Obadiah
Contemporary English Version
Edom's Pride and Punishment
1 (A) The Lord God gave Obadiah
a message[a] about Edom,
and this is what we heard:
“I, the Lord, have sent
a messenger
with orders for the nations
to attack Edom.”
2 The Lord said to Edom:
I will make you the weakest
and most despised nation.
3 You live in a mountain fortress,[b]
because your pride
makes you feel safe from attack,
but you are mistaken.
4 I will still bring you down,
even if you fly higher
than an eagle
or nest among the stars.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
5 If thieves break in at night,
they steal
only what they want.
And people who harvest grapes
always leave some unpicked.
But, Edom, you are doomed!
6 Everything you treasure most
will be taken from you.
7 Your allies can't be trusted.
They will force you out
of your own country.
And your best friends
will trick and trap you,
even before you know it.
8 Edom, when this happens,
I, the Lord, will destroy
all your marvelous wisdom.
9 Warriors from the city of Teman[c]
will be terrified,
and you descendants of Esau[d]
will be wiped out.
The Lord Condemns Edom's Cruelty
10 You were cruel to your relatives,
the descendants of Jacob.[e]
Now you will be destroyed,
disgraced forever.
11 You stood there and watched
as foreigners entered Jerusalem
and took what they wanted.
In fact, you were no better
than those foreigners.
12 Why did you celebrate
when such a dreadful disaster
struck your relatives?
Why were you so pleased
when everyone in Judah
was suffering?
13 They are my people,
and you were cruel to them.
You went through their towns,
sneering and stealing
whatever was left.
14 In their time of torment,
you ambushed refugees
and handed them over
to their attackers.
The Lord Will Judge the Nations
15 The day is coming
when I, the Lord,
will judge the nations.
And, Edom, you will pay in full
for what you have done.
16 I forced the people of Judah[f]
to drink the wine of my anger
on my sacred mountain.
Soon the neighboring nations
must drink their fill—
then vanish without a trace.
Victory for Israel
17 The Lord's people who escape
will go to Mount Zion,
and it will be holy.
Then Jacob's descendants
will capture the land of those
who took their land.
18 Israel[g] will be a fire,
and Edom will be straw
going up in flames.
The Lord has spoken!
19 The people of Israel
who live in the Southern Desert
will take the land of Edom.
Those who live in the hills
will capture Philistia,
Ephraim, and Samaria.
And the tribe of Benjamin
will conquer Gilead.
20 Those who return from captivity
will control Phoenicia
as far as Zarephath.[h]
Captives from Jerusalem
who were taken to Sepharad[i]
will capture the towns
of the Southern Desert.
21 Those the Lord has saved
will live on Mount Zion
and rule over Edom.[j]
Then the kingdom will belong
to the Lord.
Footnotes
- 1 message: Or “vision.”
- 3 mountain fortress: The Hebrew text has “rocky cliff,” which sounds like “Sela,” the capital of Edom, a fortress city built on a mountain.
- 9 Teman: A famous city in Edom.
- 9 descendants of Esau: The people of Edom were descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob (Israel).
- 10 descendants of Jacob: Jacob and Esau were brothers (see the note on Esau at verse 9).
- 16 I forced … Judah: Or “I will force the people of Edom.”
- 18 Israel: Hebrew “The descendants of Jacob and of Joseph.”
- 20 Those who return … Zarephath: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 20 Sepharad: Possibly the city of Sardis, the capital of Lydia, a country north and west of Media. This would refer to those captives from Judah who had been taken beyond the kingdom of Babylonia.
- 21 Those the Lord … Edom: Or “Leaders on (from) Mount Zion will save the people and rule over Edom.”
Obadiah
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Proud Edom Will Be Brought Low
1 The vision of Obadiah.
Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom:
We have heard a report from the Lord,
and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
“Rise up! Let us rise against it for battle!”(A)
2 I will surely make you least among the nations;
you shall be utterly despised.
3 Your proud heart has deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,[a]
whose dwelling is in the heights.
You say in your heart,
“Who will bring me down to the ground?”(B)
4 Though you soar aloft like the eagle,
though your nest is set among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,
says the Lord.(C)
Pillage and Slaughter Will Repay Edom’s Cruelty
5 If thieves came to you,
if plunderers by night
—how you have been destroyed!—
would they not steal only what they wanted?
If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave gleanings?(D)
6 How Esau has been pillaged,
his treasures searched out!
7 All your allies have deceived you;
they have driven you to the border;
your confederates have prevailed against you;
those who ate your food have set a trap for you—
there is no understanding.(E)
8 On that day, says the Lord,
I will destroy the wise out of Edom
and understanding out of Mount Esau.(F)
9 Your warriors shall be shattered, O Teman,
so that everyone from Mount Esau will be cut off.(G)
Edom Mistreated His Brother
10 For the slaughter and violence done to your brother Jacob,
shame shall cover you,
and you shall be cut off forever.(H)
11 On the day that you stood aside,
on the day that strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you, too, were one of them.(I)
12 But you should not have gloated over[b] your brother
on the day of his misfortune;
you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah
on the day of their ruin;
you should not have boasted
on the day of distress.(J)
13 You should not have entered the gate of my people
on the day of their calamity;
you should not have joined in the gloating over Judah’s[c] disaster
on the day of his calamity;
you should not have stolen his goods
on the day of his calamity.(K)
14 You should not have stood at the crossings
to cut off his fugitives;
you should not have handed over his survivors
on the day of distress.
15 For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
your deeds shall return on your own head.(L)
16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
all the nations shall drink continually;
they shall drink and gulp down[d]
and shall be as though they had never been.(M)
Israel’s Final Triumph
17 But on Mount Zion there shall be those who escape,
and it shall be holy,
and the house of Jacob shall take possession of those who dispossessed them.(N)
18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.(O)
19 Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,
and those of the Shephelah the land of the Philistines;
they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.(P)
20 The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah[e]
shall possess[f] Phoenicia as far as Zarephath,
and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
shall possess the towns of the Negeb.(Q)
21 Those who have been saved[g] shall go up to Mount Zion
to rule Mount Esau,
and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.(R)
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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.