Jeremiah 49

God speaks judgment on Israel’s neighbors: Ammon, Edom, Damascus, the desert peoples of Kedar and Hazor, and Elam. Each trusted in its land, wealth, fortress or strength, and each is shown that no one stands against the LORD. Yet mercy shines through, with protection for the helpless and promised restoration for Ammon and Elam.

Jeremiah 49:1

Ammon had moved into the land of Gad, east of the Jordan, after Israel’s northern tribes were carried away. God asks, in effect, whether Israel has no heirs. The land still belongs to His people, and Ammon’s god Milcom cannot hold it.

BSA: Milcom (“their king”): The name means ’their king’, so the real question is who is king over this land, a false god or the LORD.

See also: Amos 1:13-15; Zephaniah 2:8-11.

Jeremiah 49:2

God will sound the war cry against Rabbah, Ammon’s capital, and turn it into a ruined mound. Its outlying villages will burn. The tables will then turn, and Israel will take back what was taken from her.

Hebrew: יָרַשׁ (yārash, H3423) — “to take possession of, to inherit, to dispossess.” The same word runs through verses 1 and 2. Those who took the land as ‘heirs’ will be dispossessed, and the true heir will receive it back.

Jeremiah 49:3

Cities across Ammon are told to wail. Sackcloth and frantic running inside the walls show that the walls give no safety. Milcom, the god they trusted, goes into exile with his priests and officials. A god that must be carried away cannot save anyone.

BSA: sackcloth (“a coarse cloth”): Rough, scratchy cloth was worn in grief and shows how deep the mourning is.

Jeremiah 49:4

Ammon boasts of her rich valleys and her wealth and thinks no one can touch her. Security built on soil and savings is a false security. God calls her a faithless daughter because she has turned from what she should have trusted.

BSA: faithless (“backsliding”): The word pictures someone who has turned away and gone the wrong direction.

Jeremiah 49:5

The terror will come from the very neighbors Ammon thought were harmless. Her people will be scattered in every direction, and no one will be left to gather the refugees. The Lord of Hosts commands all the armies, so no army is a shield against Him.

See also: Psalm 33:16-17.

Jeremiah 49:6

The judgment is not the last word. God promises that afterward He will restore Ammon from captivity. Even a proud, judged nation is not beyond His mercy, and His purposes reach past punishment to renewal.

Hebrew: שְׁבוּת (shevut, H7622) — “captivity, fortunes.” The phrase can mean ’turn the captivity’ or ‘restore the fortunes.’ It is the same promise God makes to His own people, and here it is given to a Gentile nation.

See also: Jeremiah 48:47.

Jeremiah 49:7

Edom, the descendants of Esau, was famous for its wise counselors, especially in Teman. God asks sarcastically whether that wisdom has run dry. The wisest planning fails when God has set Himself against a people.

See also: Obadiah 1:8.

Jeremiah 49:8

Dedan was an Arabian trading people linked with Edom. They are warned to flee and hide deep, away from the coming disaster. The day of Esau’s calamity is a set time of reckoning, and those near Edom may be caught up in it.

BSA: punish (“visit”): God ‘visits’ in judgment. The word shows that He personally comes to deal with Edom.

Jeremiah 49:9

Ordinary harvesters leave a few grapes, and ordinary thieves take only what they can carry. Edom’s judgment will be different, with nothing left behind. This is not human plunder but God’s thorough reckoning.

BSA: gleanings (“a few remaining grapes”): Even a careless harvest leaves some fruit. Edom will not be given even that.

See also: Obadiah 1:5.

Jeremiah 49:10

God Himself will strip Esau bare and expose the hiding places in which Edom trusted. Her family line, relatives and neighbors will all fall. Her rocky refuges cannot hide her from the One who sees everything.

See also: Obadiah 1:6.

Jeremiah 49:11

In the middle of judgment comes a tender word. The fatherless and the widows, who will be left with nothing, are told that God will keep them alive. They may trust Him. He cares for the helpless even inside a nation under judgment.

BSA: preserve (“keep alive”): God Himself promises to sustain the lives of the orphans, so His care reaches even into a condemned nation.

See also: Psalm 68:5; Psalm 146:9.

Jeremiah 49:12

The cup is a picture of God’s judgment. Even people who seemed less deserving, such as Judah, have had to drink it. Edom is far from innocent, so she cannot expect to escape. No one stands outside God’s justice.

BSA: cup (“of judgment, wrath”): The cup stands for the portion of God’s judgment that each nation must drink.

See also: Jeremiah 25:15-17.

Jeremiah 49:13

God takes an oath by Himself, since there is no one greater to swear by. Bozrah, a leading city of Edom, will become a ruin and a byword for cursing. When God swears, the matter is as certain as His own character.

BSA: sworn (“taken an oath”): A solemn oath makes the promise unbreakable, and God puts His own life behind it.

See also: Hebrews 6:13.

Jeremiah 49:14

Jeremiah has heard the LORD’s message, and an envoy is sent to rally the nations against Edom. God is the real commander. The nations that gather to attack think they act on their own, but they are carrying out His plan.

See also: Obadiah 1:1.

Jeremiah 49:15

Edom thought herself great. God says He will make her small and despised among men. The one who sets the size and standing of every nation is the LORD, and what He lifts or lowers is lifted or lowered indeed.

See also: Daniel 2:21.

Jeremiah 49:16

Edom lived in rock clefts and mountain strongholds and felt untouchable. Her fearsome reputation and her pride deceived her. Even an eagle’s nest on the highest crag is not out of God’s reach, and He will bring her down.

BSA: pride (“arrogance”): Edom’s confidence had hardened into arrogance, and that arrogance was fooling her.

Hebrew: חַגְוֵי (ḥagwê, H2288) — “clefts, crevices.” The word paints Edom as a people tucked into rock crevices. Their safety felt natural and permanent, which is why they stopped looking to God.

See also: Obadiah 1:3-4.

Jeremiah 49:17-18

Edom will become something people stare at in horror, and passersby will whistle in shock at her wounds. She will be left empty like Sodom and Gomorrah, with no one living there. The overthrow of those cities was the long-remembered picture of total judgment.

See also: Genesis 19:24-25.

Jeremiah 49:19

Like a lion leaping out of the Jordan thickets onto a flock, God’s chosen instrument will suddenly drive Edom out. The LORD then asks who is like Him, and what shepherd or ruler can face Him. No leader can stand against God.

BSA: chosen one (“a selected leader”): God picks whom He will, and He does not need Edom’s permission or a mighty nation to do His work.

See also: Jeremiah 50:44.

Jeremiah 49:20

God has plans, and He asks that they be heard. Even the little ones of the flock will be dragged away, and the pasture will be left desolate. The judgment is so complete that the weakest are not spared the shaking either.

BSA: little ones (“young, insignificant”): The youngest and least important of Edom’s flock are swept up in the downfall.

Jeremiah 49:21-22

Edom’s fall is so loud that the earth shakes and her cry is heard as far as the Red Sea. An eagle swoops over Bozrah. The warriors who felt strong become as helpless as a woman in labor, gripped by pain and fear.

BSA: eagle (“a large bird of prey”): The same bird Edom pictured herself as is now turned against her, as an enemy swoops down on Bozrah.

Jeremiah 49:23

Now the message turns to Damascus and her neighbors, Hamath and Arpad in Syria. Word of disaster reaches them, and their hearts melt. Like a restless sea that cannot settle, their anxiety cannot be calmed.

See also: Isaiah 17:1-3.

Jeremiah 49:24-25

Damascus grows weak, turns to flee and is gripped by fear like a woman in labor. The question about the city of praise is a sad one. The famous city, once a delight, is left forsaken, and her fall seems unthinkable.

BSA: praise (“song of praise”): Damascus was known as a city worth singing about, which makes her fall all the more shocking.

Jeremiah 49:26-27

Her young men will fall in the streets and her warriors will go silent. God will set fire to her walls and burn the fortresses of Ben-hadad, a name carried by Syrian kings. Strong walls and strong men cannot stop the LORD of Hosts.

See also: Amos 1:3-5.

Jeremiah 49:28

Kedar was an Arabian desert people descended from Ishmael, and this Hazor is not the northern city in Israel but desert settlements. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is the instrument of God here, and the people of the east are targets of his campaign.

See also: Genesis 25:13; Isaiah 21:16-17.

Jeremiah 49:29

The attackers will carry off tents, flocks, curtains and camels, the whole wealth of a nomadic people. The cry of ‘Terror is on every side’ is a phrase Jeremiah has used before. The invaders strike from every direction, so there is nowhere to run.

See also: Jeremiah 20:3.

Jeremiah 49:30

God warns the residents of Hazor to flee far and hide deep, for Nebuchadnezzar has made his plan against them. Behind the Babylonian king’s strategy stands God’s own purpose. Judgment is announced beforehand, and those who listen can run.

BSA: Lie low (“dwell deep”): The warning is to withdraw into deep, hidden places to escape the coming army.

Jeremiah 49:31-32

This was a nation at ease, with no gates or bars, and secure only because no one had troubled it. That peace was not protection. Its camels and herds will be plundered, and those who shave their temples will be scattered on every wind.

BSA: at ease (“living in comfort”): Their comfortable living had made them careless, and trust in comfort was no defense. shave (“cut off”): The phrase describes a people known for a distinctive hair custom, which marked them out for judgment.

Jeremiah 49:33

Hazor will become a haunt for jackals, a desolation forever, with no one living there. The place where people once lived and herded now belongs to wild animals. What God has judged, no human effort can rebuild.

Hebrew: תַּנִּים (tannîm, H8577) — “jackals, desert creatures.” The word is used for the wild creatures that roam abandoned ruins, so it paints a place fully deserted.

Jeremiah 49:34

A new prophecy begins, this one about Elam, a land east of Babylon, near the Persian Gulf. It came early in the reign of Zedekiah, years before Jerusalem fell. God’s word reaches far beyond Israel’s immediate neighbors.

See also: Genesis 10:22.

Jeremiah 49:35-36

The bow was Elam’s famous weapon and the heart of her strength. God will break it. Then He brings the four winds from the four corners of the sky and scatters Elam’s people to every nation. Elam’s strength fails, and her people are blown across the world.

BSA: mainstay (“chief”): The bow is described as the chief or foremost thing that Elam’s might rested on.

Jeremiah 49:37-38

God will shatter Elam before her enemies, bring His fierce anger and send the sword until they are finished. He will set His throne in Elam and remove her king and officials. The One who judges is the true King, and the throne in Elam is His.

BSA: throne (“seat of power”): God sets His own seat of authority in Elam, which shows that He is the real ruler there and the judge of its rulers.

Jeremiah 49:39

Even this judgment ends with hope. In the last days, God promises to restore Elam from captivity. Elamites were among those in Jerusalem at Pentecost, so the promise has already begun to be pictured. The chapter closes with mercy for Gentile nations.

BSA: restore (“bring back”): God will bring Elam’s people back, so scattering is not their final end.

See also: Acts 2:9.