Bible Strands
Jeremiah 49:2
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD issues a prophetic oracle concerning the Ammonites and their capital, Rabbah. This declaration follows Jeremiah 49:1’s rhetorical challenge about Israel’s inheritance and precedes the mourning command in Jeremiah 49:3.
The words — יָמִים בָּאִים (yamim ba'im) literally renders "days coming," while נְאֻם־יְהוָה (ne'um-Yahweh) functions as the formal marker "utterance of Yahweh." These terms anchor the announcement in divine authority and imminent historical fulfillment.
The thread — The judgment against Rabbah of the Ammonites recurs in Ezekiel 21:20, which marks a road for the sword against the same city. The theme of displaced inheritance and divine reclamation echoes the rhetorical challenge in Jeremiah 49:1 regarding Gad and Milcom.
Why it lands — The text states that military ruin, burning villages, and territorial displacement will occur as direct outcomes of the stated oracle. It requires the reader to acknowledge that possession of land is subject to divine judgment rather than permanent human or idolatrous claim.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
- Deuteronomy 3:11 (For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)
- Ezekiel 21:20 Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another against Judah into fortified Jerusalem.
- 2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 25:4 therefore I will indeed give you as a possession to the people of the East. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.
- Amos 1:14 So I will kindle a fire in the walls of Rabbah to consume its citadels amid war cries on the day of battle and a violent wind on the day of tempest.
- Numbers 21:25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.
- Joshua 13:24 This is what Moses had given to the clans of the tribe of Gad:
- 2 Samuel 12:27 Then Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city.
- Psalms 48:11 Mount Zion is glad, the daughters of Judah rejoice, on account of Your judgments.