Jeremiah 49
Prophecy Against Ammon
1Of the children of Ammon. The LORD says: “Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in its cities?
2Therefore behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and it will become a desolate heap, and her daughters will be burned with fire; then Israel will possess those who possessed him,” says the LORD.
3“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourself in sackcloth. Lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malcam will go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
4Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? You trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come to me?’
5Behold, I will bring a terror on you,” says the Lord, GOD of Armies, “from all who are around you. All of you will be driven completely out, and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives.
6“But afterward I will reverse the captivity of the children of Ammon,” says the LORD.
Prophecy Against Edom
7Of Edom, the LORD of Armies says: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?
8Flee! Turn back! Dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him when I visit him.
9If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves came by night, wouldn’t they steal until they had enough?
10But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he will not be able to hide himself. His offspring is destroyed, with his brothers and his neighbors; and he is no more.
11Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me.”
12For the LORD says: “Behold, they to whom it didn’t pertain to drink of the cup will certainly drink; and are you he who will altogether go unpunished? You won’t go unpunished, but you will surely drink.
13For I have sworn by myself,” says the LORD, “that Bozrah will become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. All its cities will be perpetual wastes.”
14I have heard news from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, “Gather yourselves together! Come against her! Rise up to the battle!”
15“For, behold, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men.
16As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill, though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says the LORD.
17“Edom will become an astonishment. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and will hiss at all its plagues.
18As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities,” says the LORD, “no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.
19“Behold, he will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation; for I will suddenly make them run away from it, and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it. For who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who will stand before me?”
20Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Edom, and his purposes that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they will drag them away, the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them.
21The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in the Red Sea.
22Behold, he will come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah. The heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
Prophecy Against Damascus
23Of Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are confounded, for they have heard evil news. They have melted away. There is sorrow on the sea. It can’t be quiet.
24Damascus has grown feeble, she turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail.
25How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?
26Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all the men of war will be brought to silence in that day,” says the LORD of Armies.
27“I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.”
Prophecy Against Kedar and Hazor
28Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck, The LORD says: “Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east.
29They will take their tents and their flocks. they will carry away for themselves their curtains, all their vessels, and their camels; and they will cry to them, ‘Terror on every side!’
30Flee! Wander far off! Dwell in the depths, you inhabitants of Hazor,” says the LORD; “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.
31Arise! Go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care,” says the LORD; “that has neither gates nor bars, that dwells alone.
32Their camels will be a booty, and the multitude of their livestock a plunder. I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their beards cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them,” says the LORD.
33Hazor will be a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever. No man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.”
Prophecy Against Elam
34The LORD’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35“The LORD of Armies says: ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.
36I will bring on Elam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds. There will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come.
37I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life. I will bring evil on them, even my fierce anger,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.
38I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and princes,’ says the LORD.
39‘But it will happen in the latter days that I will reverse the captivity of Elam,’ says the LORD.”
Jeremiah 49 presents God's judgments against five neighboring nations of Israel: Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar and Hazor, and Elam. Each oracle declares divine punishment for these nations' sins, particularly their pride, violence against Israel, and false security in their own strength. While most prophecies focus on complete destruction, God promises restoration for both Ammon and Elam, demonstrating His sovereignty over all nations and His ultimate plan of redemption.
Context
This chapter continues the series of oracles against foreign nations that began in chapter 46, demonstrating God's universal sovereignty before the book's final focus on Babylon's fall.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-6Prophecy Against AmmonGod condemns Ammon for seizing Israelite territory but promises eventual restoration after judgment.
- 7-22Prophecy Against EdomEdom faces complete destruction for their pride and violence, with no promise of restoration given.
- 23-27Prophecy Against DamascusDamascus and surrounding Syrian cities will face terror and destruction through military conquest.
- 28-33Prophecy Against Kedar and HazorNebuchadnezzar will devastate these Arabian tribes, scattering their nomadic peoples permanently.
- 34-39Prophecy Against ElamElam will be scattered by divine judgment but will ultimately be restored in the latter days.
Prophecy Against Ammon
49:1–49:6Prophetic judgment against the Ammonites for unlawfully possessing Israelite territory and trusting in their own strength rather than God. Despite the coming destruction, God promises eventual restoration of Ammon's fortunes.
geographic
Ammon's occupation of Gad represents one of only six biblical mentions of this Transjordanian territory, highlighting the rare focus on eastern tribal inheritance disputes.
Prophecy Against Edom
49:7–49:22God pronounces judgment against Edom for their pride and hostility, declaring their complete destruction and desolation despite their seemingly secure mountain fortresses.
geographic
Dedan's merchants, descendants of Abraham through Keturah, receive urgent flight warnings in only three biblical passages, highlighting their vulnerability despite geographic distance from Edom's judgment.
Prophecy Against Damascus
49:23–49:27A prophecy of judgment against Damascus, describing the city's fear, weakness, and coming destruction by fire.
geographic
Arpad's rare biblical appearance alongside Hamath creates a deliberate pairing of northern Syrian cities whose historical defeats by Assyria serve as ominous precedents for Damascus's impending doom.
Prophecy Against Kedar and Hazor
49:28–49:33God commands the destruction of the nomadic peoples of Kedar and Hazor through Nebuchadnezzar, resulting in their complete desolation and scattering.
geographic
Jeremiah uniquely targets nomadic Kedar's portable wealth—tents, curtains, and camels—contrasting with typical prophecies against cities and their fixed treasures.
Prophecy Against Elam
49:34–49:39A prophecy against Elam declaring God's judgment and scattering, but concluding with a promise of future restoration in the latter days.
person_contrast
Jeremiah's prophecy against Elam uniquely balances divine sovereignty with eschatological hope, as God both "breaks their bow" and promises to "restore their fortunes in the latter days.
Jeremiah 49:2
Amos 1:14lexicalBut I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with…
Zephaniah 2:9lexicalTherefore, as I live, says the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammo…
Jeremiah 21:14lexicalI will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it…
Jeremiah 34:22lexicalBehold, I will command,” says the LORD, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and…
Joshua 8:28lexicalSo Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.
Jeremiah 49:3
Joel 1:13lexicalPut on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministe…
Jeremiah 4:8lexicalFor this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD hasn’t turned back from us.
Isaiah 15:3lexicalIn their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping…
2 Samuel 3:31lexicalDavid said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, and clothe yourselves with sackcloth, an…
Jeremiah 6:26lexicalDaughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamen…
Jeremiah 49:5
Isaiah 56:8lexicalThe Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “I will yet gather others to him, in addition to his own who are…
Ezekiel 39:17lexical“You, son of man, the Lord GOD says: ‘Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal of the field, “Assemble your…
Ezekiel 37:21lexicalSay to them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone…
Ezekiel 22:19lexicalTherefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the middle of…
Ezekiel 23:22lexical“Therefore, Oholibah, the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is aliena…
Jeremiah 49:8
Jeremiah 46:21lexicalAlso her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall, for they also are turned back. They have fled away…
Jeremiah 50:16lexicalCut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword,…
Jeremiah 49:13
Jeremiah 25:9lexicalbehold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says the LORD, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king…
Jeremiah 44:22lexicalThus the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you have…
Jeremiah 25:18lexicalJerusalem, and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissin…
Jeremiah 44:12lexicalI will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they will all…
Jeremiah 42:18lexicalFor the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and my wrath has been poured out on the inhabitants of Jer…
Jeremiah 49:14
Obadiah 1:1lexicalThe vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord GOD says about Edom. We have heard news from the LORD, and an ambassador is…
1 Samuel 4:19lexicalHis daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to giving birth. When she heard the news that God’s ark was ta…
Jeremiah 49:16
Obadiah 1:3lexicalThe pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in…
Obadiah 1:4lexicalThough you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” s…
Job 39:27lexicalIs it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?
Isaiah 33:16lexicalhe will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will b…
Jeremiah 16:16lexical“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the LORD, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hun…
Jeremiah 49:17
Jeremiah 19:8lexicalI will make this city an astonishment and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of al…
Jeremiah 50:13lexicalBecause of the LORD’s wrath she won’t be inhabited, but she will be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon will b…
Jeremiah 49:18
Jeremiah 50:40lexicalAs when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities,” says the LORD, “so no man will dwell there, neither w…
Amos 4:11lexical“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out…
Isaiah 13:19lexicalBabylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jeremiah 49:19
Jeremiah 50:44lexicalBehold, the enemy will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan against the strong habitation; for I will sud…
Jeremiah 12:5lexical“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? Though in a land of…
Zechariah 11:3lexicalA voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed—a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pri…
Jeremiah 49:20
Jeremiah 50:45lexicalTherefore hear the counsel of the LORD that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes that he has purposed against…
Jeremiah 18:18lexicalThen they said, “Come! Let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from t…
Ezekiel 11:2lexicalHe said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city;
Jeremiah 49:21
Ezekiel 38:20lexicalso that the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, all creeping things who creep on the earth,…
Isaiah 24:18lexicalIt will happen that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the middl…
Jeremiah 49:22
Jeremiah 48:40lexicalFor the LORD says: “Behold, he will fly as an eagle, and will spread out his wings against Moab.
Deuteronomy 32:11lexicalAs an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them…
Deuteronomy 28:49lexicalThe LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies: a nation whose la…
Jeremiah 49:23
Isaiah 10:9lexicalIsn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?”
Ezekiel 48:1lexical“Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar E…
Ezekiel 47:17lexicalThe border from the sea shall be Hazar Enon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamat…
Isaiah 57:20lexicalBut the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest and its waters cast up mire and mud.
2 Kings 18:34lexicalWhere are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Sam…
Jeremiah 49:24
Jeremiah 50:43lexicalThe king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of him, pains as of…
Jeremiah 6:24lexicalWe have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor.
Isaiah 13:8lexicalThey will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in…
Jeremiah 13:21lexicalWhat will you say when he sets over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Won’t sorrows…
Jeremiah 49:27
Amos 1:14lexicalBut I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with…
Amos 1:4lexicalbut I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.
Jeremiah 17:27lexicalBut if you will not listen to me to make the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jer…
Nehemiah 2:17lexicalThen I said to them, “You see the bad situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with…
Nehemiah 1:3lexicalThey said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach.…
Jeremiah 49:30
Jeremiah 50:45lexicalTherefore hear the counsel of the LORD that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes that he has purposed against…
Jeremiah 18:18lexicalThen they said, “Come! Let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from t…
Ezekiel 11:2lexicalHe said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city;
Daniel 11:25lexical“He will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south wi…
Jeremiah 29:11lexicalFor I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope a…
Jeremiah 49:31
Deuteronomy 33:28lexicalIsrael dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his heavens drop down dew.
Ezekiel 38:11lexicalYou will say, ‘I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, al…
Jeremiah 49:32
Ezekiel 38:13lexicalSheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its young lions, will ask you, ‘Have you come to take the plunder?…
Ezekiel 38:12lexicalto take the plunder and to take prey; to turn your hand against the waste places that are inhabited, and against the peo…
Ezekiel 29:19lexicalTherefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off…
Jeremiah 49:34
Jeremiah 28:1lexicalThat same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hanania…
Jeremiah 34:6lexicalThen Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
Jeremiah 38:14lexicalThen Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to himself into the third entry that is in the LORD’s house. T…
Jeremiah 51:59lexicalThe word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah…
Jeremiah 37:3lexicalZedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremi…
Jeremiah 49:37
Jeremiah 21:7lexicalAfterward,” says the LORD, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people, even those who are left…
Lamentations 4:11lexicalThe LORD has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devour…
Exodus 32:12lexicalWhy should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them…
Zephaniah 3:8lexical“Therefore wait for me”, says the LORD, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the…
Interlinear
Word-by-word original language
Historical Context
Places and events in this chapter