Jeremiah

Jeremiah 49

39 verses · Major Prophets · Old Testament

1Of 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? 2Therefore 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! 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, Yahweh 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 Yahweh.

7Of Edom, Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh, “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 Yahweh, 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 Yahweh. 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 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 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 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, 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.

23Of Damascus:

“Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; 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 Yahweh of Armies. 27“I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.”
28Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck. Yahweh 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 Yahweh; “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 Yahweh; “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 Yahweh. 33Hazor will be a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever. No man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.”

34Yahweh’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. 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 Yahweh; ‘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 Yahweh. 39‘But it will happen in the latter days that I will reverse the captivity of Elam,’ says Yahweh.”

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What others are saying

4 commentators · 86 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17145

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–6

The Ammonites were next, both in kindred and neighbourhood, to the Moabites, and therefore are next set to the bar. Their country joined to that of the two tribes and a half, on the other side Jordan, and was but a bad neighbour; however, being a neighbour…

v. 7–22

The Edomites come next to receive their doom from God, by the mouth of Jeremiah: they also were old enemies to the Israel of God; but their day will come to be reckoned with, and it is now at hand, and is foretold, not only for warning to them, but for…

v. 23–27

The kingdom of Syria lay north of Canaan, as that of Edom lay south, and thither we must now remove and take a view of the approaching fate of that kingdom, which had been often vexatious to the Israel of God. Damascus was the metropolis of that kingdom, and…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176339

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord,.... Or, "to the Ammonites" (u); or, "against" them (w); it will bear to be rendered either way, and all is true; for what is said by the Lord, as follows, is concerning them, their sins, and their punishment, and…

v. 2

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,.... Or, "are coming" (y); as they did, in a very little time after this prophecy: that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; the metropolis of the Ammonites; it was their royal…

v. 3

Howl, O Heshbon,.... Which was a city of Moab, though it formerly belonged to the Amorites; see Jeremiah 48:2; it was upon the border of Ammon, and near to Ai, now destroyed; and therefore is called upon to howl and lament, because its destruction also was…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18755

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–6

"Concerning the children of Ammon, thus saith Jahveh: Hath Israel no sons, or hath he no heir? Why doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? Jer 49:2. Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith Jahveh, when I will cause to be heard…

v. 7–22

Concerning Edom. - To the Edomites, whom Israel were to leave undisturbed in their possession, since they were a kindred nations (Deu 2:4), Balaam announces that "Edom shall become a possession," i.e., shall be taken possession of by the ruler rising out of…

v. 23–27

Concerning Damascus. - Aram, on this side of the Euphrates, or Syria, was divided, in the times of Saul and David, into the kingdoms of Damascus, Zobah, and Hamath, of which the second, extending between Damascus and Hamath (see on Sa2 8:3), or situated…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187137

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 2

Rabbah--"the great," metropolis of Ammon (Sa2 12:26-30). Its destruction is foretold also in Eze 25:5; Amo 1:14-15. her daughters--the towns and villages, dependencies of the metropolis (Jos 15:45). shall . . . be heir--shall possess those who possessed him…

v. 3

Heshbon . . . Ai--Nebuchadnezzar, coming from the north, first attacked Ammon, then its brother and neighbor, Moab. As Ai of Ammon had already suffered destruction, Heshbon of Moab being near it might well fear the same fate. hedges--Their cities being…

v. 4

thy flowing valley--rather, "thy valley shall flow," namely with the blood of the slain; in sad contrast to their "valleys" in which they had heretofore "gloried," as flowing with milk and honey [GROTIUS]. Or else, as Margin, "shall flow away."…

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