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. This is what the Lord has said about Edom: We have had word from the Lord, and a representative has been sent among the nations, saying, Up! and let us make war against her.

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

See, I have made you small among the nations: you are much looked down on.

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?)

You have been tricked by the pride of your heart, O you whose living-place is in the cracks of the rock, whose house is high up; who has said in his heart, Who will make me come 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 go up on high like an eagle, though your house is placed among the stars, I will make you come down from there, 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 came, attacking you by night, (how are you cut off!) would they not go on taking till they had enough? if men came cutting your grapes would they take them all?

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

How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his secret stores looked for!

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!

All the men who were united with you have been false to you, driving you out to the edge of the land: the men who were at peace with you have overcome you; they have taken their heritage in your place.

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?

Will I not, in that day, says the Lord, take away the wise men out of Edom, and wisdom out of the mountain of Esau?

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

And your men of war, O Teman, will be overcome with fear, so that every one of them may be cut off from the mountain of Esau.

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

Because you were the cause of violent death and because of your cruel behaviour to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and will be cut off for ever.

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!

Because you were there watching when men from other lands took away his goods, and strange men came into his doors, and put the fate of Jerusalem to the decision of chance; you were like one of them.

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.

Do not see with pleasure your brother's evil day, the day of his fate, and do not be glad over the children of Judah on the day of their destruction, or make wide your mouth on the day of trouble.

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,

Do not go into the doors of my people on the day of their downfall; do not be looking on their trouble with pleasure on the day of their downfall, or put your hands on their goods on the day of their downfall.

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

And do not take your place at the cross-roads, cutting off those of his people who get away; and do not give up to their haters those who are still there in the day of trouble.

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.

For the day of the Lord is coming quickly on all nations: as you have done it will be done to you; the reward of your acts will come on your 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.

For as you have been drinking on my holy mountain, so will all the nations go on drinking without end; they will go on drinking and the wine will go down their throats, and they will be as if they had never 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 in Mount Zion some will be kept safe, and it will be holy; and the children of Jacob will take their heritage.

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.

And the children of Jacob will be a fire and those of Joseph a flame, and the children of Esau dry stems of grass, burned up by them till all is gone: and there will be no people living in Esau; for the Lord has said it.

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.

And they will take the South, and the lowland, and the country of Ephraim, and Gilead, as their heritage.

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.

And those of the children of Israel who were the first to be taken away as prisoners, will have their heritage among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath; and those who were taken away from Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will have the towns of the South.

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

And those who have been kept safe will come up from Mount Zion to be judges of the mountain of Esau; and the kingdom will be the Lord's.