Jeremiah 49:37
For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:
The word for life in the verse is the Hebrew nephesh. That word is principally translated soul in the Old Testament, occurring 745 times and translated soul about 473 times and translated life or lives 118 times, including this verse, so that life here means the same thing as soul elsewhere. The verse belongs to the prophecy that Elam would fall before the conqueror Nebuchadnezzar. The wider passage of Jeremiah 49:28-38 evidences that the Chaldeans greatly harassed the Arabs and nearly wiped out some of their tribes.
God would make Elam dismayed and afraid before its enemies and before those seeking its life, bringing evil upon them in His fierce anger and sending the sword after them until their military strength was brought to nothing. The winds connected with this judgment represent strife, war, and commotion, with the four winds as a figure of strife between nations bringing attack upon Elam and leaving its people dismayed before their enemies. In symbolic prophecy like Daniel's vision, winds represent conflict, and the strife of the winds causes kingdoms to rise and fall.
God would set His throne in Elam, establishing His rule there. A nation's fate is not determined by its leaders' wisdom or preparations, since God can put fear into a people and overcome their valor.