The Lord's Judgment on Ammon
1 This is what the Lord said about Ammon: “Where are the men of Israel? Is there no one to defend their land? Why have they let the people who worship Molech take the territory of the tribe of Gad and settle there? 2 But the time is coming when I will make the people of the capital city of Rabbah hear the noise of battle, and it will be left in ruins and its villages burned to the ground. Then Israel will take its land back from those who took it from them. 3 People of Heshbon, cry out! Ai is destroyed! Women of Rabbah, go into mourning! Put on sackcloth and mourn. Run about in confusion. Your god Molech will be taken into exile, together with his priests and princes. 4 Why do you unfaithful people boast? Your strength is failing. Why do you trust in your power and say that no one would dare attack you? 5 I will bring terror on you from every side. You will all run away. Each one will run for his life, and there will be no one to bring your troops together again.
6 “But later on I will make Ammon prosperous again. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
The Lord's Judgment on Edom
7 This is what the Lord Almighty said about Edom: “Have the people of Edom lost their good judgment? Can their advisers no longer tell them what to do? Has all their wisdom disappeared? 8 People of Dedan, turn and run! Hide! I am going to destroy Esau's descendants because the time has come for me to punish them. 9 When people pick grapes, they leave a few on the vines, and when robbers come at night, they take only what they want. 10 But I have stripped Esau's descendants completely and uncovered their hiding places, so that they can no longer hide. All the people of Edom are destroyed. Not one of them is left. 11 Leave your orphans with me, and I will take care of them. Your widows can depend on me.
12 “If even those who did not deserve to be punished had to drink from the cup of punishment, do you think that you will go unpunished? No, you must drink from the cup! 13 I myself have sworn that the city of Bozrah will become a horrifying sight and a desert; people will make fun of it and use its name as a curse. All the nearby villages will be in ruins forever. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
14 I said, “Edom, I have received a message from the Lord. He has sent a messenger to tell the nations to assemble their armies and to get ready to attack you. 15 The Lord is going to make you weak, and no one will respect you. 16 Your pride has deceived you. No one fears you as much as you think they do. You live on the rocky cliffs, high on top of the mountain; but even though you live as high up as an eagle, the Lord will bring you down. The Lord has spoken.”
17 The Lord said, “The destruction that will come on Edom will be so terrible that everyone who passes by will be shocked and terrified. 18 The same thing will happen to Edom that happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, when they and the nearby towns were destroyed. No one will ever live there again. I, the Lord, have spoken. 19 Like a lion coming out of the thick woods along the Jordan River up to the green pasture land, I will come and make the Edomites run away suddenly from their country. Then the leader I choose will rule the nation. Who can be compared to me? Who would dare challenge me? What ruler could oppose me? 20 So listen to the plan that I have made against the people of Edom, and to what I intend to do to the people of the city of Teman. Even their children will be dragged off, and everyone will be horrified. 21 When Edom falls, there will be such a noise that the entire earth will shake, and the cries of alarm will be heard as far away as the Gulf of Aqaba. 22 The enemy will attack Bozrah like an eagle swooping down with outspread wings. On that day Edom's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labor.”
The Lord's Judgment on Damascus
23 This is what the Lord said about Damascus: “The people in the cities of Hamath and Arpad are worried and troubled because they have heard bad news. Anxiety rolls over them like a sea, and they cannot rest. 24 The people of Damascus are weak and have fled in terror. They are in pain and misery like a woman in labor. 25 The famous city that used to be happy is completely deserted. 26 On that day her young men will be killed in the city streets, and all her soldiers destroyed. 27 I will set the walls of Damascus on fire and will burn down King Benhadad's palaces. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”
Judgment on the Tribe of Kedar and the City of Hazor
28 This is what the Lord said about the tribe of Kedar and the districts controlled by Hazor, which were conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia: “Attack the people of Kedar and destroy that tribe of eastern people! 29 Seize their tents and their flocks, their tent curtains and everything in their tents. Take their camels and tell the people, ‘Terror is all around you!’
30 “People of Hazor, I, the Lord, warn you to run far away and hide. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia has plotted against you, and this is what he says, 31 ‘Come on! We'll attack those people that feel safe and secure! Their city has no gates or locks and is completely unprotected.’
32 “Take their camels and all their livestock! I will scatter in every direction those people who cut their hair short, and I will bring disaster on them from every side. 33 Hazor will be made a desert forever, a place where only jackals live. No one will ever live there again. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
The Lord's Judgment on Elam
34 Soon after Zedekiah became king of Judah, the Lord Almighty spoke to me about the country of Elam. 35 He said, “I will kill all the archers who have made Elam so powerful. 36 I will make winds blow against Elam from all directions, and I will scatter her people everywhere, until there is no country where her refugees have not gone. 37 I will make the people of Elam afraid of their enemies, who want to kill them. In my great anger I will destroy the people of Elam and send armies against them until I have wiped them out. 38 I will destroy their kings and leaders, and set up my throne there. 39 But later on I will make the people of Elam prosperous again. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
1 Unto the children of Ammon thus saith the Lord, Hath Israel no sonnes? or hath he none heire? Why then hath their king possessed God? and his people dwelt in his cities? 2 Therefore beholde the dayes come, sayeth the Lord, that I will cause a noyse of warre to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites, and it shall be a desolate heape, and her daughters shall be burnt with fire: then shall Israel possesse those that possessed him, sayeth the Lord. 3 Howle, O Heshbon, for Ai is wasted: crie ye daughters of Rabbah: girde you with sackecloth: mourne and runne to and from by the hedges: for their King shall goe into captiuitie; and his Priestes, and his princes likewise. 4 Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleis? thy valley floweth away, O rebellious daughter: she trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come vnto me? 5 Beholde, I will bring a feare vpon thee, sayth the Lord God of hostes, of all those that be about thee, and ye shalbe scattered euery man right foorth, and none shall gather him that fleeth. 6 And afterward I will bring againe the captiuitie of the children of Ammon. 7 To Edom thus sayeth the Lord of hostes: Is wisdome no more in Teman? is counsel perished from their children? is their wisdome vanished? 8 Flee, ye inhabitants of Dedan (they are turned backe, and haue consulted to dwell) for I haue brought the destruction of Esau vpon him, and the time of his visitation. 9 If the grape gatherers come to thee, would they not leaue some grapes? if theeues come by night, they will destroy till they haue ynough. 10 For I haue discouered Esau: I haue vncouered his secrets, and he shall not be able to hide himselfe: his seede is wasted, and his brethren and his neighbours, and there shall be none to say, 11 Leaue thy fathers children, and I will preserue them aliue, and let thy widowes trust in me. 12 For thus sayth the Lord, Beholde, they whose iudgement was not to drinke of the cuppe, haue assuredly drunken, and art thou he that shall escape free? thou shalt not goe free, but thou shalt surely drinke of it. 13 For I haue sworne by my selfe, sayeth the Lord, that Bozrah shall be waste, and for a reproche, and a desolation, and a curse, and all the cities thereof shall be perpetuall desolations. 14 I haue heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassadour is sent vnto the heathen, saying, Gather you together, and come against her, and rise vp to the battell. 15 For loe, I will make thee but small among the heathen, and despised among men. 16 Thy feare, and ye pride of thine heart hath deceiued thee, thou that dwellest in the cleftes of the rocke, and keepest the height of ye hil: though thou shouldest make thy nest as hie as the eagle, I wil bring thee downe from thece, sayth the Lord. 17 Also Edom shall be desolate: euery one that goeth by it, shall be astonished, and shall hisse at all the plagues thereof, 18 As in the ouerthrowe of Sodom, and of Gomorah, and the places thereof neere about, saieth the Lord: no man shall dwell there, neither shall the sonnes of men remaine in it. 19 Beholde, hee shall come vp like a lyon from the swelling of Iorden vnto the strong dwelling place: for I will make Israel to rest, euen I will make him to haste away from her, and who is a chosen man that I may appoynt against her? for who is like mee? and who will appoint me the time? and who is the shepheard that will stande before me? 20 Therefore heare the counsell of the Lord that hee hath deuised against Edom, and his purpose that hee hath conceiued against the inhabitants of Teman: surely the least of the flocke shall drawe them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. 21 The earth is mooued at the noyse of their fall: the crie of their voice is heard in the red Sea. 22 Behold, he shall come vp, and flie as the Egle, and spreade his wings ouer Bozrah, and at that day shall the heart of the strong men of Edome be as the heart of a woman in trauaile. 23 Vnto Damascus he sayeth, Hamath is confounded and Arpad, for they haue heard euill tidings, and they are faint hearted as one on the fearefull sea that can not rest. 24 Damascus is discouraged, and turneth her selfe to flight and feare hath seased her: anguish and sorowes haue taken her as a woman in trauaile. 25 How is the glorious citie not reserued, the citie of my ioy? 26 Therefore her yong men shall fall in her streetes, and all her men of warre shall be cut off in that day, sayeth the Lord of hostes. 27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, which shall cosume the palaces of Benhadad. 28 Vnto Kedar, and to the kingdomes of Hazor, which Nebuchad-nezzar, king of Babel shall smite, thus sayeth the Lord, Arise, and goe vp vnto Kedar, and destroy the men of the East. 29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: yea, they shall take to themselues their curtaines and all their vessels, and their camels, and they shall crie vnto them, Feare is on euery side. 30 Flee, get you farre off (they haue consulted to dwell) O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the Lord: for Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel hath taken counsell against you, and hath deuised a purpose against you. 31 Arise, and get you vp vnto the welthy nation that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord, which haue neither gates nor barres, but dwel alone. 32 And their camels shall be a bootie, and the multitude of their cattel a spoile, and I will scatter them into all windes, and to the vtmost corners, and I will bring their destruction from al the sides thereof, sayeth the Lord. 33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and desolation for euer: there shall no man dwell there, nor the sonnes of men remaine in it. 34 The woordes of the Lord that came to Ieremiah the Prophet, concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reigne of Zedekiah King of Iudah, saying, 35 Thus sayeth the Lord of hostes, Beholde, I will breake the bowe of Elam, euen the chiefe of their strength. 36 And vpon Elam I will bring the foure windes from the foure quarters of heauen, and will scatter them towardes all these windes, and there shall bee no nation, whither the fugitiues of Elam shall not come. 37 For I will cause Elam to be afraied before their enemies, and before them that seeke their liues, and will bring vpon them a plague, euen the indignation of my wrath, saieth the Lord, and I wil sende the sworde after them till I haue consumed them. 38 And I wil set my throne in Elam, and I wil destroy both the King and the princes from thence, saith the Lord: but in the latter daies I wil bring againe the captiuitie of Elam, sayeth the Lord.