Jeremiah 25:25

25:25 all the kings of Zimri; ¹  all the kings of Elam; ²  all the kings of Media; ³ 

Jeremiah 49:35

49:35 The Lord who rules over all said,

“I will kill all the archers of Elam,

who are the chief source of her military might. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 49:39

49:39 “Yet in days to come

I will reverse Elam’s ill fortune.” ⁵ 

says the Lord. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 49:36

49:36 I will cause enemies to blow through Elam from every direction

like the winds blowing in from the four quarters of heaven.

I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds.

There will not be any nation where the refugees of Elam will not go. ⁷ 

[25:25]  ¹ sn The kingdom of Zimri is mentioned nowhere else, so its location is unknown.

[25:25]  ² sn See further Jer 49:34-39 for judgment against Elam.

[25:25]  ³ sn Elam and Media were east of Babylon; Elam in the south and Media in the north. They were in what is now western Iran.

[49:35]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will break the bow of Elam, the chief source of their might.” The phrase does not mean that God will break literal bows or that he will destroy their weapons (synecdoche of species for genus) or their military power (so Hos 1:5). Because of the parallelism, the “bow” here stands for the archers who wield the bow, and were the strongest force (or chief contingent) in their military.

[49:39]  ⁷ tn See Jer 29:14; 30:3 and the translator’s note on 29:14 for the idiom used here.

[49:39]  ⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:36]  ¹⁰ tn Or more simply, “I will bring enemies against Elam from every direction. / And I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds. // There won’t be any nation / where the refugees of Elam will not go.” Or more literally, “I will bring the four winds against Elam / from the four quarters of heaven. / I will scatter….” However, the winds are not to be understood literally here. God isn’t going to “blow the Elamites” out of Elam with natural forces. The winds must figuratively represent enemy forces that God will use to drive them out. Translating literally would be misleading at this point.