Obadiah 1

1 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.”

The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah concerning Edom: We have heard tidings from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, [saying], Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

2 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].

Behold, I have made thee small among the nations: thou art greatly despised.

3 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.

The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

4 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.

Though thou mount on high as the eagle, and though thy nest be set among the stars, I will bring thee down from thence, saith Jehovah.

5 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!

If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night (how art thou cut off!), would they not steal [only] till they had enough? if grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?

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

How are [the things of] Esau searched! how are his hidden treasures sought out!

7 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]!’

All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee on thy way, even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; [they that eat] thy bread lay a snare under thee: there is no understanding in him.

8 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.

Shall I not in that day, saith Jehovah, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

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

And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter.

10 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.

For the violence done to thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

11 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].

In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

12 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.

But look not thou on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress.

13 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.

Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay ye [hands] on their substance in the day of their calamity.

14 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.”

And stand thou not in the crossway, to cut off those of his that escape; and deliver not up those of his that remain in the day of distress.

15 “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.

For the day of Jehovah is near upon all the nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy dealing shall return upon thine own head.

16 [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.

For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and swallow down, and shall be as though they had not been.

17 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.

But in mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

18 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.”

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall burn among them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining to the house of Esau; for Jehovah hath spoken it.

19 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].

And they of the South shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the lowland the Philistines; and they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin [shall possess] Gilead.

20 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.

And the captives of this host of the children of Israel, that are [among] the Canaanites, [shall possess] even unto Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, that are in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South.

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

And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be Jehovah’s.