Obadiah
New Century Version
The Lord Will Punish the Edomites
1 This is the vision of Obadiah.
This is what the Lord God says about Edom:[a]
We have heard a message from the Lord.
A messenger has been sent among the nations, saying,
“Attack! Let’s go attack Edom!”
The Lord Speaks to the Edomites
2 “Soon I will make you the smallest of nations.
You will be greatly hated by everyone.
3 Your pride has fooled you,
you who live in the hollow places of the cliff.
Your home is up high,
you who say to yourself,
‘No one can bring me down to the ground.’
4 Even if you fly high like the eagle
and make your nest among the stars,
I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord.
5 “You will really be ruined!
If thieves came to you,
if robbers came by night,
they would steal only enough for themselves.
If workers came and picked the grapes from your vines,
they would leave a few behind.
6 But you, Edom, will really lose everything!
People will find all your hidden treasures!
7 All the people who are your friends
will force you out of the land.
The people who are at peace with you
will trick you and defeat you.
Those who eat your bread with you now
are planning a trap for you,
and you will not notice it.”
8 The Lord says, “On that day
I will surely destroy the wise people from Edom,
and those with understanding from the mountains of Edom.
9 Then, city of Teman, your best warriors will be afraid,
and everyone from the mountains of Edom will be killed.
10 You did violence to your relatives, the Israelites,
so you will be covered with shame
and destroyed forever.
11 You stood aside without helping
while strangers carried Israel’s treasures away.
When foreigners entered Israel’s city gate
and threw lots to decide what part of Jerusalem they would take,
you were like one of them.
Commands That Edom Broke
12 “Edom, do not laugh at your brother Israel in his time of trouble
or be happy about the people of Judah when they are destroyed.
Do not brag when cruel things are done to them.
13 Do not enter the city gate of my people
in their time of trouble
or laugh at their problems
in their time of trouble.
Do not take their treasures
in their time of trouble.
14 Do not stand at the crossroads
to destroy those who are trying to escape.
Do not capture those who escape alive and turn them over to their enemy
in their time of trouble.
The Nations Will Be Judged
15 “The Lord’s day of judging is coming soon
to all the nations.
The same evil things you did to other people
will happen to you;
they will come back upon your own head.
16 Because you drank in my Temple,
all the nations will drink on and on.
They will drink and drink
until they disappear.
17 But on Mount Zion some will escape the judgment,
and it will be a holy place.
The people of Jacob will take back their land
from those who took it from them.
18 The people of Jacob will be like a fire
and the people of Joseph[b] like a flame.
But the people of Esau[c] will be like dry stalks.
The people of Jacob will set them on fire and burn them up.
There will be no one left of the people of Esau.”
This will happen because the Lord has said it.
19 Then God’s people will regain southern Judah from Edom;
they will take back the mountains of Edom.
They will take back the western hills
from the Philistines.
They will regain the lands of Ephraim and Samaria,
and Benjamin will take over Gilead.
20 People from Israel who once were forced to leave their homes
will take the land of the Canaanites,
all the way to Zarephath.
People from Judah who once were forced to leave Jerusalem and live in Sepharad
will take back the cities of southern Judah.
21 Powerful warriors will go up on Mount Zion,
where they will rule the people living on Edom’s mountains.
And the kingdom will belong to the Lord.
Psalm 82-83
New Century Version
A Cry for Justice
A psalm of Asaph.
82 God is in charge of the great meeting;
he judges among the “gods.”
2 He says, “How long will you defend evil people?
How long will you show greater kindness to the wicked? Selah
3 Defend the weak and the orphans;
defend the rights of the poor and suffering.
4 Save the weak and helpless;
free them from the power of the wicked.
5 “You know nothing. You don’t understand.
You walk in the dark,
while the world is falling apart.
6 I said, ‘You are “gods.”
You are all sons of God Most High.’
7 But you will die like any other person;
you will fall like all the leaders.”
8 God, come and judge the earth,
because you own all the nations.
A Prayer Against the Enemies
A song. A psalm of Asaph.
83 God, do not keep quiet;
God, do not be silent or still.
2 Your enemies are making noises;
those who hate you are getting ready to attack.
3 They are making secret plans against your people;
they plot against those you love.
4 They say, “Come, let’s destroy them as a nation.
Then no one will ever remember the name ‘Israel.’”
5 They are united in their plan.
These have made an agreement against you:
6 the families of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 the people of Byblos, Ammon, Amalek,
Philistia, and Tyre.
8 Even Assyria has joined them
to help Ammon and Moab, the descendants of Lot. Selah
9 God, do to them what you did to Midian,
what you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
10 They died at Endor,
and their bodies rotted on the ground.
11 Do to their important leaders what you did to Oreb and Zeeb.
Do to their princes what you did to Zebah and Zalmunna.
12 They said, “Let’s take for ourselves
the pasturelands that belong to God.”
13 My God, make them like tumbleweed,
like chaff blown away by the wind.
14 Be like a fire that burns a forest
or like flames that blaze through the hills.
15 Chase them with your storm,
and frighten them with your wind.
16 Cover them with shame.
Then people will look for you, Lord.
17 Make them afraid and ashamed forever.
Disgrace them and destroy them.
18 Then they will know that you are the Lord,
that only you are God Most High over all the earth.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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