Jeremiah Chapter 49

From The Open Bible Project

49:1 Of the children of Ammon. Thus says Yahweh: Has Israel no sons? has he no heir? why then does Malcam possess Gad, and his people well in its cities?

• (a) They were separated from the Moabites by the river Arnon, and after the ten tribes were carried away into captivity, they invaded the country of Gad.
• (b) That is, of the Ammonites.
• (c) Meaning, of the Israelites.

49:2 Therefore, 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 shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel possess those who did possess him, says Yahweh.

• (d) Which was one of the chief cities of the Ammonites, as were Heshbon and Ai: there was also a city called Heshbon among the Moabites.

49:3 Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry, you daughters of Rabbah, dress yourself in sackcloth: lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

49:4 Why do you glory in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? who trusted in her treasures, [saying], Who shall come to me?

• (e) In your plentiful country.

49:5 Behold, I will bring a fear on you, says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, from all who are around you; and you shall be driven out every man right forth, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives.

• (f) Signifying that power and riches cannot prevail when God will execute his judgments.

49:6 But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the children of Ammon, says Yahweh.

• (h) In the time of Christ, when the Gentiles will be called.

49:7 Of Edom. Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?

• (i) Which was a city of Edom, called by the name of Teman Eliphaz’s son, who came from Esau.

49:8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I shall visit him.

• (k) The enemies that pretend to flee, will turn back and invade your land, and possess it.

49:9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, wouldn't they destroy until they had enough?

• (l) Meaning that God would utterly destroy them and not spare one, though the grape gatherers leave some grapes, and thieves seek but till they have enough, (Obadiah 1:5).

49:10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors; and he is no more.

49:11 Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in me.

• (m) The destruction will be so great that there will be none left to take care of the widows and the fatherless.

49:12 For thus says Yahweh: Behold, they to whom it didn't pertain to drink of the cup shall certainly drink; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink.

• (n) I have not spared my own people and how should I pity you?

49:13 For I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.

• (o) Which was a chief city of Edom.

49:14 I have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, [saying], Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.

• (p) That is, Bozrah.

49:15 For, behold, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men.

49:16 As 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.

49:17 Edom shall become an astonishment: everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues.

49:18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it, says Yahweh, no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.

49:19 Behold, he shall 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, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? and who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd who will stand before me?

• (q) That is, Nebuchadnezzar after he has overcome Judah, which is meant by the swelling of Jordan, will come against mount Seir and Edom.
• (r) That is, the Israelites whom the Edomites kept as prisoners to hast away from there.
• (s) The captain and governor of the army meaning Nebuchadnezzar.

49:20 Therefore 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 shall drag them away, [even] the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them.

• (t) They will not be able to resist his petty captains.
• (u) To visit the enemy.

49:21 The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in the [4] Red Sea [See Jeremiah Footnotes 4].

49:22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah: and the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

• (x) As (Jeremiah 48:40) was said of Moab.

49:23 Of Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil news, they are melted away: there is sorrow on the sea; it can't be quiet.

• (y) Which was the chief city of Syria, by which he means the whole country.

49:24 Damascus has grown feeble, she turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail.

• (z) When she heard the sudden coming of the enemy.

49:25 How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?

• (a) He speaks this in the person of the king and of them of the country who will wonder to see Damascus the chief city destroyed.

49:26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, says Yahweh of Armies.

49:27 I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.

• (b) Who was king of Syria, (1 Kings 20:26) and had built these palaces which were still called the palaces of Benhadad.

49:28 Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck. Thus says Yahweh: Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east.

• (c) Meaning the Arabians, and their borders.

49:29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take; they shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry to them, Terror on every side!

• (d) Because they used to dwell in tents, he names the things that belong to it.

49:30 Flee, 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.

• (e) The enemies will dwell in your places.

49:31 Arise, go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care, says Yahweh; that have neither gates nor bars, that dwell alone.

• (f) He shows that they of Hazor will flee to the Arabians for comfort but that will not help them.

49:32 Their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their livestock a spoil: and I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners [of their hair] cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, says Yahweh.

49:33 Hazor shall be a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.

49:34 The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

• (g) That is Persia, so called for Elam the son of Shem.

49:35 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

• (h) Because the Persians were good archers, he shows that the thing in which they put their trust would not profit them.

49:36 On Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

49:37 I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life; and 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;

49:38 and I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and princes, says Yahweh.

• (i) I will place Nebuchadnezzar there, and in these prophecies Jeremiah speaks of those countries which would be subdued under the first of those four monarchies of which Daniel makes mention.

49:39 But it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam, says Yahweh.

• (k) This may be referred to the empire of the Persians and Medes after the Chaldeans or to the time of Christ, as in (Jeremiah 48:47).