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Judgment on the Ammonites

Concerning the Ammonites.

Thus says the L ord:

Has Israel no sons?

Has he no heir?

Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad,

and his people settled in its towns?

Therefore, the time is surely coming,

says the L ord,

when I will sound the battle alarm

against Rabbah of the Ammonites;

it shall become a desolate mound,

and its villages shall be burned with fire;

then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,

says the L ord.

Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!

Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!

Put on sackcloth,

lament, and slash yourselves with whips!

For Milcom shall go into exile,

with his priests and his attendants.

Why do you boast in your strength?

Your strength is ebbing,

O faithless daughter.

You trusted in your treasures, saying,

“Who will attack me?”

I am going to bring terror upon you,

says the Lord G od of hosts,

from all your neighbors,

and you will be scattered, each headlong,

with no one to gather the fugitives.

⁶ But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, says the L ord.

Judgment on Edom

⁷ Concerning Edom.

Thus says the L ord of hosts:

Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?

Has counsel perished from the prudent?

Has their wisdom vanished?

Flee, turn back, get down low,

inhabitants of Dedan!

For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,

the time when I punish him.

If grape-gatherers came to you,

would they not leave gleanings?

If thieves came by night,

even they would pillage only what they wanted.

But as for me, I have stripped Esau bare,

I have uncovered his hiding places,

and he is not able to conceal himself.

His offspring are destroyed, his kinsfolk

and his neighbors; and he is no more.

Leave your orphans, I will keep them alive;

and let your widows trust in me.

¹² For thus says the L ord: If those who do not deserve to drink the cup still have to drink it, shall you be the one to go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished; you must drink it. ¹³For by myself I have sworn, says the L ord, that Bozrah shall become an object of horror and ridicule, a waste, and an object of cursing; and all her towns shall be perpetual wastes.

I have heard tidings from the L ord,

and a messenger has been sent among the nations:

“Gather yourselves together and come against her,

and rise up for battle!”

For I will make you least among the nations,

despised by humankind.

The terror you inspire

and the pride of your heart have deceived you,

you who live in the clefts of the rock,

who hold the height of the hill.

Although you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,

from there I will bring you down,

says the L ord.

¹⁷ Edom shall become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. ¹⁸As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors were overthrown, says the L ord, no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in it. ¹⁹Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly chase Edom away from it; and I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me? ²⁰Therefore hear the plan that the L ord has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. ²¹At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. ²²Look, he shall mount up and swoop down like an eagle, and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Judgment on Damascus

²³ Concerning Damascus.

Hamath and Arpad are confounded,

for they have heard bad news;

they melt in fear, they are troubled like the sea

that cannot be quiet.

Damascus has become feeble, she turned to flee,

and panic seized her;

anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,

as of a woman in labor.

How the famous city is forsaken,

the joyful town!

Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,

and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,

says the L ord of hosts.

And I will kindle a fire at the wall of Damascus,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

²⁸ Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon defeated.

Thus says the L ord:

Rise up, advance against Kedar!

Destroy the people of the east!

Take their tents and their flocks,

their curtains and all their goods;

carry off their camels for yourselves,

and a cry shall go up: “Terror is all around!”

Flee, wander far away, hide in deep places,

O inhabitants of Hazor!

says the L ord.

For King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon

has made a plan against you

and formed a purpose against you.

Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,

that lives secure,

says the L ord,

that has no gates or bars,

that lives alone.

Their camels shall become booty,

their herds of cattle a spoil.

I will scatter to every wind

those who have shaven temples,

and I will bring calamity

against them from every side,

says the L ord.

Hazor shall become a lair of jackals,

an everlasting waste;

no one shall live there,

nor shall anyone settle in it.

Judgment on Elam

³⁴ The word of the L ord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.

³⁵ Thus says the L ord of hosts: I am going to break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might; ³⁶and I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; and I will scatter them to all these winds, and there shall be no nation to which the exiles from Elam shall not come. ³⁷I will terrify Elam before their enemies, and before those who seek their life; I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger, says the L ord. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them; ³⁸and I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy their king and officials, says the L ord.

³⁹ But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, says the L ord.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

As the minds of men continually vacillate, because they do not sufficiently consider the infinite power of God, the Prophet, that he might remove all obstacles which might have rendered his prophecy doubtful, now declares that the Ammonites gloried in vain in their valleys. Some understand by valleys a fertile land, well watered. But the Prophet, as I think, refers rather to fortified places. He then says, that they in vain gloried in their deep valleys; as they were surrounded with mountains, so they thought that they could not be approached. He derides this vain confidence, Why, he says, dost thou glory in thy valleys, or, profundities? Flown down has thy valley. By saying, that the valley, or depth, had flown down, he alludes to its situation: for when any one considers a region situated among mountains, the land appears as flowing, like a river gliding between its banks. It is then a striking allusion to a deep place, when he says that the valley flowed down ³³³³     The verb means to flow out, and to flow away, to waste. The latter seems to be the meaning here, “wasted has thy valley.” (See Lamentations 4:9.) It has a noun after it, when it means to flow out in the sense of abounding; but when used intransitively, it means to flow away in the sense of wasting, —
   Why gloriest thou in deep valleys! Flown away has thy deep valley, O daughter, who hast turned aside, Who hast trusted in thy treasures, Who hast said in thine heart, “Who can come to me?”
   The participle השובבה, “who hast turned aside,” or away, is rendered “delicate,” by the Vulg., and “beloved,” by the Syr., and the idea of impudence or folly, is conveyed by the Sept. and Targ. How the word could be so rendered, it is difficult to say. The verb means to turn to or from. Being a reduplicate here, it means to turn away resolutely; hence “rebellious” would be no improper rendering. “Her” before “treasures,” refers to “daughter,” but in our language “thy” reads better, as adopted by the Vulg. and the Syr. There is an addition in several copies of the words, “Who hast said in thine heart,” and all the versions have what corresponds with them. — Ed It was the same as though he had said, “Thy depth has vanished,” or, “It shall not be to thee such a protection as thou thinkest.” But the meaning is, that though the Ammonites, confiding in their defences, disregarded all attacks of enemies, they would yet be exposed to plunder; for their mountains and valleys would avail them nothing, notwithstanding the opinion they entertained, that they were so fortified, that they could not be assailed.

He calls Ammon a rebellious, or a backsliding daughter, though he mentions no particulars. But Ezekiel and also Amos and Zephaniah, these three, clearly show why God was so severe towards the Ammonites, (Ezekiel 25; Amos 1:13; Zephaniah 2:9;) it was because they had uttered blasphemies against him and his people, exulted over the miseries and calamities of the chosen people, and plundered them when they saw them overcome by their enemies. For these reasons, then, our Prophet now calls them a rebellious people: they had proudly exalted themselves against God, and exercised cruel tyranny as to the miserable Israelites, who were yet, as it has been stated, connected with them by blood.

Who trusts in her secrecies, or hidden places: rendered by some, “in her treasures.” But as אצר, atser, means to hide, the reference is, as I think, to strongholds; for the Prophet in the next words explains himself, Who can come to me? It appears, then, that the Ammonites thought themselves thus secure, because they were not exposed to their enemies, but protected by their mountains, as though they were in hiding places. This boasting sufficiently shews that they did not so much trust in their treasures as in their hidden places, because they dwelt in recesses. The meaning is, that though the Ammonites gloried that they were beyond the reach of danger, yet God would become the avenger of the cruelty which they had exercised towards their relations, the Israelites. It follows —

³³ The verb means to flow out, and to flow away, to waste. The latter seems to be the meaning here, “wasted has thy valley.” (See Lamentations 4:9.) It has a noun after it, when it means to flow out in the sense of abounding; but when used intransitively, it means to flow away in the sense of wasting, — Why gloriest thou in deep valleys! Flown away has thy deep valley, O daughter, who hast turned aside, Who hast trusted in thy treasures, Who hast said in thine heart, “Who can come to me?” The participle השובבה, “who hast turned aside,” or away, is rendered “delicate,” by the Vulg., and “beloved,” by the Syr., and the idea of impudence or folly, is conveyed by the Sept. and Targ. How the word could be so rendered, it is difficult to say. The verb means to turn to or from. Being a reduplicate here, it means to turn away resolutely; hence “rebellious” would be no improper rendering. “Her” before “treasures,” refers to “daughter,” but in our language “thy” reads better, as adopted by the Vulg. and the Syr. There is an addition in several copies of the words, “Who hast said in thine heart,” and all the versions have what corresponds with them. — Ed