Jeremiah 49:3-13

3 Yell, ye Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with hair-shirts, wail ye, and compass by hedges; for why Malcham shall be led into passing over, the priests thereof and princes thereof together. (Yell, ye Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with hair-shirts, wail ye, and go around by the hedges; for Milcom shall be led into captivity, together with its priests and its princes, or its leaders.)
4 What hast thou glory in valleys? Thy valleys floated away, thou delicate daughter, that haddest trust in thy treasures, and saidest, Who shall come to me? (Why hast thou glory over rich valleys? For thy valleys have floated away, thou delicate daughter, ye who haddest trust in thy treasures, and saidest, Who shall come against me?)
5 Lo! I shall bring in dread on thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, God of Israel, of all men that be in thy compass; and ye shall be scattered, each by himself, from your sight, and none shall be, that gather them that flee. (Lo! I shall bring in terror upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, from all who be around thee; and ye shall be scattered, each person by himself, from your sight, and there shall be no one, who shall gather together them who flee.)
6 And after these things I shall make the fleers and [the] prisoners of the sons of Ammon to turn again, saith the Lord. (And after these things I shall restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, saith the Lord.)
7 To Idumea, the Lord of hosts saith these things. Whether wisdom is no more in Teman? Counsel perished from sons, the wisdom of them is made unprofitable. (About Edom, the Lord of hosts saith these things. Is wisdom no more in Teman? hath counsel, or good advice, perished from its people? is their wisdom made worthless?)
8 Flee ye, and turn ye the backs; go down into a swallow, ye dwellers of Dedan, for I have brought the perdition of Esau on him, the time of his visitation. (Flee ye, and turn ye the backs; go down into a hollow, ye inhabitants of Dedan, for I have brought the perdition of Esau upon him, yea, the time of his punishment.)
9 If gatherers of grapes had come [up]on thee, they should have left (at least) a cluster; if thieves in the night, they should have ravished that that sufficed to them (if thieves in the night, they should have robbed, or taken, only what sufficed for themselves).
10 Forsooth I have uncovered Esau, and I have showed the hid things of him, and he may not be able to be hid; his seed is destroyed, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and it shall not be. (But I have uncovered Esau, and I have shown his hidden things, and he cannot hide himself; his children, or his descendants, be destroyed, and also his kinsmen, and his neighbours, and now he is not.)
11 Forsake thy fatherless children, and I shall make them to live, and thy widows shall (have) hope in me.
12 For the Lord saith these things, Lo! they drinking shall drink, to whom was no doom, that they should drink the cup (Lo! they who were not doomed, that they should drink the cup, even so, they shall still have to drink it). And shalt thou be left as innocent? (No!) thou shalt not be (left as) innocent, but thou drinking shalt (also) drink (of it).
13 For I swore by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall be into wilderness, and into shame, and into forsaking, and into cursing; and all the cities thereof shall be into everlasting wildernesses.

Jeremiah 49:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 49

This chapter contains prophecies concerning the judgments of God on several nations and kingdoms, chiefly bordering on the land of Israel; on the Ammonites, Jer 49:1-6; on the Edomites, Jer 49:7-22; on the kingdom of Damascus, or the Syrians, Jer 49:23-27; on the Kedarenes or Arabians, Jer 49:28-33; and on the Elamites or Persians, Jer 49:34-39.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.