The nations
Jeremiah 49
39 verses≈ 8 minBSB
Images are artistic interpretations.
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Where we are
- 1The callJosiah’s thirteenth year (about 627 BC): a prophet to the nations
- 2–6Return to MeBroken cisterns, faithless Judah, disaster from the north
- 7–10The temple gateThe temple sermon, a weeping prophet, the living God
- 11–20Covenant and complaintThe broken covenant, the potter, Jeremiah’s confessions
- 21–29Shepherds and prophetsKings judged, the Branch, seventy years, the yoke, the letter
- 30–33The Book of ComfortRestoration, the new covenant, a field bought in a siege
- 34–39The last days of JudahThe scroll burned, the cistern, Jerusalem falls (586 BC)
- 40–45After the fallGedaliah at Mizpah, the flight to Egypt, a word for Baruch
- 46–51The nationsEgypt to Babylon: the LORD is Judge of all the earthChapter 49
- 52Jerusalem fallsThe record of 586 BC, and a king released
Judgment on the Ammonites
Concerning the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says:
“Has Israel no sons?
Is he without heir?
Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad?
Why have his people settled in their cities?
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God
Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
declares the LORD,
when I will sound the battle cry
against Rabbah of the Ammonites.
It will become a heap of ruins,
and its villages will be burned.
Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors,
says the LORD.
Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed;
cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth and mourn;
run back and forth within your walls,
for Milcom will go into exile
together with his priests and officials.
Why do you boast of your valleys—
your valleys so fruitful,
O faithless daughter?
You trust in your riches and say,
‘Who can come against me?’
Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you,
declares the Lord GOD of Hosts,
from all those around you.
You will each be driven headlong,
with no one to regather the fugitives.
Yet afterward I will restore the Ammonites from captivity,”
declares the LORD.
Stylised map · locations approximate
On the map
Five nations
Ammon and Edom were Judah’s near neighbors, east and south of the Dead Sea. Damascus, Hamath and Arpad lay north in Aram, Kedar out in the eastern desert, and Elam far beyond Babylon.
Judgment on Edom
God
Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says:
“Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom decayed?
Turn and run!
Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan,
for I will bring disaster on Esau
at the time I punish him.
Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives.
Let your widows trust in Me.”
Jeremiah 49:11
For this is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must drink it too. For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”
I have heard a message from the LORD;
an envoy has been sent to the nations:
“Assemble yourselves to march against her!
Rise up for battle!”
“Edom will become an object of horror.
All who pass by will be appalled
and will scoff at all her wounds.
As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown
along with their neighbors,”
says the LORD,
“no one will dwell there;
no man will abide there.
God
Behold, one will come up like a lion
from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture.
For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land.
Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?
For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
Therefore hear the plans
that the LORD has drawn up against Edom
and the strategies He has devised
against the people of Teman:
Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away;
certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.
At the sound of their fall the earth will quake;
their cry will resound to the Red Sea.
Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down,
spreading its wings over Bozrah.
In that day the hearts of Edom’s mighty men
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
Question
Quick question
Edom is stripped bare and its hiding places uncovered. But in the middle of the sentence, one word of shelter.
What did the LORD promise Edom’s orphans and widows?
Judgment on Damascus
Concerning Damascus:
“Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,
for they have heard a bad report;
they are agitated like the sea;
their anxiety cannot be calmed.
Damascus has become feeble;
she has turned to flee.
Panic has gripped her;
anguish and pain have seized her
like a woman in labor.
How is the city of praise not forsaken,
the town that brings Me joy?
For her young men will fall in the streets,
and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,”
declares the LORD of Hosts.
God
“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;
it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”
Judgment on Kedar and Hazor
God
Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says:
“Rise up, advance against Kedar,
and destroy the people of the east!
They will take their tents and flocks,
their tent curtains and all their goods.
They will take their camels for themselves.
They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’
Run! Escape quickly!
Lie low, O residents of Hazor,”
declares the LORD,
“for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
has drawn up a plan against you;
he has devised a strategy against you.
Their camels will become plunder,
and their large herds will be spoil.
I will scatter to the wind in every direction
those who shave their temples;
I will bring calamity on them
from all sides,”
declares the LORD.
“Hazor will become a haunt for jackals,
a desolation forever.
No one will dwell there;
no man will abide there.”
Pray
Pray
Lord, You see what I hide behind: riches, cleverness, high rocks, open distance. Bring down my false refuges, and teach me to trust in You, like the widows You keep. Amen.
Judgment on Elam
This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.
God
This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
“Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow,
the mainstay of their might.
I will bring the four winds against Elam
from the four corners of the heavens,
and I will scatter them
to all these winds.
There will not be a nation
to which Elam’s exiles will not go.
So I will shatter Elam before their foes,
before those who seek their lives.
I will bring disaster upon them,
even My fierce anger,”
declares the LORD.
“I will send out the sword after them
until I finish them off.
I will set My throne in Elam,
and destroy its king and officials,”
declares the LORD.
“Yet in the last days,
I will restore Elam from captivity,”
declares the LORD.
0:11
Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
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Jeremiah 49
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Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives. Let your widows trust in Me.
Jeremiah 49:11
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