Obdias 1

1 The vision of Obdias. Thus says the Lord God to Idumea; I have heard a report from the Lord, and he has sent forth a message to the nations.

This is a message that Yahweh our God gave to me, Obadiah, about the Edom [people-group]. Yahweh our God has told me this about [the people of] Edom: “I, Yahweh, have sent a messenger to other nations, telling them to prepare to go and attack Edom.”

2 Arise you, and let us rise up against her to war.

And Yahweh says this to the people of Edom: “I will soon cause you to become the weakest and most despised nation [on the earth].

3 Behold, I have made you small among the Gentiles: you are greatly dishonored. The pride of your heart has elated you, dwelling [as you do] in the holes of the rocks, [as one that] exalts his habitation, saying in his heart, Who will bring me down to the ground?

Your [capital city] is high in the rocky cliffs, and you are very proud; you think that you are safe from being attacked by your enemies [RHQ], but you [IDM] have deceived yourselves.

4 If you should mount up as the eagle, and if you should make your nest among the stars, thence will I bring you down, says the Lord.

And I tell you that even if [you had wings and] could fly higher than eagles fly, and if you could make your homes among the stars, I would bring you [crashing] down from there.

5 If thieves came in to you, or robbers by night, where would you have been cast away? would they not have stolen [just] enough for themselves? and if grape gatherers went in to you, would they not leave a gleaning?

When thieves break into someone’s house during the night, they certainly [RHQ] steal only the things that they want. And people who pick grapes always [RHQ] leave a few grapes on the vines. But your country will be completely destroyed!

6 How has Esau been searched out, and [how] have his hidden things been detected?

Everything that is valuable will be taken away. [Your enemies] will find and take away even the valuable things that you have hidden.

7 They sent you to your coasts: all the men of your covenant have withstood you; your allies have prevailed against you, they have set snares under you: they have no understanding.

All (your allies/nations who promised to help you) will turn against you, and they will force you to leave your country/land. Those with whom you have peace now will trick/deceive you and defeat you. Those who eat meals with you now are planning to trap you, and [then they will say to you], ‘You are not [RHQ] as clever [as you thought you were]!’

8 In that day, says the Lord, I will destroy the wise men out of Idumea, and understanding out of the mount of Esau.

I, Yahweh, declare that at the time that I destroy Edom, I will punish the men who live in those cliffs who [thought that they] were wise.

9 And your warriors from Thaeman shall be dismayed, to the end that man may be cut off from the mount of Esau.

The soldiers from Teman [town] will become terrified; all you people who are descendants of Esau will be (wiped out/killed).

10 Because of the slaughter and the sin [committed against] your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off for ever.

You acted cruel in a cruel way toward your relatives who are descendants of Jacob, [the twin brother of your ancestor Esau]. So now you will be disgraced forever; you will be completely destroyed.

11 From the day that you stood in opposition [to him], in the days when foreigners were taking captive his forces, and strangers entered into his gates, and cast lots on Jerusalem, you also was as one of them.

Foreigners entered the gates of Jerusalem and (cast lots/threw small stones that were marked) to decide what valuable things they would take away; but you were as bad as those foreigners, because you just stood there [and did not help the Israelis].

12 And you should not have looked on the day of your brother in the day of strangers; nor should you have rejoiced against the children of Juda in the day of their destruction; neither should you have boasted in the day of [their] affliction.

You should not have (gloated/been happy) about the disaster that the Israelis were experiencing. You should not have been happy when their towns were ruined. You should not have made fun [of them] when they were suffering.

13 Neither should you have gone into the gates of the people in the day of their troubles; nor yet should you have looked upon their gathering in the day of their destruction, nor should you have attacked their host in the day of their perishing.

They are my people, so you should not have entered their [city] gates when they were experiencing those disasters and you should not have laughed at them. And you should not have taken away their [valuable] possessions.

14 Neither should you have stood at the opening of their passages, to destroy utterly those of them that were escaping; neither should you have shut up his fugitives in the day of affliction.

You should not have stood at crossroads to catch those who were [trying to] escape. You should not have [captured them and] put them into the hands of [their enemies] when they were experiencing those disasters.”

15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the Gentiles: as you have done, so shall it be [done] to you: your recompense shall be returned on your [own] head.

“There will soon be the time when I, Yahweh, will judge [and punish] all the nations. And you [people of Edom] will experience the same [disasters] that you caused [others to experience]. The same evil things that you have done to others will happen to you.

16 For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, [so] shall all the nations drink wine; they shall drink, and go down, and be as if they were not.

[My people in Jerusalem have been punished] because I was very angry with them. [It is as though] [MET] they drank [a cup of very bitter liquid] on Zion, my sacred hill. But [I] will punish [MET] all the other nations even more severely, and cause them to disappear completely.

17 But on mount Sion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be a sanctuary; and the house of Jacob shall take for an inheritance those that took them for an inheritance.

But some [people in Jerusalem will escape], and Jerusalem will become a very holy/sacred place. Then the descendants of Jacob will [conquer and] possess again the land that truly belongs to them.

18 And the house of Jacob shall be fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau [shall be] for stubble; and [Israel] shall flame forth against them, and shall devour them, and there shall not be a corn-field [left] to the house of Esau; because the Lord has spoken.

The descendants [MTY] of Jacob and his son Joseph will be like [MET] a fire, and the people [MTY] of Edom will be like [MET] stubble that will be completely burned in that fire. Not one person will remain alive. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it.”

19 And they [that dwell] in the south shall inherit the mount of Esau, and they in the plain the Philistines: and they shall inherit the mount of Ephraim, and the plain of Samaria, and Benjamin, and the land of Galaad.

The Israeli people [who live] in the southern desert are the ones who will capture Edom. And those [who live in] the western foothills will capture the Phoenicia [region] and the areas of Ephraim and Samaria. And people of the tribe of Benjamin will conquer the Gilead [region].

20 And this [shall be] the domain of the captivity of the children of Israel, the land of the Chananites as far as Sarepta; and the captives of Jerusalem [shall inherit] as far as Ephratha; they shall inherit the cities of the south.

Those who were (exiled in/forced to go to) [Babylon] will [return to their land] [and] capture the Phoenicia [region] as far north as Zarephath [on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea]. People of Jerusalem who were captured and taken to Sardis, [the capital city of the Lydia region], will capture the towns in the southern desert.

21 And they that escape shall come up from mount Sion, to take vengeance on the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.

The army of Jerusalem will attack Edom and conquer it, and Yahweh will be their king.