Jeremiah 49:23-39

The Message on Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad will be in shock when they hear the bad news. Their hearts will melt in fear as they pace back and forth in worry. The blood will drain from the face of Damascus as she turns to flee. Hysterical, she’ll fall to pieces, disabled, like a woman in childbirth. And now how lonely—bereft, abandoned! The once famous city, the once happy city. Her bright young men dead in the streets, her brave warriors silent as death. On that day”—Decree of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies— “I’ll start a fire at the wall of Damascus that will burn down all of Ben-hadad’s forts.” The Message on Kedar and the sheikdoms of Hazor who were attacked by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. This is GOD’s Message: “On your feet! Attack Kedar! Plunder the Bedouin nomads from the east. Grab their blankets and pots and pans. Steal their camels. Traumatize them, shouting, ‘Terror! Death! Doom! Danger everywhere!’ Oh, run for your lives, You nomads from Hazor.” GOD’s Decree. “Find a safe place to hide. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has plans to wipe you out, to go after you with a vengeance: ‘After them,’ he says. ‘Go after these relaxed nomads who live free and easy in the desert, Who live in the open with no doors to lock, who live off by themselves.’ Their camels are there for the taking, their herds and flocks, easy picking. I’ll scatter them to the four winds, these defenseless nomads on the fringes of the desert. I’ll bring terror from every direction. They won’t know what hit them.” GOD’s Decree. “Jackals will take over the camps of Hazor, camps abandoned to wind and sand. No one will live there, no mortal soul move in there.” GOD’s Message to the prophet Jeremiah on Elam at the outset of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies says