Jeremiah 48
Open in the reader1Concerning From-the-Father, this is what He-Who-Is of Hosts, the God of Strives-with-God, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Two-Cities will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.
2There is no longer praise for From-the-Father; in Reckoning they devise evil against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’ You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.
3A voice cries out from Two-Caves: ‘Devastation and great destruction!’
4From-the-Father will be shattered; her little ones will cry out.
5For on the ascent to Tablets they weep bitterly as they go, and on the descent to Two-Caves cries of distress resound over the destruction:
6‘Flee! Run for your lives! Become like a juniper in the desert.’
7Because you trust in your works and treasures, you too will be captured, and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.
8The destroyer will move against every city, and not one town will escape. The valley will also be ruined, and the high plain will be destroyed, as He-Who-Is has said.
9Put salt on From-the-Father, for she will be laid waste; her cities will become desolate, with no one to dwell in them.
10Cursed is the one who is remiss in doing the work of He-Who-Is, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.
11From-the-Father has been at ease from youth, settled like wine on its dregs; he has not been poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile. So his flavor has remained the same, and his aroma is unchanged.
12Therefore behold, the days are coming, declares He-Who-Is, when I will send to him wanderers, who will pour him out. They will empty his vessels and shatter his jars.
13Then From-the-Father will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Strives-with-God was ashamed when they trusted in House-of-God.
14How can you say, ‘We are warriors, mighty men ready for battle’?
15From-the-Father has been destroyed and its towns have been invaded; the best of its young men have gone down in the slaughter, declares the King, whose name is He-Who-Is of Hosts.
16From-the-Father’s calamity is at hand, and his affliction is rushing swiftly.
17Mourn for him, all you who surround him, everyone who knows his name; tell how the mighty scepter is shattered— the glorious staff!
18Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground, O daughter dwelling in Pining, for the destroyer of From-the-Father has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.
19Stand by the road and watch, O dweller of Bare-Place! Ask the man fleeing or the woman escaping, ‘What has happened?’
20From-the-Father is put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Rushing-Stream that From-the-Father is destroyed.
21Judgment has come upon the high plain— upon Sandy-Place, Trodden-Place, and Splendor,
22upon Pining, Nebo, and House-of-the-Two-Fig-Cakes,
23upon Two-Cities, House-of-the-Weaned, and House-of-the-Master-of-the-Dwelling,
24upon Cities, Fortress, and all the towns of From-the-Father, those far and near.
25The horn of From-the-Father has been cut off, and his arm is broken,” declares He-Who-Is.
26“Make him drunk, because he has magnified himself against He-Who-Is; so From-the-Father will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock.
27Was not Strives-with-God your object of ridicule? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.
28Abandon the towns and settle among the rocks, O dwellers of From-the-Father! Be like a dove that nests at the mouth of a cave.
29We have heard of From-the-Father’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his proud arrogance and haughtiness of heart.
30I know his insolence,” declares He-Who-Is, “but it is futile. His boasting is as empty as his deeds.
31Therefore I will wail for From-the-Father; I will cry out for all of From-the-Father; I will moan for the men Wall-of-Potsherd Kir-heres.
32I will weep for you, O vine of Spice, more than I weep for He-Helps. Your tendrils have extended to the Sea; they reach even to He-Helps. The destroyer has descended on your summer fruit and grape harvest.
33Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard and from the fields of From-the-Father. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; their shouts are not for joy.
34There is a cry from Reckoning to God-Has-Gone-Up; they raise their voices to Trodden-Place, from Little to Two-Caves and Heifer-Three-Years-Old-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Clear-Waters have dried up.
35In From-the-Father, declares He-Who-Is, I will bring an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods.
36Therefore My heart laments like a flute for From-the-Father; it laments like a flute for the men Wall-of-Potsherd Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.
37For every head is shaved and every beard is clipped; on every hand is a gash, and around every waist is sackcloth.
38On all the rooftops of From-the-Father and in the public squares, everyone is mourning; for I have shattered From-the-Father like an unwanted jar,” declares He-Who-Is.
39“How shattered it is! How they wail! How From-the-Father has turned his back in shame! From-the-Father has become an object of ridicule and horror to all those around him.”
40For this is what He-Who-Is says: “Behold, an eagle swoops down and spreads his wings against From-the-Father.
41Cities has been taken, and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of From-the-Father’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42From-the-Father will be destroyed as a nation because he vaunted himself against He-Who-Is.
43Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of From-the-Father,” declares He-Who-Is.
44“Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon From-the-Father the year of their punishment,” declares He-Who-Is.
45“Those who flee will stand helpless in Reckoning’s shadow, because fire has gone forth from Reckoning and a flame from within Tempestuous. It devours the foreheads of From-the-Father and the skulls of the sons of tumult.
46Woe to you, O From-the-Father! The people of Chemosh have perished; for your sons have been taken into exile and your daughters have gone into captivity.
47Yet in the latter days I will restore From-the-Father from captivity,” declares He-Who-Is. Here ends the judgment on From-the-Father.