Judgment · Kedar — Nebuchadnezzar strikes the desert

Jeremiah 49:28-33

Jeremiah · ~599 BC · Status: Fulfilled · Confidence: 65%
“Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.”
King James Version · the opening — all 6 verses are below
More of Jeremiah 49 on this siteJeremiah 49:1-6 · Jeremiah 49:7-22 · Jeremiah 49:23-27 · Jeremiah 49:34-39

'Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar... shall smite': the desert tribes — tents, flocks, camels — will be scattered and Hazor become 'a dwelling for dragons... for ever.' An oracle against nomads, naming their conqueror in advance.

Read the whole passage — all 6 verses (KJV)

49:28Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.

49:29Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.

49:30Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.

49:31Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.

49:32And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the LORD.

49:33And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.

Fulfillment References

Isaiah 21:13-17

Archaeological & Historical Evidence

The Babylonian Chronicle for Nebuchadnezzar's sixth year (599/598 BC) records precisely this: the king 'sent out his companies... against the Arabs, plundered their possessions, their animals and their gods in abundance.' A prophecy about camel-herders, confirmed by a cuneiform tablet's campaign log.

How Traditions Read This Prophecy

Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalNo population is too remote for the word of God — the desert has an address in heaven's ledger too.
JewishKedar (Ishmael's son, Gen. 25:13) links the oracle to the wider account of Abraham's other line.
CatholicThe 'secure, careless' dwellers (v.31) hear the perennial warning: ease is no fortress.
ProtestantAn unfashionable, unglamorous prophecy — against tent-dwellers — fulfilled and logged by the enemy's own scribe: the corroboration no forger would bother to invent.
AcademicThe 599/598 Arabian raid entry in BM 21946 is the direct extra-biblical counterpart; 'kingdoms of Hazor' likely denotes the semi-settled desert enclosures (hazerim).

Scholarship & Sources

Babylonian Chronicle BM 21946 rev. (Wiseman); on Kedarite Arabs in Assyrian and Babylonian sources see I. Eph'al, The Ancient Arabs.

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