Study Desk

About the Ammonites,^(a) this is what the Lord says: Does Israel have no sons? Is he without an heir? Why then has Milcom^[a][b] dispossessed Gad^(b) and his people settled in their cities?

Therefore look, the days are coming— this is the Lord 's declaration— when I will make the shout of battle^(c) heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a desolate mound, and its villages will be burned down. Israel will dispossess their dispossessors, says the Lord .

Wail, Heshbon,^(d) for Ai is devastated; cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourselves with sackcloth,^(e) and lament; run back and forth within your walls,^[c] because Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.^(f)

Why do you brag about your valleys, your flowing valley,^[d] you faithless daughter? You who trust in your treasures and boast, "Who can attack me?"

Look, I am about to bring terror on you^(g)— this is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts— from all those around you. You will be banished, each man headlong, with no one to gather up the fugitives.

But after that, I will restore the fortunes^[e] of the Ammonites.^(h) This is the Lord 's declaration.

About Edom, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?^[f] Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom rotted away?⁽ⁱ⁾

Run! Turn back! Lie low, residents of Dedan,^(j) for I will bring Esau's calamity on him at the time I punish him.^(k)

If grape harvesters came to you, wouldn't they leave some gleanings?^(l) Were thieves to come in the night, they would destroy only what they wanted.^(m)

But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his secret places.⁽ⁿ⁾ He will try to hide himself, but he will be unable. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and neighbors. He will exist no longer.

Abandon your fatherless; I will preserve them; let your widows trust in Me.^(o)

"For this is what the Lord says: If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not remain unpunished, for you must drink it too.

For by Myself I have sworn"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"Bozrah^[g] will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will become ruins forever."^(p)

I have heard a message from the Lord ; a messenger has been sent among the nations: Assemble yourselves to come against her. Rise up for war!

Look, I will certainly make you insignificant among the nations, despised among humanity.

As to the terror you cause,^[h] your presumptuous heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rock,^[i] you who occupy the mountain summit, though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down. This is the Lord 's declaration.^(q)

"Edom will become a desolation. Everyone who passes by her will be horrified and scoff because of all her wounds.^(r)

As when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,"^(s) says the Lord , "no one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a temporary resident.^(t)

"Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets^[j] of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Edom away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me?^(u) Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?"

Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Edom and the strategies He has devised against the people of Teman:^(v) The flock's little lambs will certainly be dragged away,^(w) and their grazing land will be made desolate because of them.

At the sound of their fall the earth will quake; the sound of her cry will be heard at the Red Sea.^(x)

Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom's warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.^(y)

About Damascus:^(z) Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,^(aa) for they have heard a bad report and are agitated; in the sea there is anxiety that cannot be calmed.

Damascus has become weak; she has turned to run; panic has gripped her. Distress and labor pains have seized her like a woman in labor.

How can the city of praise not be abandoned,^(ab) the town that brings Me joy?

Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares; all the warriors will perish in that day. This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.^(ac)

I will set fire to the wall of Damascus; it will consume Ben-hadad's citadels.^(ad)

About Kedar^(ae) and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar,^(af) Babylon's king, defeated, this is what the Lord says: Rise up, go against Kedar, and destroy the people of the east!

They will take their tents and their flocks along with their tent curtains and all their equipment. They will take their camels for themselves. They will call out to them: Terror is on every side!^(ag)

Run! Escape quickly! Lie low, residents of Hazor— this is the Lord 's declaration— for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has drawn up a plan against you; he has devised a strategy against you.

Rise up, go up against a nation at ease, one living in security. This is the Lord 's declaration. They have no doors, not even a gate bar; they live alone.^(ah)

Their camels will become plunder, and their massive herds of cattle will become spoil.^(ai) I will scatter them to the wind in every direction, those who shave their temples; I will bring calamity on them across all their borders. This is the Lord 's declaration.

Hazor will become a jackals' den,^(aj) a desolation forever. No one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a temporary resident.^(ak)

This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam^[k] at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.^(al)

This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I am about to shatter Elam's bow,^(am) the source^[l] of their might.

I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds. There will not be a nation to which Elam's banished ones will not go.

I will devastate Elam before their enemies, before those who want to take their lives. I will bring disaster on them, My burning anger. This is the Lord 's declaration. I will send the sword after them^(an) until I finish them off.

I will set My throne in Elam, and I will destroy the king and officials from there. This is the Lord 's declaration.

In the last days, I will restore the fortunes^[m] of Elam.^(ao) This is the Lord 's declaration.

This is what the Lord said to me: "Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment^(a) and put it on,^[a] but do not put it in water."

So I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on.

Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:

"Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing,^[b] and go at once to the Euphrates^[c] and hide it in a rocky crevice."^(b)

So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

A long time later the Lord said to me, "Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there."

So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined—of no use at all.

Then the word of the Lord came to me:

"This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.^(c)

These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts,^(d) and who have followed other gods to serve and worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all.

Just as underwear clings to one's waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to Me"^(e)—this is the Lord 's declaration—"so that they might be My people for My fame, praise, and glory,^(f) but they would not obey.

"Say this to them: This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine. Then they will respond to you, ‘Don't we know that every jar should be filled with wine?'

And you will say to them: This is what the Lord says: I am about to fill all who live in this land—the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the residents of Jerusalem—with drunkenness.

I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep Me from destroying them."^(g)

Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken.

Give glory to the Lord your God^(h) before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains at dusk. You wait for light, but He brings darkest gloom^[d] and makes thick darkness.

But if you will not listen, my innermost being will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, for the Lord 's flock⁽ⁱ⁾ has been taken captive.

Say to the king and the queen mother:^(j) Take a humble seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.

The cities of the Negev are under siege; no one can help them. All of Judah has been taken into exile, taken completely into exile.

Look up and see those coming from the north.^(k) Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?

What will you say when He appoints close friends as leaders over you, ones you yourself trained? Won't labor pains seize you,^(l) as they do a woman in labor?

And when you ask yourself, "Why have these things happened to me?" It is because of your great guilt^(m) that your skirts have been stripped off,⁽ⁿ⁾ your body exposed.^[e]

Can the Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? If so, you might be able to do what is good,^(o) you who are instructed in evil.

I will scatter you^[f] like drifting chaff^(p) before the desert wind.

This is your lot, what I have decreed for you— this is the Lord 's declaration— because you have forgotten Me and trusted in Falsehood.^[g](q)

I will pull your skirts up over your face so that your shame might be seen.^(r)

Your adulteries and your lustful neighing,^(s) your heinous prostitution on the hills, in the fields— I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You are unclean— for how long yet?^(t)

This is what the Lord says: "Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there.

You are to say: Hear the word of the Lord , king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David—you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates.

This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness.^(a) Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor.^(b) Don't exploit or brutalize the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don't shed innocent blood in this place.

For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David's throne will enter through the gates of this palace^(c) riding on chariots and horses—they, their officers, and their people.

But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"that this house will become a ruin."^(d)

For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are like Gilead to Me, or the summit of Lebanon, but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness, uninhabited cities.

I will appoint destroyers against you, each with his weapons. They will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.

"Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?'

They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant^(e) of Yahweh their God and worshiped and served other gods.'"^(f)

Do not weep for the dead; do not mourn for him. Weep bitterly for the one^[a] who has gone away, for he will never return again and see his native land.

For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum^(g) son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah: "He has left this place—he will never return here again,

but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again."

Woe for the one who builds his palace through unrighteousness,^(h) his upper rooms through injustice, who makes his fellow man serve without pay and will not give him his wages,⁽ⁱ⁾

who says, "I will build myself a massive palace, with spacious upper rooms." He will cut windows^[b] in it, and it will be paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.

Are you a king because you excel in cedar? Didn't your father eat and drink and administer justice and righteousness?^(j) Then it went well with him.

He took up the case of the poor and needy, then it went well. Is this not what it means to know Me? This is the Lord 's declaration.

But you have eyes and a heart for nothing except your own dishonest profit, shedding innocent blood and committing extortion and oppression.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim^(k) son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, saying, "Woe, my brother!" or "Woe, my sister!" They will not mourn for him, saying, "Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!"

He will be buried like a donkey,^(l) dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim,^(m) for all your lovers^[c] have been crushed.⁽ⁿ⁾

I spoke to you when you were secure. You said, "I will not listen." This has been your way since youth;^(o) indeed, you have never listened to Me.

The wind will take charge of^[d] all your shepherds, and your lovers^[e] will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated^(p) because of all your evil.

You residents of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan^[f] when labor pains come on you, agony like a woman in labor.^(q)

"As I live," says the Lord , "though you, Coniah^[g](r) son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring^(s) on My right hand, I would tear you from it.

In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread,^(t) who want to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth^(u) to you into another land,^(v) where neither of you were born, and there you will both die.

They will never return to the land they long to return to."

Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot,^(w) a jar no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they have not known?

Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord !

This is what the Lord says: Record this man as childless,^(x) a man who will not be successful in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David^(y) or ruling again in Judah.