Concerning the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says: “Has Israel no sons? Is he without heir? Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad? Why have his people settled in their cities?
Parallel translations
- WEB Of the children of Ammon. Yahweh says: “Has Israel no sons? has he no heir? Why then does Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in its cities?
- KJV Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?
- NKJV Against the Ammonites. Thus says the Lord: “Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Milcom inherit Gad, And his people dwell in its cities?
- NASB Concerning the sons of Ammon. This is what the Lord says: “Does Israel have no sons? Or has he no heirs? Why then has Malcam taken possession of Gad, And his people settled in its cities?
- NLT This message was given concerning the Ammonites. This is what the Lord says: “Are there no descendants of Israel to inherit the land of Gad? Why are you, who worship Molech, living in its towns?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The LORD questions Ammon for seizing Gad's territory, asking whether Israel has no heirs to that land.
Overview
This opens the oracle against Ammon, who had taken Israelite land east of the Jordan when Israel was weakened. God's pointed question asserts Israel's rightful inheritance and Ammon's injustice. The verse shows the LORD's care for His people's inheritance and His justice against those who exploit them, a justice secured fully in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 26
- Deut 23:3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
- Amos 1:13–15This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory.
- Zeph 2:8–11“I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted My people and threatened their borders.
- Ezek 25:2–10“Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them.
- 2 Chr 20:1After this, the Moabites and Ammonites, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat.
- Jer 25:21Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;
- Jer 49:7Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?
- Ezek 21:28–32Now prophesy, son of man, and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites and their contempt: ‘A sword! A sword is drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning—
- Gen 19:38The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.
- Jer 27:3Send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
- Ps 9:6The enemy has come to eternal ruin, and You have uprooted their cities; the very memory of them has vanished.
- 1 Sam 11:1–3Soon Nahash the Ammonite came up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”
- Neh 13:1–2At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
- Jer 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Judg 10:7–8So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites,
- Jer 49:28Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says: “Rise up, advance against Kedar, and destroy the people of the east!
- Neh 2:19But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
- 2 Kgs 10:33from the Jordan eastward through all the land of Gilead (the region of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh), and from Aroer by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan.
- Judg 11:13–15The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”
- Jer 49:23Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea; their anxiety cannot be calmed.
- Neh 4:7When Sanballat and Tobiah, together with the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites, heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they were furious,
- Deut 2:19But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”
- Ps 83:7of Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, of Philistia with the people of Tyre.
- 2 Kgs 24:2And the LORD sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through His servants the prophets.
- Jer 48:1Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.
- 2 Chr 20:23The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction. And when they had made an end to the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 49:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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