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 prophecy of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah concerning Edom. We have heard a message from Jehovah, And an ambassador hath been sent among the nations “Arise ye, and let us rise up against her to war.”

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 will make thee small among the nations; Thou shalt be 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 thine heart hath deceived thee, Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, Whose habitation is high, Who sayest in thine 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 lift thyself up as the eagle, And though thou set thy nest among the stars, Thence will I bring thee down, 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 had come upon thee, Or robbers by night, Would they not have ceased stealing when they had enough? How art thou utterly destroyed! If grape-gatherers had come upon thee, Would they not have left gleanings of the 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 is Esau searched through! How are his hidden places explored!

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 thine allies have brought thee to the border; They that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; They that ate thy bread have spread a snare under thee; There is no understanding in thee.

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 Jehovah, I will destroy the wise men from Edom, And understanding from 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).

Thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed; Every one shall 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.

For slaughter and for oppression of thy brother Jacob shall shame cover thee, And thou shalt be destroyed forever.

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 when thou stoodest over against him, In the day when strangers carried away captive his forces, And when foreigners entered his gates, And when they cast lots upon 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.

But thou shouldst not have looked with delight on the day of thy brother in the day of his calamity; Nor shouldst thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, Nor have spoken haughtily in the day of his 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.

Thou shouldst not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity, Nor have looked with delight on their affliction in the day of their calamity, Nor have laid hand 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.”

Nor have stood in the cross-way to cut off their fugitives, Nor have delivered up those that remained 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, so shall it be done to 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 perpetually, Yea, they shall drink and swallow it down, And they 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 upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and it shall be holy; And the house of Jacob shall regain 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 stubble, And they shall kindle them and devour them. And there shall be none remaining of 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 mountain of Esau, And they of the plain, the Philistines; And they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, And the fields 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 sons of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites unto Sarepta, And the captives of Jerusalem which are at 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 saviors shall go up to mount Zion, To rule the mount of Esau. And the kingdom shall be Jehovah's.