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49. Message About Ammon, Damascus

¹ Concerning the Ammonites:

This is what the LORD says:

   “Has Israel no sons?
   Has Israel no heir?
Why then has Molek Or their king; also in verse 3 taken possession of Gad?
   Why do his people live in its towns?
² But the days are coming,”
   declares the LORD,
“when I will sound the battle cry
   against Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it will become a mound of ruins,
   and its surrounding villages will be set on fire.
Then Israel will drive out
   those who drove her out,” says the LORD.
³ “Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed!
   Cry out, you inhabitants of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth and mourn;
   rush here and there inside the walls,
for Molek will go into exile,
   together with his priests and officials.
⁴ Why do you boast of your valleys,
   boast of your valleys so fruitful?
Unfaithful Daughter Ammon,
   you trust in your riches and say,
   ‘Who will attack me?’
⁵ I will bring terror on you
   from all those around you,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
“Every one of you will be driven away,
   and no one will gather the fugitives.

⁶ “Yet afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites,” declares the LORD.

A Message About Edom

⁷ Concerning Edom:

This is what the LORD Almighty says:

   “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
   Has counsel perished from the prudent?
   Has their wisdom decayed?
⁸ Turn and flee, hide in deep caves,
   you who live in Dedan,
for I will bring disaster on Esau
   at the time when I punish him.
⁹ If grape pickers came to you,
   would they not leave a few grapes?
If thieves came during the night,
   would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
¹⁰ But I will strip Esau bare;
   I will uncover his hiding places,
   so that he cannot conceal himself.
His armed men are destroyed,
   also his allies and neighbors,
   so there is no one to say,
¹¹ ‘Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive.
   Your widows too can depend on me.’”

¹² This is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, why should you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but must drink it. ¹³ I swear by myself,” declares the LORD, “that Bozrah will become a ruin and a curse, That is, its name will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that it is cursed. an object of horror and reproach; and all its towns will be in ruins forever.”

    ¹⁴ I have heard a message from the LORD;
   an envoy was sent to the nations to say,
“Assemble yourselves to attack it!
   Rise up for battle!”

    ¹⁵ “Now I will make you small among the nations,
   despised by mankind.
¹⁶ The terror you inspire
   and the pride of your heart have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks,
   who occupy the heights of the hill.
Though you build your nest as high as the eagle’s,
   from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
¹⁷ “Edom will become an object of horror;
   all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff
   because of all its wounds.
¹⁸ As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown,
   along with their neighboring towns,” says the LORD,
“so no one will live there;
   no people will dwell in it.

    ¹⁹ “Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets
   to a rich pastureland,
I will chase Edom from its land in an instant.
   Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?
Who is like me and who can challenge me?
   And what shepherd can stand against me?”

    ²⁰ Therefore, hear what the LORD has planned against Edom,
   what he has purposed against those who live in Teman:
The young of the flock will be dragged away;
   their pasture will be appalled at their fate.
²¹ At the sound of their fall the earth will tremble;
   their cry will resound to the Red Sea. Or the Sea of Reeds
²² Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down,
   spreading its wings over Bozrah.
In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors
   will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

A Message About Damascus

²³ Concerning Damascus:

   “Hamath and Arpad are dismayed,
   for they have heard bad news.
They are disheartened,
   troubled like Hebrew on or by the restless sea.
²⁴ Damascus has become feeble,
   she has turned to flee
   and panic has gripped her;
anguish and pain have seized her,
   pain like that of a woman in labor.
²⁵ Why has the city of renown not been abandoned,
   the town in which I delight?
²⁶ Surely, her young men will fall in the streets;
   all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD Almighty.
²⁷ “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;
   it will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.”

A Message About Kedar and Hazor

²⁸ Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked:

This is what the LORD says:

   “Arise, and attack Kedar
   and destroy the people of the East.
²⁹ Their tents and their flocks will be taken;
   their shelters will be carried off
   with all their goods and camels.
People will shout to them,
   ‘Terror on every side!’

    ³⁰ “Flee quickly away!
   Stay in deep caves, you who live in Hazor,” declares the LORD.
“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has plotted against you;
   he has devised a plan against you.

    ³¹ “Arise and attack a nation at ease,
   which lives in confidence,” declares the LORD,
“a nation that has neither gates nor bars;
   its people live far from danger.
³² Their camels will become plunder,
   and their large herds will be spoils of war.
I will scatter to the winds those who are in distant places Or who clip the hair by their foreheads
   and will bring disaster on them from every side,” declares the LORD.
³³ “Hazor will become a haunt of jackals,
   a desolate place forever.
No one will live there;
   no people will dwell in it.”

A Message About Elam

³⁴ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah:

³⁵ This is what the LORD Almighty says:

   “See, I will break the bow of Elam,
   the mainstay of their might.
³⁶ I will bring against Elam the four winds
   from the four quarters of heaven;
I will scatter them to the four winds,
   and there will not be a nation
   where Elam’s exiles do not go.
³⁷ I will shatter Elam before their foes,
   before those who want to kill them;
I will bring disaster on them,
   even my fierce anger,” declares the LORD.
“I will pursue them with the sword
   until I have made an end of them.
³⁸ I will set my throne in Elam
   and destroy her king and officials,” declares the LORD.

³⁹ “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam
in days to come,” declares the LORD.

By Elam some interpreters understand Persia, and it is the most common opinion. I however think that the Elamites were not the same with the Persians; I should rather say that they were the Parthians, were it not that Luke, in Acts 2:9, makes them a distinct people from the Parthians. At the same time it is not right, as it seems to me, to regard the Persians as generally designated by Elam; for the Persians were remote from the Jews, and the Jews never received any injury from that people. There was therefore no reason why the Prophet should denounce punishment on them. The country of Elymais was known as bordering on the Medes, and contiguous to the Persians. But that people must have joined the Assyrians and Chaldeans against the Jews. As then the Babylonians had them as auxiliaries, it was God’s purpose to avenge the injury done to his people. Besides, Pliny also speaks of Elamites as being contiguous to the Nabatheans; but they were occupying, as it were, the middle place between Persia and Judea. They were indeed, as he shews elsewhere, a maritime people; for he speaks often of Elymais, but names the Elamites only once. However this may have been, they were orientals as the Persians were, but not so far from Judea; and as they were, at it has been said, near the Medes, the probability is that they joined themselves with the enemies of the Church, when Nebuchadnezzar drew with him the vast forces which he had everywhere gathered, that he might extend his dominion far and wide; for we shall see in what follows that God was grievously displeased with the Elamites. ⁴⁸⁴⁸ They were the descendants of Elam the son of Shem, Genesis 10:22. They were a powerful kingdom in the days of Abram, Genesis 14:1. Isaiah speaks of them as hostile to the people of Israel, Isaiah 22:6. Shushan is said to have been in the province of Elam, Daniel 8:2 — Ed. We hence conclude that they were very hostile to the chosen people, whose cause God here undertakes.

This much as to the name: when, therefore, Jeremiah speaks here of the Elamites, let us know that a particular nation is referred to, and one distinct from the Persians, and then that this nation assisted the Chaldeans in oppressing the Jews. Let us now see what the Prophet declares respecting them.

He says, first, that this word came to him in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah Nebuchadnezzar, then, greatly harassed the Jews, while yet they remained in their obstinacy; and it is probable that the Elamites formed a part of the Chaldean army. When, therefore, the Jews considered how various were their enemies, and when they did not expect that they would ever be punished, it was a trial that must have greatly distressed the minds of the godly. What Jeremiah then declared, no one could have thought of, that is, that the Elamites would not escape unpunished, because they so furiously attacked the chosen people under the banner of King Nebuchadnezzar. This, then, was the reason why the Prophet specified the time: this word, then, came in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah