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Thursday, August 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

Young's Literal Translation

Jeremiah 49:15

For, lo, little I have made thee among nations, Despised among men.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Edomites;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Sela;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Edom;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Gentiles;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Greek Versions of Ot;   Obadiah, Book of;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Obadiah;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Edom;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Jeremiah (2);   Obadiah, Book of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Edox, Idumea;  

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

Contextual Overview

7 Concerning Edom: `Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Perished hath counsel from the intelligent? Vanished hath their wisdom? 8 Flee, turn, go deep to dwell, ye inhabitants of Dedan, For the calamity of Esau I brought in upon him, The time I inspected him. 9 If gatherers have come in to thee, They do not leave gleanings, If thieves in the night, They have destroyed their sufficiency! 10 For I -- I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, And to be hidden he is not able, Spoiled [is] his seed, and his brethren, And his neighbours, and he is not. 11 Leave thine orphans -- I do keep alive, And thy widows -- on Me trust ye, 12 For thus said Jehovah: They whose judgment is not to drink of the cup, Do certainly drink, And thou [art] he that is entirely acquitted! Thou art not acquitted, for thou certainly drinkest. 13 For, by Myself, I have sworn, An affirmation of Jehovah, That for a desolation, for a reproach, For a waste, and for a reviling -- is Bozrah, And all her cities are for wastes age-during. 14 A report I have heard from Jehovah, And an ambassador among nations is sent, Gather yourselves and come in against her, And rise ye for battle. 15 For, lo, little I have made thee among nations, Despised among men. 16 Thy terribleness hath lifted thee up, The pride of thy heart, O dweller in clefts of the rock, Holding the high place of the height, For thou makest high as an eagle thy nest, From thence I bring thee down, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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
and the name of Hebron formerly [is] Kirjath-Arba (he [is] the great man among the Anakim); and the land hath rest from war.
Judges 3:11
and the land resteth forty years. And Othniel son of Kenaz dieth,
2 Samuel 7:1
And it cometh to pass, when the king sat in his house, and Jehovah hath given rest to him round about, from all his enemies,
Psalms 81:6
From the burden his shoulder I turned aside, His hands from the basket pass over.
Ezekiel 29:18
`Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, Hath caused his force to serve a great service against Tyre, Every head [is] bald -- every shoulder peeled, And reward he had none, nor his force, out of Tyre, For the service that he served against it.
Matthew 23:4
for they bind together burdens heavy and grievous to be borne, and lay upon the shoulders of men, but with their finger they will not move them.

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.


 
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