Jeremiah - The Old Testament

¹ To the Ammonites. Yahweh says this: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why should Milcom have inherited Gad and his people have settled in its towns?

² And so the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall make the war cry ring out for Rabbah-of-the-Ammonites. She will become a desolate mound and her daughter towns will be burnt down. Then Israel will inherit from his heirs, Yahweh says.

³ Wail, Heshbon, for Ar has been laid waste! Shriek, daughters of Rabbah! Wrap yourself in sackcloth, raise the dirge, run to and fro among the sheep-pens! For Milcom is going into exile, with all his priests and princes.

⁴ How you used to glory in your Valley, rebellious daughter, confident in your resources, 'Who will dare to attack me?'

⁵ Look, I shall bring terror on you, Lord Yahweh Sabaoth declares, from all directions; you shall be driven away, everyone for himself, with no one to rally the fugitives.

⁶ (But later I shall bring back the captive Ammonites, Yahweh declares.)

⁷ To Edom. Yahweh says this: Is there no wisdom left in Teman? Have the shrewd run out of commonsense, has their wisdom vanished?

⁸ Away! Take to your heels! Go into hiding, inhabitants of Dedan, for I shall bring ruin on Esau when the time comes for me to punish him.

⁹ If grape-pickers were to come to you, would they not leave a few gleanings? If robbers came during the night, would they not steal only as much as they wanted?

¹⁰ But I for my part have stripped Esau, have laid his hiding places bare: he can hide no longer. His race is destroyed, so are his brothers and neighbours; he is no more!

¹¹ Leave your orphans, I shall support them, and let your widows rely on me!

¹² For Yahweh says this, 'Look, those who would not have had to drink the cup will have to drink it all the same; so why should you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but will certainly have to drink.

¹³ For by my own self I have sworn, Yahweh declares, that Bozrah will become an object of horror, a laughing-stock, a desert, a curse, and all its towns ruins for ever.'

¹⁴ I have received a message from Yahweh, a herald has been sent throughout the nations, 'Muster! March against this people! Prepare for battle!'

¹⁵ For look, I shall reduce you to the smallest of nations, to the most despised of people.

¹⁶ Your reputation for ferocity, your proud heart has misled you. You whose home is in the crannies of the Rock, who cling to the top of the peak! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I shall bring you down from there, Yahweh declares.

¹⁷ Edom will become an object of horror; everyone going near will be appalled, and whistle at the sight of all her wounds.

¹⁸ As at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbouring towns, no one will live there any more, Yahweh says, no human being settle there again.

¹⁹ Look, like a lion he climbs from the thickets of the Jordan to the perennial pasture! In a flash, I shall make them run away, and there appoint someone I shall choose. For who is there like me? Who can hale me into court? Name me the shepherd who can stand up to me.

²⁰ So now hear the plan that Yahweh has laid against Edom, the schemes he has in mind against the inhabitants of Teman: they will certainly be dragged away like the smallest of the flock! Their pastures will certainly be sacked before their eyes!

²¹ The earth quakes at the sound of their downfall, the sound of it echoes to the Sea of Reeds.

²² Look, like an eagle, he will soar and hover, spreading his wings over Bozrah. And the heart of Edom's warriors, that day, will be like that of a woman in labour pains.

²³ To Damascus. Hamath and Arpad are shamed, for they have heard bad news. They are convulsed with anxiety like the sea that cannot be calmed.

²⁴ Damascus is aghast, she prepares for flight, she is seized with trembling (anguish and sorrow have laid hold on her as on a woman in labour).

²⁵ What now! That famous town deserted, that city of gaiety?

²⁶ And so in her squares her young men will fall, and all her fighting men will perish, that day, Yahweh Sabaoth declares.

²⁷ I shall light a fire inside the walls of Damascus, to devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad.

²⁸ To Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Yahweh says this: Up! March on Kedar, destroy the sons of the east!

²⁹ Let their tents and their flocks be captured, their tent-cloths and all their gear; let their camels be seized and the shout go up, 'Terror on every side!'

³⁰ Away! Get into hiding as fast as you can, inhabitants of Hazor, Yahweh declares, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you, he has a scheme in mind against you,

³¹ Up! March on a nation at its ease, living secure, Yahweh declares, that has no gates, no bars, that lives in a remote place!

³² Their camels will be the plunder, their countless sheep the spoil. I shall scatter them to the winds, those Crop-Heads, and bring ruin on them from every side, Yahweh declares.

³³ Hazor will become the lair of jackals, desolate for ever. No one will live there any more, no human being settle there again.

³⁴ The word of Yahweh that came to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

³⁵ 'Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Look, I shall break Elam's bow, the source of his might.

³⁶ I shall bring four winds on Elam from the four corners of the sky, and I shall scatter them to all these winds: there will not be a single nation to which people expelled from Elam do not go.

³⁷ I shall make the Elamites tremble before their enemies, before those determined to kill them. I shall bring disaster on them, my burning anger, Yahweh declares. I shall pursue them with the sword until I have destroyed them all.

³⁸ I shall set up my throne in Elam, uprooting its king and princes, Yahweh declares.

³⁹ In the final days, I shall bring Elam's captives back, Yahweh declares.'