The Nations Are Not Beyond Judgment
Jeremiah 47 — The Sword Against the Philistines
1 Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.
2 Yahweh says: “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, and will overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. The men will cry, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back for their children because their hands are so feeble,
4 because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for Yahweh will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.
5 Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing. You remnant of their valley, how long will you cut yourself?
6 “‘You sword of Yahweh, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard; rest, and be still.’
7 “How can you be quiet, since Yahweh has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there he has appointed it.”
Jeremiah 48 — The Judgment of Moab
1 Of Moab. Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo! For it is laid waste. Kiriathaim is disappointed. It is taken. Misgab is disappointed and dismayed.
2 The praise of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they have devised evil against her: ‘Come, and let’s cut her off from being a nation.’ You also, Madmen, will be brought to silence. The sword will pursue you.
3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction!
4 Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
5 For by the ascent of Luhith they go up with weeping. For at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.
6 Flee! Save your lives! Be like a bush in the wilderness.
7 For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also will be taken. Chemosh will go out into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
8 The destroyer will come on every city, and no city will escape; the valley also will perish, and the plain will be destroyed, as Yahweh has spoken.
9 Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get away; and her cities will become a desolation, without anyone to dwell in them.
10 “Cursed is he who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.”
11 “Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.
12 Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will send to him those who pour off, and they will pour him off; and they will empty his vessels, and break their jars in pieces.
13 Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.
14 How do you say, ‘We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war?’
15 Moab is laid waste, and they have gone up into her cities. Her chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,” says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.
16 “The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast.
17 All you who are around him, bemoan him; and all you who know his name, say, ‘How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!’
18 “You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you. He has destroyed your strongholds.
19 Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch. Ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, ‘What has been done?’
20 Moab is disappointed, for it is broken down. Wail and cry! Tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.
21 “Judgment has come on the plain country, on Holon, on Jahzah, on Mephaath,
22 on Dibon, on Nebo, on Beth Diblathaim,
23 on Kiriathaim, on Beth Gamul, on Beth Meon,
24 on Kerioth, on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” says Yahweh.
26 “Make him drunk, for he magnified himself against Yahweh. Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will be in derision.
27 For wasn’t Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him, you shake your head.
28 You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.
29 “We have heard of the pride of Moab (he is very proud), his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.
30 I know his wrath,” says Yahweh, “that it is nothing; his boastings have worked nothing.
31 Therefore I will wail for Moab. Yes, I will cry out for all Moab. My heart mourns for the men of Kir Heres.
32 With more than the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah. Your branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruits and on your vintage.
33 Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses. No one will tread with shouting; the shouting will be no shouting.
34 “From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for the waters of Nimrim will also become desolate.
35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,” says Yahweh, “him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods.
36 Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished.
37 For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist.
38 On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no one delights,” says Yahweh.
39 “How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So Moab has become a derision and a terror to all who are around him.”
40 For Yahweh says: “Behold, he will fly as an eagle, and will spread out his wings against Moab.
41 Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized. The heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
42 Moab will be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Yahweh.
43 Fear, the pit, and the snare are on you, inhabitant of Moab,” says Yahweh.
44 “He who flees from the fear will fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare; for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.
45 “Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, and a flame from the middle of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
46 Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity.
47 “Yet I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days,” says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
Jeremiah 49 — Judgment on the Nations
1 Of the children of Ammon. Yahweh says: “Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in its cities?
2 Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “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 Yahweh.
3 “Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth. Mourn, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malcam will go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
4 Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, you backsliding daughter? You trust in your treasures, saying, ‘Who will come to me?’
5 Behold, I will bring a fear on you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, “from all those who are around you. You will be driven out, each man straight before him; and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives.
6 “But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the children of Ammon,” says Yahweh.
7 Of Edom, Yahweh of Armies says: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?
8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I will visit him.
9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, wouldn’t they destroy only until they had enough?
10 But I have made Esau bare. I have uncovered his secret places, and he will not be able to hide himself. His offspring is destroyed, his brothers, and his neighbors; and he is no more.
11 Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in me.”
12 For Yahweh says: “Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup will certainly drink. Are you he who will altogether go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but you will surely drink.
13 For I have sworn by myself,” says Yahweh, “that Bozrah will become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. All its cities will be perpetual wastes.”
14 I have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, “Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.”
15 “For, behold, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men.
16 As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, 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 Yahweh.
17 “Edom will become an astonishment. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and will hiss at all its plagues.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities,” says Yahweh, “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 him run away from her. Who is chosen, I will appoint him over her; for who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who will stand before me?”
20 Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh, that he has taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they will drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them.
21 The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise of which is heard in the Red Sea.
22 Behold, 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.
23 Of Damascus. “Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil news. They are melted away. There is sorrow on the sea; it can’t be quiet.
24 Damascus 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 labor.
25 How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?
26 Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all the men of war will be brought to silence in that day,” says Yahweh of Armies.
27 “I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.”
28 Of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck. Yahweh says: “Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east.
29 They 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!’
30 “Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths, you inhabitants of Hazor,” says Yahweh; “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.
31 “Arise, go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care,” says Yahweh; “that has neither gates nor bars, that dwells alone.
32 Their 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 hair cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them,” says Yahweh.
33 “Hazor will be a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever. No man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live in it.”
34 Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Yahweh of Armies says: “Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.
36 I 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.
37 I 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 Yahweh; “and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.
38 I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and princes,” says Yahweh.
39 “But it will happen in the latter days that I will bring back the captivity of Elam,” says Yahweh.
Scripture text: World English Bible Classic (WEB), public domain.
