¹ Concerning the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says: “Has Israel no sons? Is he without heir? Why then has Milcom¹ taken possession of Gad? Why have his people settled in their cities?

1. Or their king; Milcom is a variant of Molech; also in verse 3; see Leviticus 18:21 and 1 Kings 11:7.

² Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned. Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors, says the LORD.

³ Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.

⁴ Why do you boast of your valleys— your valleys so fruitful,¹ O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, ‘Who can come against me?’

1. Or your valleys flowing

⁵ Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you, declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, from all those around you. You will each be driven headlong, with no one to regather the fugitives.

⁶ Yet afterward I will restore the Ammonites from captivity,¹” declares the LORD.

1. Or restore the fortunes of the Ammonites

Judgment on Edom

(Obadiah 1:1–14)

⁷ Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?

⁸ Turn and run! Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.

⁹ If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, would they not steal only what they wanted?

¹⁰ But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his hiding places, and he will be unable to conceal himself. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and neighbors, and he will be no more.

¹¹ Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives. Let your widows trust in Me.”

¹² 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 go unpunished, for you must drink it too.

¹³ For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”

¹⁴ I have heard a message from the LORD; an envoy has been sent to the nations: “Assemble yourselves to march against her! Rise up for battle!”

¹⁵ “For behold, I will make you small among nations, despised among men.

¹⁶ The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks,¹ O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

1. Or of Sela

¹⁷ “Edom will become an object of horror. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.

¹⁸ As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.

¹⁹ Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”

²⁰ Therefore hear the plans that the LORD has drawn up against Edom and the strategies He has devised against the people of Teman: Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away; certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.¹

1. Or their pasture will be appalled at their fate

²¹ At the sound of their fall the earth will quake; their cry will resound to the Red Sea.¹

1. Or the Sea of Reeds

²² Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s mighty men will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Judgment on Damascus

(Isaiah 17:1–14)

²³ Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea;¹ their anxiety cannot be calmed.

1. Hebrew on the sea or by the sea

²⁴ Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee. Panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her like a woman in labor.

²⁵ How is the city of praise not forsaken, the town that brings Me joy?

²⁶ For her young men will fall in the streets, and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

²⁷ “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

²⁸ Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says: “Rise up, advance against Kedar, and destroy the people of the east!

²⁹ They will take their tents and flocks, their tent curtains and all their goods. They will take their camels for themselves. They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’

³⁰ Run! Escape quickly! Lie low, O residents of Hazor,” declares the LORD, “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has drawn up a plan against you; he has devised a strategy against you.

³¹ Rise up, advance against a nation at ease, one that dwells securely,” declares the LORD. “They have no gates or bars; they live alone.

³² Their camels will become plunder, and their large herds will be spoil. I will scatter to the wind in every direction those who shave their temples; I will bring calamity on them from all sides,” declares the LORD.

³³ “Hazor will become a haunt for jackals,¹ a desolation forever. No one will dwell there; no man will abide there.”

1. Or serpents or dragons

Judgment on Elam

³⁴ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.

³⁵ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow, the mainstay of their might.

³⁶ 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 exiles will not go.

³⁷ So I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who seek their lives. I will bring disaster upon them, even My fierce anger,” declares the LORD. “I will send out the sword after them until I finish them off.

³⁸ I will set My throne in Elam, and destroy its king and officials,” declares the LORD.

³⁹ “Yet in the last days, I will restore Elam from captivity,¹” declares the LORD.

1. Or restore the fortunes of Elam