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This is what the Lord says:
“Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad,
and his people live in their cities?
2 Therefore behold, the days are coming,”
declares the Lord,
“when I will cause the shout of war to be heard
against Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it wll become a desolate heap,
and its villages will be burned with fire.
Then Israel will dispossess
those who dispossessed him,”
declares the Lord.
3 “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!
Clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and lament;
run to and fro within the walls,
for Milcom will go into captivity,
together with his priests and officials.
4 Why do you boast about your valleys,
your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter?
You trusted in your treasures and said,
‘Who will attack me?’
5 Behold, I will bring terror upon you,”
declares the Lord God of Hosts,
“from all those who are around you.
You will all be driven out, every man headlong,
and no one will gather up the fugitives.
6 But afterward I will restore
the fortunes of the people of Ammon,”
declares the Lord.
7 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 vanished?
8 Turn back, flee, lay low,
O people of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
at the time when I punish him.
9 If grape-gatherers came to you,
would they not leave a few gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
Would they only pillage what they wanted?
10 But I will strip Esau bare;
I will uncover his secret hiding places,
and he will not be able to conceal himself.
His descendants will be destroyed,
and his brothers and his neighbours,
and he will be no more.
11 Leave your orphans;
I will preserve them alive;
let your widows trust in Me.”
12 For this is what the Lord says: “Behold, if those who do not deserve to drink of the cup must still drink it, why should you be one who remains unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you will certainly drink it too. 13 For I have sworn by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that Bozrah will become a desolation, an object of horror, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will lay in ruins forever.”
14 I have heard a message from the Lord:
An envoy has been sent to the nations:
“Assemble yourselves together and come against her,
Rise up for battle!”
15 “I will make you small among the nations,
and despised among men.
16 The terror you inspire
and the pride of your heart have deceived you,
O 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,
I will bring you down from there,”
declares the Lord.
17 “Edom will become a desolation;
everyone who passes by it will be astonished
and will hiss because of all its wounds.
18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown,
along with their neighbouring cities,”
declares the Lord,
“so no one will live there,
nor will a son of man dwell in it.
19 “Behold, it will be like a lion coming up
from the thickets of the Jordan
to a perennial pastureland;
but I will chase Edom away in a moment.
I will appoint over her whomever I choose.
For who is like Me?
Who can challenge Me?
What shepherd can stand against Me?”
20 Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Edom;
that which He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman:
Surely the children of the flock will be dragged away;
surely He will make their pastures desolate because of them.
21 At the sound of their fall the earth will tremble;
the sound of their cry will heard at the Red Sea.
22 Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward,
then swooping down with wings outspread over Bozrah.
On that day the warriors of Edom
will be like the heart of a woman in labour.
23 Concerning Damascus:
“Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,
for they have heard bad news.
They are disheartened,
they are troubled like the restless sea.
24 Damascus has grown feeble;
she has turned to flee;
panic has seized her,
anguish and pain have taken hold of her
like a woman in labour.
25 How can the city of praise not be forsaken,
the city that brings Me joy?
26 Therefore her young men will fall in her streets;
all the warriors will be silenced on that day,”
declares the Lord of Hosts.
27 “I will kindle a fire on the wall of Damascus;
it will consume the strongholds of Ben-hadad.”
28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazar, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked: this is what the Lord says:
“Arise, go up against Kedar,
and destroy the men of the east!
29 They will take their tents and their flocks,
their tent curtains, all their goods, and their camels.
They will shout to them,
‘Terror is on every side!’
30 “Flee; get far away quickly!
Dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor!”
declares the Lord.
“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you;
he has devised a plan against you.
31 Arise, go up against a nation at ease,
one that lives in confidence,”
declares the Lord,
“that has no gates or bars,
living alone.
32 Their camels wll become booty,
their large herds of cattle a spoil.
I will scatter them to the winds in the farthest places,
I will bring disaster on them from every side,”
declares the Lord.
33 “Hazor will become a haven for serpents,
and a desolation forever;
no man will abide there,
nor a son of man dwell there.”
34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah: 35 “This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,
the mainstay of their might.
36 I will bring against Elam the four winds
from the four corners of the heavens;
and I will scatter them toward those winds.
There will not be a nation
where the captives from Elam do not go.
37 I will cause Elam to be shattered before their enemies,
and before those who seek their lives.
I will bring disaster upon them,
even My fierce anger’,
declares the Lord.
‘I will send the sword after them,
until I have consumed them.
38 I will set My throne in Elam,
and I will destroy from there
the king and the officials’,
declares the Lord.
39 “But in the latter days
I will restore the fortunes of Elam,”
declares the Lord.