Today was all about the judgments placed upon the lands and the people.
Judgment on Ammon
Concerning the Ammonites, the Lord said:
Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
declares the Lord,
when I will cause the battle cry to be heard
against Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it shall become a desolate mound,
and its villages shall be burned with fire;
then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,
says the Lord.
-Jeremiah 49:2
Why do you boast of your valleys,
O faithless daughter,
who trusted in her treasures, saying,
‘Who will come against me?’
Behold, I will bring terror upon you,
declares the Lord God of hosts,
from all who are around you,
and you shall be driven out,
every man straight before him,
with none to gather the fugitives.
-Jeremiah 49:4-5
But afterward I will restore
the fortunes of the Ammonites,
declares the Lord.
-Jeremiah 49:6
Judgment on Edom
Concerning Edom, thus says the Lord:
Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,
O inhabitants of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
the time when I punish him.
-Jeremiah 49:8
But I have stripped Esau bare;
I have uncovered his hiding places,
and he is not able to conceal himself.
His children are destroyed, and his brothers,
and his neighbors; and he is no more.
-Jeremiah 49:10
Leave your fatherless children;
I will keep them alive;
and let your widows trust in me.
-Jeremiah 49:11
I have heard a message from the Lord,
and an envoy has been sent among the nations:
“Gather yourselves together and come against her,
and rise up for battle!
For behold, I will make you small among the nations,
despised among mankind.
The horror you inspire has deceived you,
and the pride of your heart,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,
who hold the height of the hill.
Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,
I will bring you down from there,”
declares the Lord.
-Jeremiah 49:14-16
Edom would become a horror and everyone who passed by it would be horrified and would hiss because of all its disasters. As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown. No man would sojourn in her.
The Lord would appoint over her whomever He would choose. The plan of the Lord made against Edom and the purposes that were formed against the inhabitants were that even the little ones of the flock would be dragged away. Surely their fold would be appalled at their fate.
At the sound of their fall the earth would tremble and the sound of their cry would be heard at the Red Sea. The heart of the warriors of Edom would be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains.
Judgment on Damascus
Concerning Damascus:
Hamath and Arpad are confounded,
for they have heard bad news;
they melt in fear,
they are troubled like the sea
that cannot be quiet.
Damascus has become feeble,
she turned to flee,
and panic seized her;
anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,
as of a woman in labor.
-Jeremiah 49:23-24
Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,
declares the Lord of hosts.
And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
-Jeremiah 49:26-27
Judgment on Kedar and Hazor
Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down:
Thus says the Lord:
Rise up, advance against Kedar!
Destroy the people of the east!
Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,
their curtains and all their goods;
their camels shall be led away from them,
and men shall cry to them:
‘Terror on every side!’
Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,
O inhabitants of Hazor!
declares the Lord.
For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
has made a plan against you
and formed a purpose against you.
-Jeremiah 49:28-30
Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals,
an everlasting waste;
no man shall dwell there;
no man shall sojourn in her.
-Jeremiah 49:33
Judgment on Elam
The word of the Lord that went to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah:
The Lord would break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of her might. He would send upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. They would be scattered to those winds, and there would be no nation to which those driven out of Elam would not come.
Elam would be terrified before their enemies and before those who sought to destroy their lives. Disaster would be sent upon them, and the Lord’s anger. God would send the sword after them until they were consumed. And His throne would be set in Elam and destroy their kings and officials. But, in the latter days the Lord would restore the fortunes of Elam.
Judgment on Babylon
The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet:
Declare among the nations and proclaim,
set up a banner and proclaim,
conceal it not, and say:
‘Babylon is taken,
Bel is put to shame,
Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame,
her idols are dismayed.’
-Jeremiah 50:2
Out of the north a nation had come up against her, which would make her land a desolation, and none would dwell in it; both man and beast would flee away.
“In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.'”
“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their habitation of righteousness, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.'”
Though you rejoice, though you exult,
O plunderers of my heritage,
though you frolic like a heifer in the pasture,
and neigh like stallions,
your mother shall be utterly shamed,
and she who bore you shall be disgraced.
Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,
a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
-Jeremiah 50:11-12
Because of the wrath of the Lord
she shall not be inhabited
but shall be an utter desolation;
everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,
and hiss because of all her wounds.
-Jeremiah 50:13
Israel was a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had gnawed its bones. Therefore, the Lord would bring punishment on the king of Babylon just as He had on the king of Assyria.
The Lord would restore Israel to his pasture. Iniquity would be sought in Israel, and there would be none, and sin in Judah, and none would be found their either. The Lord would pardon those whom He would leave as a remnant.
The noise of battle is in the land,
and great destruction!
How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
I set a snare for you and you were taken,
O Babylon,
and you did not know it;
you were found and caught,
because you opposed the Lord.
The Lord has opened his armory
and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a work to do
in the land of the Chaldeans.
-Jeremiah 50:22-25
Archers were summoned against Babylon, and was encamped all around her so no one could escape. She was to be repaid for her deeds, and have done to her all that she had done. For she had proudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I am against you, O proud one,
declares the Lord God of hosts,
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
The proud one shall stumble and fall,
with none to raise him up,
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour all that is around him.
-Jeremiah 50:31-32
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
The people of Israel are oppressed,
and the people of Judah with them.
All who took them captive have held them fast;
they refuse to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
He will surely plead their cause,
that he may give rest to the earth,
but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
-Jeremiah 50:33-34
Jeremiah 50: 35-37,
A sword against:
- the Chaldeans
- the inhabitants of Babylon
- her officials and her wise men
- the diviners that they may become fools
- her warriors that they may be destroyed
- her horses and against her chariots
- all the foreign troops in her midst that they may become women
- all her treasures that they may be plundered
It continued discussing how people would never again dwell in that area or be inhabited for all generations. As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, no man would dwell there and no son of man would sojourn in her.
Behold, a people comes from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
They lay hold of bow and spear;
they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
they ride on horses,
arrayed as a man for battle against you,
O daughter of Babylon!
The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain as of a woman in labor.
-Jeremiah 50:41-43
Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan
against a perennial pasture,
I will suddenly make them run away from her,
and I will appoint over her whomever I choose.
For who is like me?
Who will summon me?
What shepherd can stand before me?
Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Babylon,
and the purposes that he has formed
against the land of the Chaldeans.
Surely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away;
surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate.
At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble,
and her cry shall be heard among the nations.
-Jeremiah 50:44-46