Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

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.

As the minds of men continually vacillate, because they do not sufficiently consider the infinite power of God, the Prophet, that he might remove all obstacles which might have rendered his prophecy doubtful, now declares that the Ammonites gloried in vain in their valleys. Some understand by valleys a fertile land, well watered. But the Prophet, as I think, refers rather to fortified places. He then says, that they in vain gloried in their deep valleys; as they were surrounded with mountains, so they thought that they could not be approached. He derides this vain confidence, Why, he says, dost thou glory in thy valleys, or, profundities? Flown down has thy valley. By saying, that the valley, or depth, had flown down, he alludes to its situation: for when any one considers a region situated among mountains, the land appears as flowing, like a river gliding between its banks. It is then a striking allusion to a deep place, when he says that the valley flowed down ³³³³     The verb means to flow out, and to flow away, to waste. The latter seems to be the meaning here, “wasted has thy valley.” (See Lamentations 4:9.) It has a noun after it, when it means to flow out in the sense of abounding; but when used intransitively, it means to flow away in the sense of wasting, —
   Why gloriest thou in deep valleys! Flown away has thy deep valley, O daughter, who hast turned aside, Who hast trusted in thy treasures, Who hast said in thine heart, “Who can come to me?”
   The participle השובבה, “who hast turned aside,” or away, is rendered “delicate,” by the Vulg., and “beloved,” by the Syr., and the idea of impudence or folly, is conveyed by the Sept. and Targ. How the word could be so rendered, it is difficult to say. The verb means to turn to or from. Being a reduplicate here, it means to turn away resolutely; hence “rebellious” would be no improper rendering. “Her” before “treasures,” refers to “daughter,” but in our language “thy” reads better, as adopted by the Vulg. and the Syr. There is an addition in several copies of the words, “Who hast said in thine heart,” and all the versions have what corresponds with them. — Ed It was the same as though he had said, “Thy depth has vanished,” or, “It shall not be to thee such a protection as thou thinkest.” But the meaning is, that though the Ammonites, confiding in their defences, disregarded all attacks of enemies, they would yet be exposed to plunder; for their mountains and valleys would avail them nothing, notwithstanding the opinion they entertained, that they were so fortified, that they could not be assailed.

He calls Ammon a rebellious, or a backsliding daughter, though he mentions no particulars. But Ezekiel and also Amos and Zephaniah, these three, clearly show why God was so severe towards the Ammonites, (Ezekiel 25; Amos 1:13; Zephaniah 2:9;) it was because they had uttered blasphemies against him and his people, exulted over the miseries and calamities of the chosen people, and plundered them when they saw them overcome by their enemies. For these reasons, then, our Prophet now calls them a rebellious people: they had proudly exalted themselves against God, and exercised cruel tyranny as to the miserable Israelites, who were yet, as it has been stated, connected with them by blood.

Who trusts in her secrecies, or hidden places: rendered by some, “in her treasures.” But as אצר, atser, means to hide, the reference is, as I think, to strongholds; for the Prophet in the next words explains himself, Who can come to me? It appears, then, that the Ammonites thought themselves thus secure, because they were not exposed to their enemies, but protected by their mountains, as though they were in hiding places. This boasting sufficiently shews that they did not so much trust in their treasures as in their hidden places, because they dwelt in recesses. The meaning is, that though the Ammonites gloried that they were beyond the reach of danger, yet God would become the avenger of the cruelty which they had exercised towards their relations, the Israelites. It follows —