Beginning
What the Lord Says about Ammon
49 (A) The Lord has this to say about the nation of Ammon:
The people of Israel
have plenty of children
to inherit their lands.
So why have you worshipers
of the god Milcom[a]
taken over towns and land
belonging to the tribe of Gad?
2 Someday I will send an army
to attack you in Rabbah,
your capital city.
It will be left in ruins,
and the surrounding villages
will lie in ashes.
You took some of Israel's land,
but on that day
Israel will take yours!
3 Cry, people of Heshbon;[b]
your town will become
a pile of rubble.[c]
You will turn here and there,
but your path will be blocked.[d]
Put on sackcloth[e] and mourn,
you citizens of Rabbah,
because the idol you worship[f]
will be taken
to a foreign country,
along with its priests
and temple officials.
4 You rebellious Ammonites
trust your wealth and ask,
“Who could attack us?”
But I warn you not to boast
when your strength is fading.[g]
5 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will send neighboring nations
to strike you with terror.
You will be scattered,
with no one to care
for your refugees.
6 Yet someday, I will bring
your people back home.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
What the Lord Says about Edom
7 (B)(C) The Lord All-Powerful says about Edom:
Wisdom and common sense
have vanished from Teman.[h]
8 I will send disaster to punish
you descendants of Esau,[i]
so anyone from Dedan[j]
had better turn around
and run back home.[k]
9 People who harvest grapes
leave some for the poor.
Thieves who break in at night
take only what they want.
10 But I will take everything
that belongs to you,
people of Edom,
and I will uncover every place
where you try to hide.
Then you will die,
and so will your children,
relatives, and neighbors.
11 But I can be trusted
to care for your orphans
and widows.
12 Even those nations that don't deserve to be punished will have to drink from the cup of my anger. So how can you possibly hope to escape? 13 I, the Lord, swear in my own name that your city of Bozrah[l] and all your towns will suffer a horrible fate. They will lie in ruins forever, and people will use the name “Bozrah” as a curse word.
14 I have sent a messenger
to command the nations
to prepare for war
against you people of Edom.
15 Your nation will be small,
yet hated by other nations.
16 Pride tricks you into thinking
that other nations
look at you with fear.[m]
You live along the cliffs
and high in the mountains
like the eagles,
but I am the Lord,
and I will bring you down.
17 People passing by your country
will be shocked and horrified
to see a disaster
18 (D) as bad as the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah
and towns nearby.
The towns of Edom will be empty.
19 (E) I, the Lord, will attack you
like a lion from the forest,
attacking sheep in a meadow
along the Jordan.
In a moment the flock runs,
and the land is empty.
Who will I choose to attack you?
I will do it myself!
No one can force me to fight
or chase me away.
20 Listen to my plans for you,
people of Edom.[n]
Your children will be dragged off
and your country destroyed.
21 The sounds of your destruction
will reach the Red Sea[o]
and cause the earth to shake.
22 An enemy will swoop down
to attack you,
like an eagle spreading its wings
and circling over Bozrah.
Your warriors will be as fearful
as women giving birth.[p]
What the Lord Says about Damascus
23 (F) The Lord says about Damascus:
The towns of Hamath and Arpad[q]
have heard your bad news.
They have lost hope,
and worries roll over them
like ocean waves.[r]
24 You people of Damascus
have lost your courage,
and in panic you turn to run,
gripped by fear and pain.[s]
25 Once I was pleased
with your famous city.
But now I warn you, “Escape
while you still can!”[t]
26 Soon, even your best soldiers
will lie dead in your streets.
I, the Lord All-Powerful,
have spoken.
27 I will set fire to your city walls
and burn down the fortresses
King Benhadad built.
Nebuchadnezzar and the People of the Desert
28 Here is what the Lord says about the Kedar tribe and the desert villages[u] that were conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar[v] of Babylonia:
Listen, you people of Kedar
and the other tribes
of the eastern desert.
I have told Nebuchadnezzar
to attack and destroy you.
29 His fearsome army
will surround you,
taking your tents and possessions,
your sheep and camels.
30 Run and hide,
you people of the desert
who live in villages![w]
Nebuchadnezzar has big plans
for you.
31 You have no city walls
and no neighbors to help,
yet you think you're safe—
so I told him to attack.
32 Then your camels
and large herds
will be yours no longer.
People of the Arabian Desert,[x]
disaster will strike you
from every side,
and you will be scattered
everywhere on earth.
33 Only jackals[y] will live
where your villages[z] once stood.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
What the Lord Says about Elam
34-35 Not long after Zedekiah[aa] became king of Judah, the Lord told me to say:
People of Elam,[ab]
I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will kill the archers
who make your army strong.
36 Enemies will attack
from all directions,
and you will be led captive
to every nation on earth.
37 Their armies will crush
and kill you,
and you will face the disaster
that my anger brings.
38 Your king and his officials
will die, and I will rule
in their place.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
39 But I promise that someday
I will bring your people
back to their land.
Babylon Will Be Captured
50 (G) The Lord told me to say:
Announce what will happen
and don't leave anything out.
2 Raise the signal flags;
shout so all nations can hear—
Babylon will be captured!
Marduk,[ac] Babylon's god,
will be ashamed and terrified,
and his idols broken.
3 The attack on the Babylonians
will come from the north;
they and their animals will run,
leaving the land empty.
Israel and Judah Will Return to Their Land
4 The Lord said:
People of Israel and Judah,
when these things happen
you will weep, and together
you will return to your land
and worship me,
the Lord your God.
5 You will ask the way to Zion
and then come and join with me
in making an agreement
you won't break or forget.
6 My people, you are lost sheep
abandoned in the mountains
by their shepherds.
You don't even remember
your resting place.
7 I am your true pastureland,
the one who gave hope
to your ancestors.
But you abandoned me,
so when your enemies found you,
they felt no guilt
as they gobbled you up.
8 (H) Escape from Babylonia,
my people.
Get out of that country!
Don't wait for anyone else.
9 In the north I am bringing
great nations together.
They will attack Babylon
and capture it.
The arrows they shoot
are like the best soldiers,[ad]
always finding their target.
10 Babylonia will be conquered,
and its enemies will carry off
everything they want.
Babylon Will Be Disgraced
The Lord said:
11 People of Babylonia,
you were glad
to rob my people.
You had a good time,
making more noise
than horses
and jumping around
like calves threshing grain.[ae]
12 The city of Babylon
was like a mother to you.
But it will be disgraced
and become nothing
but a barren desert.
13 My anger will destroy Babylon,
and no one will live there.
Everyone who passes by
will be shocked to see
what has happened.
14 Babylon has rebelled against me.
Archers, take your places.
Shoot all your arrows at Babylon.
15 Attack from every side!
Babylon surrenders!
The enemy tears down
its walls and towers.
I am taking my revenge
by doing to Babylon what it did
to other cities.
16 There is no one in Babylonia
to plant or harvest crops.
Even foreigners who lived there
have left for their homelands,
afraid of the enemy armies.
17 Israel is a flock of sheep
scattered by hungry lions.
The king of Assyria[af]
first gobbled Israel up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar,[ag]
king of Babylonia,
crunched on Israel's bones.
18 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
the God of Israel,
punished the king of Assyria,
and I will also punish
the king of Babylonia.
19 But I will bring Israel
back to its own land.
The people will be like sheep
eating their fill
on Mount Carmel
and in Bashan,
in the hill country of Ephraim
and in Gilead.
20 I will rescue a few people
from Israel and Judah.
I will forgive them so completely
that their sin and guilt
will disappear,
never to be found.
The Lord's Commands to the Enemies of Babylonia
21 The Lord said:
I have told
the enemies of Babylonia,
“Attack the people of Merathaim
and Pekod.[ah]
Kill them all!
Destroy their possessions!”
22 Sounds of war
and the noise of destruction
can be heard.
23 Babylonia was a hammer
pounding every country,
but now it lies broken.
What a shock to the nations
of the world!
24 Babylonia challenged me,
the Lord God All-Powerful,
but that nation doesn't know
it is caught in a trap
that I set.
25 I've brought out my weapons,
and with them I will put a curse
on Babylonia.
26 Come from far away,
you enemies of Babylon!
Pile up the grain
from its storehouses,
and destroy it completely,
along with everything else.
27 Kill the soldiers of Babylonia,
because the time has come
for them to be punished.
28 The Babylonian army
destroyed my temple,
but soon I will take revenge.
Then refugees from Babylon
will tell about it in Zion.
29 (I) Attack Babylon, enemy archers;
set up camp around the city,
and don't let anyone escape.
It challenged me, the holy God,
so do to it
what it did to other cities.
Proud Babylon Will Fall
30 People of Babylon,
I, the Lord, promise
that even your best soldiers
will lie dead in the streets.
31 Babylon, you should be named,
“The Proud One.”
But the time has come when I,
the Lord All-Powerful,
will punish you.
32 You are proud,
but you will stumble and fall,
and no one will help you up.
I will set your villages on fire,
and everything around you
will go up in flames.
33 You Babylonians were cruel
to Israel and Judah.
You took them captive, and now
you refuse to let them go.
34 But I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will rescue and protect them.
I will bring peace to their land
and trouble to yours.
35 I have declared war on you,
your officials, and advisors.
36 This war will prove
that your prophets
are liars and fools.
And it will frighten
your warriors.
37 Then your chariot horses
and the foreigners in your army
will refuse to go into battle,
and the enemy will carry away
everything you treasure.
38 Your rivers and canals
will dry up.
All of this will happen,
because your land
is full of idols,
and they have made fools
of you.
39 (J) Never again will people live
in your land—
only desert animals, jackals,[ai]
and unclean birds.
40 (K) I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
and the nearby towns,
and I will destroy Babylon
just as completely.
No one will live there again.
Babylonia Is Invaded
The Lord said:
41 Far to the north,
a nation and its allies
have been awakened.
They are powerful
and ready for war.
42 Bows and arrows and swords
are in their hands.
The soldiers are cruel
and show no pity.
The hoofbeats of their horses echo
like ocean waves
crashing against the shore.
The army has lined up for battle
and is coming to attack you,
people of Babylonia!
43 Ever since your king heard
about this army,
he has been weak with fear;
he twists and turns in pain
like a woman giving birth.
44 Babylonia, I will attack you
like a lion from the forest,
attacking sheep in a meadow
along the Jordan.
In a moment the flock runs,
and the land is empty.
Who will I choose to attack you?
I will do it myself!
No one can force me to fight
or chase me away.
45 Listen to my plans for you,
people of Babylonia.
Your children will be dragged off,
and your country destroyed.
46 The sounds of your destruction
will be heard among the nations,
and the earth will shake.
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