Jeremiah 49

Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 600 BC – 582 BC · Judah alone · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·

39 verses · 1089 words · ~5 min read · ~7 min listen

Judgment on the Ammonites

¹Concerning 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?

²Therefore, 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.

³Wail, 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.

⁴Why 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?’

⁵Behold, 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.

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

declares the Lord.

Judgment on Edom

Obadiah 1:1–14

⁷Concerning 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?

⁸Turn and run!

Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan,

for I will bring disaster on Esau

at the time I punish him.

⁹If 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?

¹⁰But 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.

¹¹Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives.

Let your widows trust in Me.”

¹²For 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. ¹³For 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.”

¹⁴I 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.

¹⁶The 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.

¹⁸As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown

along with their neighbors,”

says the Lord,

“no one will dwell there;

no man will abide there.

¹⁹Behold, 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?”

²⁰Therefore 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.

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

their cry will resound to the Red Sea.

²²Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down,

spreading its wings over Bozrah.

In that day the hearts of Edomʼs mighty men

will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Judgment on Damascus

Isaiah 17:1–14

²³Concerning 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.

²⁴Damascus has become feeble;

she has turned to flee.

Panic has gripped her;

anguish and pain have seized her

like a woman in labor.

²⁵How is the city of praise not forsaken,

the town that brings Me joy?

²⁶For 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

²⁸Concerning 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!

²⁹They 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!’

³⁰Run! 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.

³¹Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,

one that dwells securely,”

declares the Lord.

“They have no gates or bars;

they live alone.

³²Their 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

³⁴This 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. ³⁵This is what the Lord of Hosts says:

“Behold, I will shatter Elamʼs bow,

the mainstay of their might.

³⁶I 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 Elamʼs exiles will not go.

³⁷So 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.

³⁸I 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.

Footnotes (9)

a v1 Or their king; Milcom is a variant of Molech; also in verse 3; see Leviticus 18:21and 1 Kings 11:7.
b v4 Or your valleys flowing
c v6 Or restore the fortunes of the Ammonites
d v16 Or of Sela
e v20 Or their pasture will be appalled at their fate
f v21 Or the Sea of Reeds
g v23 Hebrew on the sea or by the sea
h v33 Or serpents or dragons
i v39 Or restore the fortunes of Elam

Study notes on this chapter · 2

Prophecy & fulfillmentWidely held reading

Moab and Ammon humbled

Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos and Zephaniah foretell the fall of Moab and Ammon. Both were overrun by Babylon and later by Arab peoples, and their identities disappear from the record by the Hellenistic period. Jeremiah also adds that God would restore the fortunes of Moab and Ammon 'in the latter days'.

When: Jeremiah, c. 600–580 BC; Babylonian campaigns in Transjordan, c. 582 BC.

Original passageJeremiah 48:1–47Jeremiah 49:1–6Zephaniah 2:8–11

Ways people read this (2)

The judgments were fulfilled in Babylonian and later conquests.
The promised restoration is read either as a later return or as a hope of salvation reaching all nations.

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

Prophecy & fulfillmentWidely held reading

Edom brought down

Obadiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Malachi pronounce judgment on Edom for gloating over Jerusalem's fall and for taking advantage of it. Edomite territory was overrun by the Nabataean Arabs after c. 550–400 BC, and the Edomites moved into southern Judea (Idumea). The Idumeans were forcibly absorbed by the Hasmonean John Hyrcanus c. 125 BC, and Herod the Great came from an Idumean family.

When: Obadiah, c. 586 BC (or earlier); Edom displaced by Nabataeans from the 6th–4th centuries BC.

Original passageObadiah 1:1–14Jeremiah 49:7–22Ezekiel 35:1–15

Ways people read this (3)

The prophecies were fulfilled as Edom lost its land and identity over several centuries.
Some readings see in Edom a symbol for the nations opposed to God at the end of the age (Obadiah 15-21).
The date of Obadiah depends on which invasion of Jerusalem is meant (c. 845 BC or 586 BC).

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

See all prophecy & fulfillment notes →

Jeremiah 49

Judgment on the Ammonitesⓘ

Judgment on Edomⓘ

Judgment on Damascusⓘ

Judgment on Kedar and Hazorⓘ

Judgment on Elamⓘ

Study notes on this chapter · 2

Moab and Ammon humbled

Edom brought down

Judgment on the Ammonites

Judgment on Edom

Judgment on Damascus

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

Judgment on Elam