And every beard' clipped:

Upon all the hands shall be cuttings,

And upon the loins sackcloth.

38 There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab,

And in the streets thereof:

For I have broken Moab

Like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD.

39 They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! How hath Moab turned the 2 back with shame!

So shall Moab be a derision

And a dismaying to all them about him.

40 For thus saith the LORD;

Behold, he shall fly as an eagle,

And shall spread his wings over Moab.

41 3 Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised,
And the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be
As the heart of a woman in her pangs.

42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people,
Because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.
43 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee,
O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD.

44 He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit;

And he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare:
For I will bring upon it, even upon Moab,

The year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

45 They that fled

46

Stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force:

But a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon,

And a flame from the midst of Sihon,

And shall devour the corner of Moab,

And the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.

Woe be unto thee, O Moab!

The people of Chemosh perisheth:

For thy sons are taken captives,

And thy daughters captives.

47 Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab

49

In the latter days, saith the LORD.—Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

6 CONCERNING the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons?

Hath he no heir?

Why then doth 7their king inherit Gad,

And his people dwell in his cities?

2 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD,

That I will cause an alarm of war to be heard

In Rabbah of the Ammonites;

And it shall be a desolate heap,

And her daughters shall be burned with fire:

Then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.

3 Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled:

Cry, ye daughters of Rabbah,

Gird you with sackcloth;

Lament, and run to and fro by the hedges;

For 8 their king shall go into captivity,

And his priests and his princes together.
Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys,

9 Thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter?

That trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

5 Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee,

Saith the Lord GoD of hosts,

From all those that be about thee;

And ye shall be driven out every man right forth,
And none shall gather up him that wandereth.
6 And afterward I will bring again the captivity
Of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

7

CONCERNING Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts;
Is wisdom no more in Teman?

Is counsel perished from the prudent?

Is their wisdom vanished?

1

8 Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan;
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,

The time that I will visit him.

9 If grapegatherers come to thee,

10

Would they not leave some gleaning grapes?

If thieves by night, they will destroy 2 till they have enough.
But I have made Esau bare,

I have uncovered his secret places,

And he shall not be able to hide himself:

His seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours,
And he is not.

11 Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive;
And let thy widows trust in me.

12 For thus saith the LORD;

Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup
Have assuredly drunken;

And art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished?
Thou shalt not go unpunished,

But thou shalt surely drink of it.

13 For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD,

14

That Bozrah shall become a desolation,

A reproach, a waste, and a curse;

And all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.

I have heard a rumour from the LORD,

And an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying,
Gather ye together, and come against her,

And rise up to the battle.

15 For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen,

And despised among men.

16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee,

17

And the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock,
That holdest the height of the hill:

Though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle,

I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.

Also Edom shall be a desolation:

Every one that goeth by it shall be astonished,
And shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.

18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah

And the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord,
No man shall abide there,

Neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

19 Behold, he shall come up

20

Like a lion from the swelling of Jordan

Against the habitation of the strong:

But I will suddenly make him run away from her:

And who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her?

For who is like me? and who will appoint me the time?

And who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD,

That he hath taken against Edom;

1 Or, they are turned back. 2 Heb. their sufficiency. 3 Or, convent me in judgment.

And his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman : Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out:

Surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.

21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall,

At the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea.

22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle,

23

And spread his wings over Bozrah :

And at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be

As the heart of a woman in her pangs.

CONCERNING Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: For they have heard evil tidings: They are 2 fainthearted;

There is sorrow on the sea;

It cannot be quiet.

24 Damascus is waxed feeble,
And turneth herself to flee,
And fear hath seized on her:

Anguish and sorrows have taken her,
As a woman in travail.

25 How is the city of praise not left,

26

27

28

The city of my joy!

Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, Saith the LORD of hosts.

And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,

And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad.

CONCERNING Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD;

Arise ye, go up to Kedar,

And spoil the men of the east.

29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away :

They shall take to themselves their curtains,

And all their vessels, and their camels;

And they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.

30 Flee, get you far off,

Dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD;

For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you,
And hath conceived a purpose against you.

31 Arise, get you up unto the 5 wealthy nation,

That dwelleth without care, saith the LORD,
Which have neither gates nor bars,

Which dwell alone.

32 And their camels shall be a booty,

And the multitude of their cattle a spoil:

And I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners;
And I will bring their calamity

From all sides thereof, saith the LORD.

33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons,

34

And a desolation for ever:

There shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.

THE word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in 35 the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts;

Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,

The chief of their might.

36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds

1 Heb. Weedy Sea.
2 Heb. melted,

3 Or, as on the sea.

4 Heb. flit greatly.

5 Or, nation that is at
case.

6 Heb. cut off into corners,
or, that have the corners
of their hair polled.

From the four quarters of heaven,

And will scatter them toward all those winds;
And there shall be no nation

Whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies; And before them that seek their life:

And I will bring evil upon them,

Even my fierce anger, saith the LORD;
And I will send the sword after them,
Till I have consumed them:

38 And I will set my throne in Elam,

And will destroy from thence

The king and the princes, saith the LORD.

39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days,

That I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lokn.

50 THE word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

2 Declare ye among the nations, And publish, and set up a standard; Publish, and conceal not:

Say, Babylon is taken,

Bel is confounded,

Merodach is broken in pieces;

Her idols are confounded,

Her images are broken in pieces.

3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her,

4

Which shall make her land desolate,

And none shall dwell therein :

They shall remove, they shall depart,

Both man and beast.

In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD,

The children of Israel shall come,

They and the children of Judah together,

Going and weeping:

They shall go, and seek the LORD their God.

5 They shall ask the way to Zion

6

With their faces thitherward, saying,

Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD

In a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
My people hath been lost sheep:

Their shepherds have caused them to go astray,
They have turned them away on the mountains:
They have gone from mountain to hill,

They have forgotten their 3 restingplace.

7 All that found them have devoured them:

8

And their adversaries said, We offend not,

Because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice,
Even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

Remove out of the midst of Babylon,

And go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans,

And be as the he goats before the flocks.

9 For, lo, I will raise

And cause to come up against Babylon

An assembly of great nations from the north country:

And they shall set themselves in array against her;

From thence she shall be taken :

Their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man;
None shall return in vain.

1 Heb. by the hand of Jeremiah.

2 Heb. lift up.

3 Heb. place to lie down in.
4 Or, destroyer.

10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil :

11

All that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.
Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced,
O ye destroyers of mine heritage,

1

Because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass,
And 2 bellow as bulls;

12 Your mother shall be sore confounded;

She that bare you shall be ashamed:

Behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be

A wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, But it shall be wholly desolate :

Every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished,

And hiss at all her plagues.

14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: All ye that bend the bow,

Shoot at her, spare no arrows:

For she hath sinned against the LORD.

15 Shout against her round about:

She hath given her hand:

Her foundations are fallen,

Her walls are thrown down:

For it is the vengeance of the LORD:

Take vengeance upon her;

As she hath done, do unto her.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,

17

And him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest :

For fear of the oppressing sword

They shall turn every one to his people,

And they shall flee every one to his own land.

Israel is a scattered sheep;

The lions have driven him away :

First the king of Assyria hath devoured him;

And last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. 18 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;

Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,

As I have punished the king of Assyria.

19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation,

And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan,

And his soul shall be satisfied

Upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.

20 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD,

117

21

The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for-and there shall be none;
And the sins of Judah-and they shall not be found:

For I will pardon them whom I reserve.

Go up against the land 4 of Merathaim,

Even against it, and against the inhabitants of 5 Pekod :
Waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD,

And do according to all that I have commanded thee.

22 A sound of battle is in the land,

And of great destruction.

23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!

How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken,

25

O Babylon, and thou wast not aware:

Thou art found, and also caught,

Because thou hast striven against the LORD.

The LORD hath opened his armoury,

And hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation:

Heb, big, or, corpulent.

Or, neigh as steeds.

3 Or, scythe.
4 Or, of the rebels.

M m

5 Or, visitation.