against a nation that lives at ease and feels safe, says the LORD. It has no gates and no bars across them. Its people live off by themselves.

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

NoteGates and bars belong to a walled town. The point is that these people live in open camps with nothing to besiege and nothing to defend, normally a sign of safety in remote desert, here a sign of easy prey.

32Their camels will be taken as loot, and their large herds as plunder. I will scatter to every wind those who cut the hair at the sides of their heads, and I will bring disaster on them from all directions, says the LORD.

32And 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 the LORD.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase means those who trim or shave the hair at their temples, a distinctive grooming custom of certain Arab tribes; Israelite law forbade it, and Jeremiah elsewhere uses the phrase as a shorthand for these desert peoples. "To every wind" means in all directions at once.

33Hazor will become a home for jackals, an empty ruin forever. No one will live there; no human being will settle in it.

33And 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.

NoteThe animal is the jackal, a scavenger whose presence marked a site as abandoned; the King James "dragons" reflects an older guess at the word.

34This is the message from the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam, at the start of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

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

NoteElam lay far east of Babylon, in what is now southwestern Iran, with its capital at Susa. Zedekiah was installed as king of Judah by Babylon in 597 BC, so this dates the message to about that year, roughly a decade before Jerusalem fell.

35This is what the LORD of the armies of heaven says: I am going to break the bow of Elam, the main source of their strength.

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

NoteElamite archers were famous throughout the ancient Near East; breaking the bow means destroying the arm of the military the nation depended on.

36I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all those winds. There will not be a nation where Elam's exiles do not end up.

36And 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.

NoteThe four winds blowing from the four corners of the sky is a standard picture of forces converging from every direction, here, scattering a population to every country there is.

37I will break Elam's courage in front of their enemies, in front of those who want them dead. I will bring disaster on them, my burning anger, says the LORD. I will send the sword after them until I have finished them off.

37For 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 the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:

38I will set my throne in Elam and destroy its king and its officials, says the LORD.

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

NoteSetting up a throne in a conquered place was what a victorious king did: the seat is a judgment seat, planted in the defeated capital to pass sentence on its rulers.

39But in days to come I will bring Elam back from captivity, says the LORD.

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

Note"Days to come" translates a Hebrew phrase for an indefinite later time, the far end of the future, without a date attached.