Obadiah 1

1 Thus said Lord YHWH to Edom (We have heard a report from YHWH, And an ambassador among nations was sent, “Rise, indeed, let us rise against her for battle”):

The vision of Obadiah; what the Lord said about Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, a messenger has been sent among the nations; Rise up, let us rise against Edom in battle!

2 “Behold, I have made you little among nations, You [are] despised exceedingly.

I will make you small among the nations, and despised by all!

3 The pride of your heart has lifted you up, O dweller in clefts of a rock (A high place [is] his habitation, He is saying in his heart: Who brings me down [to] earth?)

Your proud heart has misled you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, you who build on high your dwelling. You say to yourselves, “Who can bring me down to earth?”

4 If you go up high as an eagle, And if you set your nest between stars, From there I bring you down,” A declaration of YHWH.

Though you build high as the eagle, though between the stars you set your nest, from there will I bring you down, says the Lord.

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

If thieves had come to you, marauders by night would they not have stolen only as much as they needed? If grape-gatherers had come to you would they not have left some gleanings?

6 How has Esau been searched out! His hidden things have flowed out,

Descendents of Esau, all your treasures are looted.

7 All your allies have sent you to the border, Forgotten you, prevailed over you, have your friends, They make your bread a snare under you, There is no understanding in him!

To your border they have driven you, all your allies have betrayed you. Your avowed friends have overpowered you, they have set a trap for you. Where is your wisdom now?

8 Is it not in that day,” a declaration of YHWH, “That I have destroyed the wise out of Edom, And understanding out of the mountain of Esau?

The Lord says: On that day, I will destroy the wise of Edom, drive wisdom out of Mount Esau.

9 And your mighty ones have been broken down, O Teman, So that everyone of the mountain of Esau is cut off.

Your warriors will be filled with terror, Teman, none will be left alive on Mount Esau.

10 For slaughter, for violence [to] your brother Jacob, Shame covers you, And you have been cut off for all time.

Because of the violence done to your relatives, the people of Jacob, shame covers you, you are cut off forever.

11 In the day of your standing aloof from the opposite [side], In the day of strangers taking his force captive, And foreigners have entered his gates, And have cast a lot for Jerusalem, Even you [are] as one of them!

In the day when you stood aloof, in the day when strangers carried away their wealth, and strangers entered into their gates, and over Jerusalem cast lots, you were as one of those strangers.

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

You should not have gloated over your relatives, in the day of their misfortune. You should not have exulted over the land of Judah in the day of their destruction. You should not have laughed loudly at their distress.

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

You should not have entered in at the gate of my people in the day of their disaster. You should not have gloated over their calamity, in the day of their disaster, nor stretched out your hand after their wealth in the day of their disaster,

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

nor stood at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor should you have betrayed their refugees in the day of distress.

15 For near [is] the Day of YHWH, on all the nations, As you have done, it is done to you, Your deed turns back on your own head.

Near at hand is the Lord’s day for all the nations. As you have done so will it be done to you. Your deeds will come back on your own head.

16 For—as you have drunk on My holy mountain, All the nations drink continually, And they have drunk and have swallowed, And they have been as [if] they have not been.

As you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink in turn; They will drink deep and be as though they had not been.

17 And in Mount Zion there is an escape, And it has been holy, And the house of Jacob has possessed their possessions.

But on Mount Zion some will escape, it will be again holy, and those of the house of Jacob will again enter into their possessions.

18 And the house of Jacob has 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 YHWH has spoken.

For the house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau will become stubble. They will kindle and devour it. Not even one of the house of Esau will escape, for the Lord has spoken.

19 And they have possessed the south with the mountain 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.

They will possess the Negeb and Mount Esau, and the Shephelah of the Philistines. They will possess the territory of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.

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

The exiles of Israel will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath. The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negreb.

21 And saviors have gone up on Mount Zion, To judge the mountain of Esau, And the kingdom has been to YHWH!

The rescued will come up on Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom will belong to the Lord.