Jeremiah 49
Complete Jewish Bible
49 Concerning the people of ‘Amon, here is what Adonai says:
“Has Isra’el no sons?
Has he no heir?
Then why has Malkam inherited Gad,
with his people settled in its cities?
2 Therefore,” says Adonai, “the days are coming
when I will sound the battle alarm
against Rabbah and the people of ‘Amon;
it will become a tel of ruins,
her villages burned to the ground.
Then Isra’el will inherit from them
who disinherited him,” says Adonai.
3 “Wail, Heshbon, for ‘Ai is doomed!
Cry out, daughters of Rabbah!
Wear sackcloth and mourn,
running here and there among the sheep pens.
For Malkam will go into exile,
together with his priests and officers.
4 Why do you take such pride in the valleys,
your well-watered valleys, rebellious daughter?
You trusted in your riches
and thought, ‘Who can attack me?’
5 I am bringing terror on you,”
says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, “from every side.
Each of you will be driven out headlong,
with no one to gather the fugitives.
6 But afterwards, I will bring back
the exiles of ‘Amon,” says Adonai.
7 Concerning Edom, this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says:
“Is there no wisdom left in Teman?
Have her wise men forgotten how to counsel?
Has their wisdom vanished?
8 Flee! Turn back! Hide yourselves well,
you who live in D’dan;
for I am bringing calamity on ‘Esav,
when the time for me to punish him comes.
9 If grape-pickers came to you,
they would leave no grapes for gleaning.
If thieves came at night,
they would destroy until they were satisfied.
10 So I, for my part, have stripped ‘Esav bare,
I have exposed his hiding-places;
he will not be able to hide himself.
He is doomed — sons, brothers and neighbors —
so that he is no more.
11 Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive;
let your widows trust in me.”
12 For this is what Adonai says: “Those who do not deserve to drink from this cup will have to drink it anyway, so should you go unpunished? No, you will not go unpunished; you will certainly drink it. 13 For I have sworn by myself,” says Adonai, “that Botzrah will become a ruin and an object of astonishment, reproach and cursing; all its cities will be ruins forever.”
14 I have heard a message from Adonai:
“A messenger is sent among the nations, saying:
‘Gather together, and march against her!
Prepare for battle!’
15 Here! I will make you least among nations,
the most despised of people.
16 Your capacity to terrorize
has deceived you and made you arrogant.
You make your home in the rocky crags
and seize the top of the mountain;
but even if you build your nest high as an eagle’s,
from there I will drag you down,” says Adonai.
17 Edom will become an object of horror;
everyone passing by will whistle
in astonishment at all its disasters.
18 It will be like the overthrow of S’dom,
‘Amora and their neighboring towns,” says Adonai.
“No one will settle there any more,
no human being will live there again.
19 It will be like a lion coming up from the thickets
of the Yarden against a strong settlement:
in an instant I will chase him away
and appoint over it whomever I choose.
For who is like me? Who can call me to account?
What shepherd can stand up to me?”
20 So hear the plan of Adonai
that he has devised against Edom,
and his purpose that he will accomplish
against those who live in Teman:
the least of the flock will drag them away;
their own pasture will be in shock at them.
21 The earth quakes at the sound of their fall;
their cry can be heard at the Sea of Suf.
22 Like a vulture he will soar, swoop down
and spread out his wings against Botzrah.
On that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
23 Concerning Dammesek:
“Hamat and Arpad are confused;
having heard bad news, they dissolve in fear,
like the churning sea, which cannot calm itself.
24 Dammesek, weakened, turns to flee;
trembling has seized her;
anguish and pain take hold of her
like the pains of a woman in labor.
25 How can a city so praised be deserted,
a city that gave me such joy?
26 Therefore her young men will fall in her squares,
and all her warriors be silenced on that day,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
27 “I will light a fire inside Dammesek’s walls
which will consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”
28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hatzor, which N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel struck, Adonai says:
“Set out! March against Kedar!
Plunder the people of the east!
29 They will seize their tents and their flocks,
their tent curtains and all their equipment;
their camels too they will take for themselves
and shout at them, ‘Terror in every direction!’
30 Flee! Leave your homes! Hide yourselves well,
you who live in Hatzor,” says Adonai;
“for N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel
has devised a plan against you;
he has formed a scheme against you.
31 Get up! March on a nation at ease,
that lives secure,” says Adonai.
“They have neither gates nor bars;
they live in isolation.
32 Their camels will be booty,
their many cattle a spoil.
I will scatter to the winds
those who shave the sides of their heads;
From every direction I will bring
their disaster on them,” says Adonai.
33 “Hatzor will be a place for jackals to live,
desolate forever;
no one will settle there any more,
no human being will live there again.”
34 This is the word of Adonai that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning ‘Eilam at the beginning of the reign of Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah: 35 “Adonai-Tzva’ot says:
‘I will break ‘Eilam’s bow,
the mainstay of their might.
36 I will bring against ‘Eilam the four winds
from the four quarters of the sky
and scatter them to all those winds.
There will not be one nation to which
the dispersed of ‘Eilam will not come.
37 I will break ‘Eilam before their foes,
before those who seek their lives;
I will bring disaster on them,
my burning anger,’ says Adonai.
‘I will send the sword to pursue them
until I have finished them off.
38 I will put my throne in ‘Eilam
and destroy their king and leaders,’ says Adonai.
39 ‘But in the acharit-hayamim,
I will bring back the exiles of ‘Eilam,’ says Adonai.”
Yirmeyah 49
Orthodox Jewish Bible
49 Concerning Bnei Ammon, thus saith Hashem: Hath Yisroel no banim? Hath he no yoresh (heir)? Why then doth Malcam (Molech) inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his towns?
2 Therefore, hinei, the days come, saith Hashem, that I will cause an alarm of milchamah to be heard in Rabbah of Bnei Ammon; and it shall become a desolate tel (mound), and her banot shall be burned with eish: then shall Yisroel dispossess his dispossessors, saith Hashem.
3 Wail, O Cheshbon, for Ai is plundered: cry out, ye banot of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and rush to and fro inside the walls; for Malcam (Molech) shall go into Golus, and his kohanim and his sarim together.
4 Why gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing emek (valley), O Bat hashovevah (backsliding Daughter)? That trusted in her otzarot, saying, Who shall come unto Me?
5 Hineni, I will bring a pachad (terror) upon thee, saith Adonoi Hashem Tzva’os, from all those that be around thee; and ye shall be driven out, every ish before him; and none shall gather up the fugitive.
6 And afterward I will bring back the captivity of the Bnei Ammon, saith Hashem.
7 Concerning Edom, thus saith Hashem Tzva’os; Is chochmah no more in Teman? Is etzah perished from the prudent? Is their chochmah vanished?
8 Flee ye, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esav upon him, the time that I will visit [to punish] him.
9 If grape gatherers come to thee, would they not leave some grape gleanings? If ganavim balailah (thieves by night), they will destroy only till they have enough.
10 But I have stripped Esav bare, I have uncovered his hiding places, and he shall not be able to hide himself; his zera are plundered, and his brethren, and his shchenim (neighbors) and he is no more.
11 Leave thy yatomim (fatherless, orphans), I will preserve them alive; and let thy almanot trust in Me.
12 For thus saith Hashem: Hinei, they [i.e., the innocent] whose mishpat was not to drink of the Kos have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? Thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
13 For I have sworn by Myself, saith Hashem, that Botzrah shall become a desolation, a cherpah, a reproach, and a kelalah; and all the towns thereof shall be perpetual ruins.
14 I have heard a message from Hashem, and an envoy is sent unto the Goyim, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the milchamah.
15 For, hinei, I will make thee katon among the Goyim, and despised among adam.
16 Thy fierceness hath deceived thee, and the zadon (pride, malice) of thine lev, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill; though thou shouldest make thy ken (nest) as high as the nesher, I will bring thee down from there, saith Hashem.
17 Also Edom shall be a horror; every one that goeth by it shall be appalled, and shall hiss at all the makkot (wounds, blows) thereof.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Amora (Gomorrah) and the neighboring towns thereof, saith Hashem, no ish shall abide there, neither shall a ben adam dwell in it.
19 Hinei, he shall come up like an aryeh from the thicket of the Yarden against the rich pastureland; but I will suddenly make him run away from her; and who is Bachur (Chosen one), that I may appoint over her? Mi khamoni (who is like Me)? And who will arraign Me? And who is that Ro’eh (shepherd) that will stand before Me?
20 Therefore hear the etzat Hashem, that He hath planned against Edom; and His purposes, that He hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman; Surely the young ones of the tzon shall drag them away; surely He shall make their habitation desolate because of them.
21 Ha’aretz shakes at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in Yam Suf.
22 Hinei, He shall come up and fly like the nesher, and spread His wings over Botzrah; and in that day shall the lev of the Gibborim of Edom be as the lev of an isha in her birth pangs.
23 Concerning Damascus: Chamat is shamed, and Arpad, for they have heard bad news; they are fainthearted; there is anxiety on the yam (sea); it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus has grown feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath gripped her; anguish and chavalim (pains) have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is it that the Ir Tehillah is not deserted, the town of My joy!
26 Therefore her bochurim shall fall in her streets, and all the anshei milchamah shall be destroyed in that day, saith Hashem Tzva’os.
27 And I will kindle an eish in the chomat Damascus, and it shall consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.
28 Concerning Kedar, and concerning the mamlechot of Chatzor, which Nevuchadretzar Melech Bavel shall strike, thus saith Hashem; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and plunder the Bnei Kedem.
29 Their ohalim and their tzon shall they take away; they shall carry off for themselves their tent curtains, and all their kelim (vessels), their gemalim (camels); and they shall cry unto them, Magor (terror, fear) is on every side.
30 Flee, get you far off, dwell in the depths, O ye inhabitants of Chatzor, saith Hashem; for Nevuchadretzar Melech Bavel hath plotted an etzah (plot, plan, counsel) against you, and hath conceived a plan against you.
31 Arise, get you up unto the nation which is at ease, that dwelleth securely, saith Hashem, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.
32 And their gemalim (camels) shall be for plunder, and the multitude of their mikneh (herds) a plunder; and I will scatter unto kol ruach (all winds) them that cut off the [hair] corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith Hashem.
33 And Chatzor shall be a ma’on (dwelling) for jackals, and a desolation ad olam (forever); there shall no ish abide there, nor any ben adam dwell in it.
34 The Devar Hashem that came to Yirmeyah HaNavi against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Tzidkiyah Melech Yehudah, saying,
35 Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os; Hineni: I will break the keshet (bow, power) of Elam, the mainstay of their might.
36 And upon Elam will I bring the arba ruchot (four winds) from the four quarters of Shomayim, and will scatter them toward all those ruchot; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not go.
37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their oyevim, and before them that seek their nefesh; and I will bring ra’ah upon them, even My charon af, saith Hashem; and I will send the cherev after them, till I have consumed them:
38 And I will set My Kisse in Elam, and will destroy from there melech and the sarim, saith Hashem.
39 Yet it shall come to pass in the acharit hayamim, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith Hashem.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International