Jeremiah 49:15

THE MESSAGE

"Ah, Edom, I'm dropping you to last place among nations, the bottom of the heap, kicked around. You think you're so great— strutting across the stage of history, Living high in the impregnable rocks, acting like king of the mountain. You think you're above it all, don't you, like an eagle in its aerie? Well, you're headed for a fall. I'll bring you crashing to the ground." God 's Decree.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I will certainly make you insignificant among the nations,despised among humanity.

Hebrew Names Version
For, behold, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men.

King James Version
For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.

English Standard Version
For behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among mankind.

New American Standard Bible
"For behold, I have made you small among the nations, Despised among people.

New Century Version
"Soon I will make you the smallest of nations, and you will be greatly hated by everyone.

Amplified Bible
"For behold, [Edom] I have made you small among the nations And despised among men.

World English Bible
For, behold, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For loe, I will make thee but small among the heathen, and despised among men.

Legacy Standard Bible
"For behold, I have made you small among the nations,Despised among men.

Berean Standard Bible
"For behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among men.

Contemporary English Version
Your nation will be small, yet hated by other nations.

Complete Jewish Bible
Here! I will make you least among nations, the most despised of people.

Darby Translation
For behold, I have made thee small among the nations, despised among men.

Easy-to-Read Version
Edom, I will make you become unimportant. Everyone will hate you.

George Lamsa Translation
For, lo, I will make you small among the nations and despised among men.

Good News Translation
The Lord is going to make you weak, and no one will respect you.

Lexham English Bible
"For look, I will make you small among the nations, despised by the humankind.

Literal Translation
For, behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among men.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
for lo: I will make the but small amonge the Heithen, and litle regarded amonge men.

American Standard Version
For, behold, I have made thee small among the nations, and despised among men.

Bible in Basic English
For see, I have made you small among the nations, looked down on by men.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For, behold, I make thee small among the nations, and despised among men.

King James Version (1611)
For lo, I wil make thee smal among the heathen, and despised among men.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For lo, I wyll make thee but small among the heathen, and litle regarded among men.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
then hear the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord;

English Revised Version
For, behold, I have made thee small among the nations, and despised among men.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For lo! Y haue youe thee a litil oon among hethene men, despisable among men.

Update Bible Version
For, look, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among man.

Webster's Bible Translation
For lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, [and] despised among men.

New English Translation
The Lord says to Edom, "I will certainly make you small among nations. I will make you despised by all humankind.

New King James Version
"For indeed, I will make you small among nations, Despised among men.

New Living Translation
The Lord says to Edom, "I will cut you down to size among the nations. You will be despised by all.

New Life Bible
For I have made you small among the nations, hated among men.

New Revised Standard
For I will make you least among the nations, despised by humankind.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For lo! Small, have I made thee among the nations, - Despised among men!

Douay-Rheims Bible
For behold I have made thee a little one among the nations, despicable among men.

Revised Standard Version
For behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among men.

Young's Literal Translation
For, lo, little I have made thee among nations, Despised among men.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For behold, I have made you small among the nations, Despised among men.

Contextual Overview

⁷The Message of God -of-the-Angel-Armies on Edom: "Is there nobody wise left in famous Teman? no one with a sense of reality? Has their wisdom gone wormy and rotten? Run for your lives! Get out while you can! Find a good place to hide, you who live in Dedan! I'm bringing doom to Esau. It's time to settle accounts. When harvesters work your fields, don't they leave gleanings? When burglars break into your house, don't they take only what they want? But I'll strip Esau clean. I'll search out every nook and cranny. I'll destroy everything connected with him, children and relatives and neighbors. There'll be no one left who will be able to say, ‘I'll take care of your orphans. Your widows can depend on me.'" ¹²Indeed. God says, "I tell you, if there are people who have to drink the cup of God's wrath even though they don't deserve it, why would you think you'd get off? You won't get off. You'll drink it. Oh yes, you'll drink every drop. And as for Bozrah, your capital, I swear by all that I am"— God 's Decree—"that that city will end up a pile of charred ruins, a stinking garbage dump, an obscenity—and all her daughter-cities with her." ¹⁴ I've just heard the latest from God . He's sent an envoy to the nations: "Muster your troops and attack Edom. Present arms! Go to war!" ¹⁵"Ah, Edom, I'm dropping you to last place among nations, the bottom of the heap, kicked around. You think you're so great— strutting across the stage of history, Living high in the impregnable rocks, acting like king of the mountain. You think you're above it all, don't you, like an eagle in its aerie? Well, you're headed for a fall. I'll bring you crashing to the ground." God 's Decree. ¹⁷"Edom will end up trash. Stinking, despicable trash. A wonder of the world in reverse. She'll join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors in the sewers of history." God says so. "No one will live there, no mortal soul move in there. ¹⁹ "Watch this: Like a lion coming up from the thick jungle of the Jordan Looking for prey in the mountain pastures, I will come upon Edom and pounce. I'll take my pick of the flock—and who's to stop me? The shepherds of Edom are helpless before me." ²⁰So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Edom, the blueprint of what he's prepared for those who live in Teman: "Believe it or not, the young, the vulnerable— mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off. Believe it or not, the flock in shock, helpless to help, will watch it happen. The very earth will shudder because of their cries, cries of anguish heard at the distant Red Sea. Look! An eagle soars, swoops down, spreads its wings over Bozrah. Brave warriors will double up in pain, helpless to fight, like a woman giving birth to a baby."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Samuel 2:7, 1 Samuel 2:8, 1 Samuel 2:30, Psalms 53:5, Obadiah 1:2, Micah 7:10, Luke 1:51

Reciprocal: Obadiah 1:1 - We

Cross-References

Joshua 14:15
The name of Hebron used to be Kiriath Arba, named after Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.

Judges 3:11
The land was quiet for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.

2 Samuel 7:1
Before long, the king made himself at home and God gave him peace from all his enemies. Then one day King David said to Nathan the prophet, "Look at this: Here I am, comfortable in a luxurious house of cedar, and the Chest of God sits in a plain tent."

Psalms 81:6
"I took the world off your shoulders, freed you from a life of hard labor. You called to me in your pain; I got you out of a bad place. I answered you from where the thunder hides, I proved you at Meribah Fountain.

Matthew 23:4
"Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor' and ‘Reverend.'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For, lo, I will make thee small among the Heathen,.... Or, "I have given thee", or "made thee" m; as if it respected what Edom was at first, a people few in number, and their country not large, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi, and after them Abarbinel: but it rather intends what Edom should be n; and which was the reason of gathering the Chaldeans against them, to reduce their number, weaken their strength, and destroy their substance, and so make them a small, feeble, and contemptible people; as follows:

[and] despised among men: for the fewness of their men, the desolation of their country, the consumption of their wealth and riches, their poverty and meanness; see Obadiah 1:2.

m נתתיך "posui", Munster; "reddidi", Piscator; "dedi", V. L. Cocceius, Schmidt. n Dabo, Pagninus, Montanus. So Ben Melech.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Edom stretched along the south of Judah from the border of Moab on the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean and the Arabian deserts, and held the same relation to Judah which Moab held toward the kingdom of Israel. Although expressly reserved from attack by Moses Deuteronomy 2:5, a long feud caused the Edomites to cherish so bitter an enmity against Judah, that they exulted with cruel joy over the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans, and showed great cruelty toward those why fled to them for refuge.

Of the prophecies against Edom the first eight verses of Obadiah are also found in Jeremiah (see the marginal references). As Jeremiah wrote before the capture of Jerusalem, and Obadiah apparently after it (see Jeremiah 49:13-14), it might seem certain that Obadiah copied from Jeremiah. Others held the reverse view; while some consider that the two prophets may both have made common use of some ancient prediction. See the introduction to Obadiah.

The prophecy is divisible into three strophes. In the first Jeremiah 49:7-13, the prophet describes Edom as terror-stricken.

Jeremiah 49:7

Teman - A strip of land on the northeast of Edom, put here for Edom generally. Its inhabitants were among those “children of the East” famed for wisdom, because of their skill in proverbs and dark sayings.

Jeremiah 49:8

Dwell deep - Jeremiah 49:30. The Dedanites, who were used to travel through the Edomite territory with their caravans, are advised to retire as far as possible into the Arabian deserts to be out of the way of the invaders.

Jeremiah 49:9

Translate it: “If vintagers come to thee, they will not leave any gleaning: if thieves by night, they will destroy their fill.”

Jeremiah 49:10

But - For. The reason why the invaders destroy Edom so completely. His secret places are the hiding-places in the mountains of Seir.

His seed - Esau’s seed, the Edomites; his brethren are the nations joined with him in the possession of the land, Amalek, and perhaps the Simeonites; his neighbors are Dedan, Tema, Buz.

Jeremiah 49:11

As with Moab Jeremiah 48:47, and Ammon Jeremiah 49:6, so there is mercy for Edom. The widows shall be protected, and in the orphans of Edom the nation shall once again revive.

Jeremiah 49:12

Translate it: “Behold they whose rule was not to drink of the cup shall surely drink etc.” It was not the ordinary manner of God’s people to suffer from His wrath: but now when they are drinking of the wine-cup of fury Jeremiah 25:15, how can those not in covenant with Him hope to escape?

Jeremiah 49:14-18

The second strophe, Edom’s chastisement.

Jeremiah 49:14

Rumour - Or, “revelation.”

Ambassador - Or, messenger, i. e., herald. The business of an ambassador is to negotiate, of a herald to carry a message.

Jeremiah 49:15

Small ... - Rather, small among the nations, i. e., of no political importance.

Jeremiah 49:16

Edom’s “terribleness” consisted in her cities being hewn in the sides of inaccessible rocks, from where she could suddenly descend for predatory warfare, and retire to her fastnesses without fear of reprisals.

The clefts of the rock - Or, the fastnesses of Sela, the rock-city, Petra (see Isaiah 16:1).

The hill - i. e., Bozrah.

Jeremiah 49:17

Better, “And Edom shall become a terror: every passer by shalt be terrified, and shudder etc.”

Jeremiah 49:18

Neighbour ... - Admah and Zeboim.

A son of man - i. e., “Any man.” From 536 a.d. onward, Petra suddenly vanishes from the pages of history. Only in the present century was its real site discovered.

Jeremiah 49:19-22

Concluding strophe. The fall of Edom is compared to the state of a flock worried by an enemy strong as a lion Jeremiah 4:7, and swift as an eagle.

Jeremiah 49:19

The swelling of Jordan - Or, the pride of Jordan, the thickets on his banks (marginal reference note).

Against the habitation of the strong - Or, to the abiding pasturage. The lion stalks forth from the jungle to attack the fold, sure to find sheep there because of the perennial (evergreen) pasturage: “but I will suddenly make him (the flock, Edom) run away from her (or it, the pasturage).”

And who is a chosen ... - Better, and I will appoint over it, the abandoned land of Edom, him who is chosen, i. e., my chosen ruler Nebuchadnezzar.

Who will appoint me the time? - The plaintiff, in giving notice of a suit, had to mention the time when the defendant must appear (see the margin). Yahweh identifies himself with Nebuchadnezzar Jeremiah 25:9, and shows the hopelessness of Edom’s cause. For who is like Yahweh, His equal in power and might? Who will dare litigate with Him, and question His right? etc.

Jeremiah 49:20

Surely the least ... - Rather, Surely they will worry them, the feeble ones of the flock: surely their pasture shall be terror-stricken over them. No shepherd can resist Nebuchadnezzar Jeremiah 49:19, but all flee, and leave the sheep unprotected. Thereupon, the Chaldaeans enter, and treat the poor feeble flock so barbarously, that the very fold is horrified at their cruelty.

Jeremiah 49:21

Is moved - Quakes.

At the cry ... - The arrangement is much more poetical in the Hebrew, The shriek - to the sea of Suph (Exodus 10:19 note) is heard its sound.

Jeremiah 49:22

Nebuchadnezzar shall swoop down like an eagle, the emblem of swiftness.