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 Obdias. Thus saith the Lord God to Idumea; I have heard a report from the Lord, and he has sent forth a message to the nations.

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].

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

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.

Behold, I have made thee small among the Gentiles: thou art greatly dishonoured. The pride of thine heart has elated thee, dwelling [as thou dost] in the holes of the rocks, [as one that] exalts his habitation, saying in his heart, Who will 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.

If thou shouldest mount up as the eagle, and if thou shouldest make thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.

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 in to thee, or robbers by night, where wouldest thou have been cast away? would they not have stolen [just] enough for themselves? and if grape-gatherers went in to thee, would they not leave a gleaning?

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

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]!’

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

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.

In that day, saith the Lord, I will destroy the wise men out of Idumea, 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 warriors from Thaeman shall be dismayed, to the end that man may be cut off from the mount of Esau.

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.

Because of the slaughter and the sin [committed against] 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].

From the day that thou stoodest 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, thou also 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.

And thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day of strangers; nor shouldest thou have rejoiced against the children of Juda in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have boasted in the day of [their] affliction.

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.

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

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.”

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

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 the Lord is near upon all the Gentiles: as thou have done, so shall it be [done] to thee: thy recompense shall be returned on 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 thou hast 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 [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.

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 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.

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

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.