Obadiah
God's Judgment on Edom
Edom's Approaching Destruction
We have heard a report from the LORD.
An envoy was sent among the nations, saying,5
"Arise; Let's make war against her!"6
1:2 The LORD says,7 "For look! I will8 make you small among the nations;
you will be greatly despised!
1:3 Your presumptuous heart9 has deceived you,
you who sit in the concealed places of the rock,10
whose abode is high in the mountains.
You think to yourself,11
`Who can bring me down to the ground?'
1:4 Though you were to soar high like the eagle,
though you12 were to make your nest among the stars,
even from there I can bring you down,"
says the LORD.
1:5 "If thieves had come to you,13
or if plunderers had come during the night--
O how you will be destroyed!14--
would they not have stolen only what appealed to them?
If grape gatherers had come to you,
would they not have left some behind for the poor?15
1:6 How Esau16 is to be thoroughly searched!
His hidden valuables to be found out!
1:7 They will force17 you from your borders,
all these allies18 of yours.
They will deceive you,
they will prevail against you,
these people who were in league with you.19
Your friends20 will set a trap21 beneath you,
but you will not even be aware of it!
1:8 In that day," the LORD says,
"will I not destroy those who are wise from Edom
and understanding from Esau's mountain?
1:9 Your warriors will be shattered, O Teman!22
So23 every one will be destroyed24 from Esau's mountain.
Edom's Treachery Against Judah
1:10 "Because of the slaughter25 and violence done to your brother Jacob
shame will cover you, and you will be destroyed26 forever.
1:11 You stood aloof27
while strangers took his army captive,
and foreigners advanced to his gates.28
When they cast lots29 over Jerusalem,
you behaved as though you were in league30 with them.
1:12 You should not have gloated31 over your brother's day of trouble,
this day of his calamity.
You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah
on this day of their destruction.
You should not have talked so big32
on this day of adversity.
1:13 You should not have come against the gate of my people
on this day of their distress.33
You should not have joined in gloating over their misfortune
on this day of their distress.
You should not have laid hands34 on their wealth
on this day of their distress.
1:14 You should not have stood at the fork in the road35
in order to slaughter36 their fugitives.
You should not have imprisoned their refugees
on this day of adversity.
The Coming Day of the Lord
1:15 "For the day of the LORD is approaching37
for all the nations!
Exactly as you have done, so it will be done to you.
Your recompense will return on your own head.
1:16 For exactly as you have drunk38 on my holy mountain,
so all the nations will drink continually.
They will drink, and they will gulp down;
they will be as though they had never been.
1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape,39
and it will be a holy place.
The descendants40 of Jacob will dispossess
those who were dispossessing them.41
1:18 The descendants of Jacob will be a fire,
and the descendants of Joseph a flame.
The descendants of Esau will be like stubble.
They will burn them up and devour them.
There will not be a single survivor42
to the descendants of Esau!"
Indeed, the LORD has so spoken.
1:19 The people of the Negev will possess Esau's mountain,
and the people of the lowlands43 will possess the land of the Philistines.
They will also possess the territory of Ephraim
and the territory of Samaria,
and the people of Benjamin will possess Gilead.
1:20 The exiles of this fortress of the people of Israel
will possess what belongs to the people of Canaan, as far as Zarephath,
and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
will possess the towns of the Negev.
1:21 Those who have been delivered44 will go up on Mount Zion
in order to rule over45 Esau's mountain,
but the kingship will belong to the LORD!