Jeremiah 49:7-22

New International Reader's Version

“Isn’t there wisdom in the town of Teman anymore?
    Can’t those who are wise give advice?
    Has their wisdom disappeared completely?
⁸ Turn around and run away, you who live in Dedan.
    Hide in deep caves.
I will bring trouble on Esau’s family line.
    I will do this at the time I punish them.
⁹ Edom, suppose grape pickers came to harvest your vines.
    They would still leave a few grapes.
Suppose robbers came at night.
    They would steal only as much as they wanted.
¹⁰ But I will strip everything away from Esau’s people.
    I will uncover their hiding places.
    They will not be able to hide anywhere.
Their army is destroyed.
    Their friends and neighbors are destroyed.
    So there is no one to say,
¹¹ ‘Leave your children whose fathers have died.
    I will keep them alive.
    Your widows can also depend on me.’ ”

¹⁴ I’ve heard a message from the Lord.
    A messenger was sent to the nations. The Lord told him to say,
“Gather yourselves together to attack Edom!
    Prepare for battle!”

¹⁵ The Lord says to Edom, “I will make you weak among the nations.
    They will hate you.
¹⁶ You live in the safety of the rocks.
    You live on top of the hills.
But the terror you stir up has now turned against you.
    Your proud heart has tricked you.
You build your nest as high as an eagle does.
    But I will bring you down from there,”
    announces the Lord.
¹⁷ “People of Edom,
    all those who pass by you will be shocked.
They will make fun of you
    because of all your wounds.
¹⁸ Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
    So were the towns that were near them,”
    says the Lord.
“You will be just like them.
    No one will live in your land.
    No human beings will stay there.

¹⁹ “I will be like a lion coming up
    from the bushes by the Jordan River.
    I will hunt in rich grasslands.
I will chase you from your land in an instant.
    What nation will I choose to do this?
    Which one will I appoint?
Is anyone like me?
    Who would dare to argue with me?
    What leader can stand against me?”
²⁰ So listen to what the Lord has planned
    against the people of Edom.
    Hear what he has planned against those who live in Teman.
Edom’s young people will be dragged away.
    Their grasslands will be shocked at their fate.
²¹ When the earth hears Edom fall, it will shake.
    The people’s cries will be heard all the way to the Red Sea.
²² Look! An enemy is coming.
    It’s like an eagle diving down.
    It will spread its wings over Bozrah.
At that time the hearts of Edom’s soldiers
    will tremble in fear.
    They’ll be like the heart of a woman having a baby.