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This is the vision that the Sovereign Lord revealed to Obadiah concerning the land of Edom.

Edom’s Judgment Announced

We have heard a message from the Lord
    that an ambassador was sent to the nations to say,
“Get ready, everyone!
    Let’s assemble our armies and attack Edom!”

The Lord says to Edom,
“I will cut you down to size among the nations;
    you will be greatly despised.
You have been deceived by your own pride
    because you live in a rock fortress
    and make your home high in the mountains.
‘Who can ever reach us way up here?’
    you ask boastfully.
But even if you soar as high as eagles
    and build your nest among the stars,
I will bring you crashing down,”
    says the Lord.

“If thieves came at night and robbed you
    (what a disaster awaits you!),
    they would not take everything.
Those who harvest grapes
    always leave a few for the poor.
    But your enemies will wipe you out completely!
Every nook and cranny of Edom[a]
    will be searched and looted.
    Every treasure will be found and taken.

“All your allies will turn against you.
    They will help to chase you from your land.
They will promise you peace
    while plotting to deceive and destroy you.
Your trusted friends will set traps for you,
    and you won’t even know about it.
At that time not a single wise person
    will be left in the whole land of Edom,”
    says the Lord.
“For on the mountains of Edom
    I will destroy everyone who has understanding.
The mightiest warriors of Teman
    will be terrified,
and everyone on the mountains of Edom
    will be cut down in the slaughter.

Reasons for Edom’s Punishment

10 “Because of the violence you did
    to your close relatives in Israel,[b]
you will be filled with shame
    and destroyed forever.
11 When they were invaded,
    you stood aloof, refusing to help them.
Foreign invaders carried off their wealth
    and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem,
    but you acted like one of Israel’s enemies.

12 “You should not have gloated
    when they exiled your relatives to distant lands.
You should not have rejoiced
    when the people of Judah suffered such misfortune.
You should not have spoken arrogantly
    in that terrible time of trouble.
13 You should not have plundered the land of Israel
    when they were suffering such calamity.
You should not have gloated over their destruction
    when they were suffering such calamity.
You should not have seized their wealth
    when they were suffering such calamity.
14 You should not have stood at the crossroads,
    killing those who tried to escape.
You should not have captured the survivors
    and handed them over in their terrible time of trouble.

Edom Destroyed, Israel Restored

15 “The day is near when I, the Lord,
    will judge all godless nations!
As you have done to Israel,
    so it will be done to you.
All your evil deeds
    will fall back on your own heads.
16 Just as you swallowed up my people
    on my holy mountain,
so you and the surrounding nations
    will swallow the punishment I pour out on you.
Yes, all you nations will drink and stagger
    and disappear from history.

17 “But Jerusalem[c] will become a refuge for those who escape;
    it will be a holy place.
And the people of Israel[d] will come back
    to reclaim their inheritance.
18 The people of Israel will be a raging fire,
    and Edom a field of dry stubble.
The descendants of Joseph will be a flame
    roaring across the field, devouring everything.
There will be no survivors in Edom.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

19 “Then my people living in the Negev
    will occupy the mountains of Edom.
Those living in the foothills of Judah[e]
    will possess the Philistine plains
    and take over the fields of Ephraim and Samaria.
And the people of Benjamin
    will occupy the land of Gilead.
20 The exiles of Israel will return to their land
    and occupy the Phoenician coast as far north as Zarephath.
The captives from Jerusalem exiled in the north[f]
    will return home and resettle the towns of the Negev.
21 Those who have been rescued[g] will go up to[h] Mount Zion in Jerusalem
    to rule over the mountains of Edom.
And the Lord himself will be king!”

Footnotes

  1. 6 Hebrew Esau; also in 8b, 9, 18, 19, 21.
  2. 10 Hebrew your brother Jacob. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
  3. 17a Hebrew Mount Zion.
  4. 17b Hebrew house of Jacob; also in 18. See note on 10.
  5. 19 Hebrew the Shephelah.
  6. 20 Hebrew in Sepharad.
  7. 21a As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads Rescuers.
  8. 21b Or from.

Psalm 82

A psalm of Asaph.

God presides over heaven’s court;
    he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:
“How long will you hand down unjust decisions
    by favoring the wicked? Interlude

“Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
    uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
Rescue the poor and helpless;
    deliver them from the grasp of evil people.
But these oppressors know nothing;
    they are so ignorant!
They wander about in darkness,
    while the whole world is shaken to the core.
I say, ‘You are gods;
    you are all children of the Most High.
But you will die like mere mortals
    and fall like every other ruler.’”

Rise up, O God, and judge the earth,
    for all the nations belong to you.

Psalm 83

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

O God, do not be silent!
    Do not be deaf.
    Do not be quiet, O God.
Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies?
    Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?
They devise crafty schemes against your people;
    they conspire against your precious ones.
“Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.
    We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”
Yes, this was their unanimous decision.
    They signed a treaty as allies against you—
these Edomites and Ishmaelites;
    Moabites and Hagrites;
Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites;
    and people from Philistia and Tyre.
Assyria has joined them, too,
    and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Interlude

Do to them as you did to the Midianites
    and as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
10 They were destroyed at Endor,
    and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.
11 Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did.
    Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 for they said, “Let us seize for our own use
    these pasturelands of God!”
13 O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed,
    like chaff before the wind!
14 As a fire burns a forest
    and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
15 chase them with your fierce storm;
    terrify them with your tempest.
16 Utterly disgrace them
    until they submit to your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
    Let them die in disgrace.
18 Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord,
    that you alone are the Most High,
    supreme over all the earth.

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