Judgment on the Ammonites

¹ Concerning the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says:

“Has Israel no sons?

Is he without heir?

Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad?

Why have his people settled in their cities?

² Therefore, behold, the days are coming,

declares the LORD,

when I will sound the battle cry

against Rabbah of the Ammonites.

It will become a heap of ruins,

and its villages will be burned.

Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors,

says the LORD.

³ Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed;

cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!

Put on sackcloth and mourn;

run back and forth within your walls,

for Milcom will go into exile

together with his priests and officials.

⁴ Why do you boast of your valleys—

your valleys so fruitful,^*

O faithless daughter?

You trust in your riches and say,

‘Who can come against me?’

⁵ Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you,

declares the Lord GOD of Hosts,

from all those around you.

You will each be driven headlong,

with no one to regather the fugitives.

⁶ Yet afterward I will restore the Ammonites from captivity,”

declares the LORD.

Judgment on Edom

⁷ Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?

Has counsel perished from the prudent?

Has their wisdom decayed?

⁸ Turn and run!

Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan,

for I will bring disaster on Esau

at the time I punish him.

⁹ If grape gatherers came to you,

would they not leave some gleanings?

Were thieves to come in the night,

would they not steal only what they wanted?

¹⁰ But I will strip Esau bare;

I will uncover his hiding places,

and he will be unable to conceal himself.

His descendants will be destroyed

along with his relatives and neighbors,

and he will be no more.

¹¹ Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives.

Let your widows trust in Me.”

¹² For this is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished^*?^* You will not go unpunished,^* for you must drink it too. ¹³ For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”

¹⁴ I have heard a message from the LORD;

an envoy has been sent to the nations:

“Assemble yourselves to march against her!

Rise up for battle!”

¹⁵ “For behold, I will make you small among nations,

despised among men.

¹⁶ The terror you cause

and the pride of your heart

have deceived you,

O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks,

O occupiers of the mountain summit.

Though you elevate your nest like the eagle,

even from there I will bring you down,”

declares the LORD.

¹⁷ “Edom will become an object of horror.

All who pass by will be appalled

and will scoff at all her wounds.

¹⁸ As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown

along with their neighbors,”

says the LORD,

“no one will dwell there;

no man will abide^* there.

¹⁹ Behold, one will come up like a lion

from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture.

For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land.

Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?

For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me?

What shepherd can stand against Me?”

²⁰ Therefore hear the plans

that the LORD has drawn up against Edom

and the strategies He has devised

against the people of Teman:

Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away;

certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.

²¹ At the sound of their fall the earth will quake;

their cry will resound to the Red Sea.

²² Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down,

spreading its wings over Bozrah.

In that day the hearts of Edom’s mighty men

will be like the heart of a woman in labor.^*

Judgment on Damascus

²³ Concerning Damascus:

“Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,

for they have heard a bad report;

they are agitated like the sea;

their anxiety cannot be calmed.

²⁴ Damascus has become feeble;

she has turned to flee.

Panic has gripped her;^*

anguish and pain have seized her

like a woman in labor.

²⁵ How is the city of praise not forsaken,

the town that brings Me joy?

²⁶ For her young men will fall in the streets,

and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

²⁷ “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;

it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

²⁸ Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says:

“Rise up, advance against Kedar,

and destroy the people of the east!

²⁹ They will take their tents and flocks,

their tent curtains and all their goods.

They will take their camels for themselves.

They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’

³⁰ Run! Escape quickly!

Lie low, O residents of Hazor,”

declares the LORD,

“for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon

has drawn up a plan against you;

he has devised a strategy against you.

³¹ Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,

one that dwells securely,”^*

declares the LORD.

“They have no gates or bars;

they live alone.^*

³² Their camels will become plunder,

and their large herds will be spoil.

I will scatter to the wind in every direction

those who shave their temples;

I will bring calamity on them

from all sides,”

declares the LORD.

³³ “Hazor will become a haunt for jackals,

a desolation forever.

No one will dwell there;

no man will abide^* there.”

Judgment on Elam

³⁴ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. ³⁵ This is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow,

the mainstay of their might.

³⁶ I will bring the four winds against Elam

from the four corners of the heavens,

and I will scatter them

to all these winds.

There will not be a nation

to which Elam’s exiles will not go.

³⁷ So I will shatter Elam before their foes,

before those who seek their lives.

I will bring disaster upon them,

even My fierce anger,”

declares the LORD.

“I will send out the sword after them

until I finish them off.

³⁸ I will set My throne^* in Elam,

and destroy its king and officials,”

declares the LORD.

³⁹ “Yet in the last days,

I will restore Elam from captivity,”

declares the LORD.