13 For, by Myself, I have sworn, An affirmation of Jehovah, That for a desolation, for a reproach, For a waste, and for a reviling -- is Bozrah, And all her cities are for wastes age-during.
And turned have been her streams to pitch, And her dust to brimstone, And her land hath become burning pitch. By night and by day she is not quenched, To the age go up doth her smoke, From generation to generation she is waste, For ever and ever, none is passing into her. And possess her do pelican and hedge-hog, And owl and raven dwell in her, And He hath stretched out over her A line of vacancy, and stones of emptiness. `To' the kingdom her freemen they call, But there are none there, And all her princes are at an end. And gone up her palaces have thorns, Nettle and bramble `are' in her fortresses, And it hath been a habitation of dragons, A court for daughters of an ostrich. And met have Ziim with Aiim, And the goat for its companion calleth, Only there rested hath the night-owl, And hath found for herself a place of rest. There made her nest hath the bittern, Yea, she layeth, and hath hatched, And hath gathered under her shadow, Only there gathered have been vultures, Each with its companion.
And Edom hath been for a desolation, Every passer by her is astonished, And doth hiss because of all her plagues. As the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, And its neighbours, said Jehovah, No one doth dwell there, Nor sojourn in her doth a son of man.
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have stretched out My hand against Edom, And I have cut off from it man and beast, And given it up -- a waste, from Teman even to Dedan, By sword they do fall. And I have given My vengeance on Edom, By the hand of My people Israel, And they have done in Edom, According to My anger, and according to My fury, And they have known My vengeance, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.
`Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, and thou hast said to it: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I `am' against thee, O mount Seir, And have stretched out My hand against thee, And made thee a desolation and an astonishment. Thy cities a waste I make, and thou art a desolation, And thou hast known that I `am' Jehovah. Because of thy having an enmity age-during, And thou dost saw the sons of Israel, By the hands of the sword, In the time of their calamity, In the time of the iniquity of the end: Therefore, I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Surely for blood I do appoint thee, And blood doth pursue thee, If blood thou hast not hated, Blood also doth pursue thee. And I have given mount Seir for a desolation and an astonishment, And have cut off from it him who is passing over and him who is returning, And filled his mountains with his wounded, Thy hills, and thy valleys, and all thy streams, The pierced of the sword fall into them. Desolations age-during I make thee, And thy cities do not return, And ye have known that I `am' Jehovah. Because of thy saying: The two nations and the two lands are mine, and we have possessed it, And Jehovah hath been there; Therefore, I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And I have done according to thine anger, And according to thine envy, With which thou hast wrought, Because of thy hatred against them, And I have been known among them when I judge thee. And thou hast known that I -- Jehovah, I have heard all thy despisings that thou hast spoken Against mountains of Israel, saying: A desolation, to us they were given for food. And ye magnify yourselves against Me with your mouth, And have made abundant against Me your words, I -- I have heard. Thus said the Lord Jehovah: According to the rejoicing of the whole land, A desolation I make of thee. According to thy joy at the inheritance of the house of Israel because of desolation, So I do to thee -- a desolation thou art, O mount Seir, and all Edom -- all of it, And they have known that I `am' Jehovah!
Is not Esau Jacob's brother? -- an affirmation of Jehovah, And I love Jacob, and Esau I have hated, And I make his mountains a desolation, And his inheritance for dragons of a wilderness. Because Edom saith, `We have been made poor, And we turn back and we build the wastes,' Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They do build, and I do destroy, And `men' have called to them, `O region of wickedness,' `O people whom Jehovah defied to the age.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 49
Commentary on Jeremiah 49 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Concerning Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, Elam
Concerning the Children of Ammon. - The Ammonites were, not merely as regards descent, but also as to their character and their relation to Israel, the twin-people with the Moabites. From them, too, as well as from the Moabites, Sihon the king of the Ammonites had wrenched a portion of their territory, which the Israelites received for a possession after Sihon had been subdued. This territory they sought every opportunity of retaking from the Israelites, whom they as constantly endeavoured to humiliate when they could. Besides their connection with Eglon the Moabite king (Judges 3:13), they oppressed Israel during the period of the judges for eighteen years, not only in Gilead, but also on this side of Jordan, since they fought against Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah ( Judges 10:7., Jeremiah 11:12 -32). During Samuel's time, their king Nahash besieged Jabesh-gilead, and demanded the surrender of the city under shameful conditions, in consequence of which they were defeated by Saul (1 Sam 2). During the time of David they disgracefully treated his ambassadors, who had come to comfort King Hanun over the death of his father; they then united with the Syrians against Israel, but were defeated by Joab, and, after the taking of their capital, Rabbah, severely chastised (2 Samuel 10:1 to 2 Samuel 11:1, and 2 Samuel 12:26-31). Under the reign of Jehoshaphat, also, in company with the Moabites, they invaded Judah (2 Chron 20); and when, later, the Israelites were heavily oppressed by the Syrians under Hazael, the Ammonites practised cruelties on them in Gilead, for which the prophet Amos (Amos 1:13-15) threatens them with devastation of their country and foreign captivity. After the death of Jeroboam II, who had restored the borders of Israel as far as the Dead Sea (2 Kings 14:25), the Ammonites must have made fresh attempts to enlarge their territory during the interregnum that had begun in the kingdom of the ten tribes; for it is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 26:8 that they brought presents to King Uzziah, i.e., paid tribute, and had thus been rendered tributary to him: it is also stated in 2 Chronicles 27:5 that his son Jotham marched against them in order to enforce the payment of the tribute. But when, soon afterwards, Tiglath-pileser the Assyrian carried away the tribes of Israel on the east of the Jordan (2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26), the Ammonites seized possession of the depopulated country of the tribes of Gad and Reuben, while they also seized Heshbon on the border of these two tribal territories. This unjust appropriation of Israelitish territory forms the starting-point of the prophecy now before us.
Ammon has taken possession of the inheritance of Gad, therefore must his cities be destroyed by war, that Israel may again obtain his own property (Jeremiah 49:1, Jeremiah 49:2). Ammon will sorrow deeply, for his god will go with his princes into captivity (Jeremiah 49:2-4). His trust in the wealth of his land will not help him, but his people will be frightened away through terror on every side, yet they will be restored in the future (Jeremiah 49:5, Jeremiah 49:6).
"Concerning the children of Ammon, thus saith Jahveh: Hath Israel no sons, or hath he no heir? Why doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? Jeremiah 49:2. Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith Jahveh, when I will cause to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon a war-cry; and it shall become a heap of ruins, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: and Israel shall heir those who heired him, saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 49:3. Howl, O Heshbon! for Ai is laid waste. Cry! ye daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with sackcloth; lament, and run up and down among the enclosures: for their king shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. Jeremiah 49:4. Why dost thou glory in the valleys? Thy valley flows away, O thou rebellious daughter, that trusted in her treasures, [saying], Who shall come to me? Jeremiah 49:5. Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord Jahveh of hosts, from all that is round thee; and ye shall be driven each one before him, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives. Jeremiah 49:6. But afterwards I will turn the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith Jahveh."