Obadiah 1

1 Obadiah's vision. This is what the Lord says about the land of Edom. We have heard from the Lord that a messenger was sent to tell the nations: Get ready! Let's go to war against Edom!

Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Edom, A report we have heard from Jehovah, And an ambassador among nations was sent, 'Rise, yea, let us rise against her for battle.'

2 I will make you insignificant among the nations. You will be totally despised.

Lo, little I have made thee among nations, Despised [art] thou exceedingly.

3 Your heart's pride has deceived you—you who live in a secure fortress of rock in the high mountains, saying to yourselves, “Who can ever bring us down?”

The pride of thy heart hath lifted thee up, O dweller in clifts of a rock, (A high place [is] his habitation, He is saying in his heart, 'Who doth bring me down [to] earth?')

4 But even though you soar like an eagle, even though you make your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there, declares the Lord.

If thou dost go up high as an eagle, And if between stars thou dost set thy nest, From thence I bring thee down, An affirmation of Jehovah.

5 You will be completely destroyed! If thieves came to you, if robbers came at night, wouldn't they steal only what they wanted? If those who harvest grapes came to you, wouldn't they leave some behind?

If thieves have come in to thee, If spoilers of the night, How hast thou been cut off! Do they not steal their sufficiency? If gatherers have come in to thee, Do they not leave gleanings?

6 But how Esau will be plundered and their hidden treasures looted!

How hath Esau been searched out! Flowed out have his hidden things,

7 All your allies will drive you out, past the borders of your land. Those who were at peace with you will deceive you, and conquer you. Those who ate with you have ambushed you. You don't understand a thing!

Unto the border sent thee have all thine allies, Forgotten thee, prevailed over thee, have thy friends, Thy bread they make a snare under thee, There is no understanding in him!

8 On that day, declares the Lord, I will destroy the wise men of Edom—there will be no more wisdom in the mountains of Esau.

Is it not in that day — an affirmation of Jehovah, That I have destroyed the wise out of Edom, And understanding out of the mount of Esau?

9 Teman, your fighting men will be terrified, so that everyone of the mountains of Esau will be cut down in the massacre.

And broken down have been thy mighty ones, O Teman, So that every one of the mount of Esau is cut off.

10 Because of the violence you committed against your brothers, the descendants of Jacob, you will be totally ashamed of yourselves, and destroyed forever.

For slaughter, for violence [to] thy brother Jacob, Cover thee doth shame, And thou hast been cut off — to the age.

11 On that day you stood aside, on that day strangers plundered their wealth and foreigners entered their gates, and divided up Jerusalem by casting lots—and you were like one of them.

In the day of thy standing over-against, In the day of strangers taking captive his force, And foreigners have entered his gates, And for Jerusalem have cast a lot, Even thou [art] as one of them!

12 You should not have gloated over your brother's day of disaster. You should not have rejoiced over the day of destruction of the sons of Judah. You should not have boasted over the day of their distress.

And — thou dost not look on the day of thy brother, On the day of his alienation, Nor dost thou rejoice over sons of Judah, In the day of their destruction, Nor make great thy mouth in a day of distress.

13 You should not have marched through the city gates of my people on their day of disaster. You should not have gloated over them on the day of their disaster. You should not have looted their wealth on the day of their disaster.

Nor come into a gate of My people in a day of their calamity, Nor look, even thou, on its misfortune in a day of its calamity, Nor send forth against its force in a day of its calamity,

14 You should not have stood at the crossroads, cutting down those trying to escape. You should not have handed over those who survived on the day of their distress.

Nor stand by the breach to cut off its escaped, Nor deliver up its remnant in a day of distress.

15 For the day of the Lord is near for all nations. What you have done will be done to you; your actions will fall back on your own heads.

For near [is] the day of Jehovah, on all the nations, As thou hast done, it is done to thee, Thy deed doth turn back on thine own head.

16 For as you drank on my holy mountain, so will all the nations continually drink, and swallow, and they shall be as if they never existed.

For — as ye have drunk on My holy mount, Drink do all the nations continually, And they have drunk and have swallowed, And they have been as they have not been.

17 But on Mount Zion there will be a place of escape, a holy place, and the descendants of Jacob will reclaim their inheritance.

And in mount Zion there is an escape, And it hath been holy, And the house of Jacob have possessed their possessions.

18 The descendants of Jacob will become a fire, and the descendants of Joseph a flame, and they shall burn up the descendants of Esau like stubble, consuming them completely, so that there will be not a single survivor of the descendants of Esau. For the Lord has spoken.

And the house of Jacob hath been a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame, And the house of Esau for stubble, And they have burned among them, And they have consumed them, And there is not a remnant to the house of Esau, For Jehovah hath spoken.

19 Those living in the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau; those from the foothills of Judah will occupy the land of the Philistines, and possess the fields of Ephraim and Samaria; those from the tribe of Benjamin will occupy Gilead.

And they have possessed the south with the mount of Esau, And the low country with the Philistines, And they have possessed the field of Ephraim, And the field of Samaria, And Benjamin with Gilead.

20 The army of exiles of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem from Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negev.

And the removed of this force of the sons of Israel, That [is with] the Canaanites unto Zarephat, And the removed of Jerusalem that [is] with the Sepharad, Possess the cities of the south.

21 Those who have been saved will go up Mount Zion and rule the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom shall be the Lord's.

And gone up have saviours on mount Zion, To judge the mount of Esau, And the kingdom hath been to Jehovah!'