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 GOD says about Edom. We have heard news from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent amongst the nations, saying, “Arise, and let’s rise up against her in battle.

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

Behold, I have made you small amongst the nations. You are greatly despised.

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?)

The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’

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 mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set amongst the stars, I will bring you 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 to you, if robbers by night—oh, what disaster awaits you—wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes?

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

How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out!

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 of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him.”

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?

“Won’t I in that day”, says the LORD, “destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding 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.

Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.

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

For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be 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 that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even 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.

But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak proudly in the day of 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,

Don’t enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity.

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

Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don’t deliver up those of his who remain 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.

For the day of the LORD is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon 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.

For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will 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 in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess 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.

The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn amongst them and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau.” Indeed, 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.

Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. 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 captives of this army of the children of Israel, who are amongst the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev.

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

Saviours will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be the LORD’s.