Obadiah
Legacy Standard Bible
Edom Will Be Brought Down
1 The vision of Obadiah.
Thus says Lord [a]Yahweh concerning (A)Edom—
(B)We have heard a report from Yahweh,
And an (C)envoy has been sent among the nations saying,
“(D)Arise! And let us arise against her for battle”—
2 “Behold, I will make you (E)small among the nations;
You are greatly despised.
3 The (F)arrogance of your heart has deceived you,
You who dwell in the clefts of [b]the (G)cliff,
In the height of your habitation,
Who says in his heart,
‘(H)Who will bring me down to earth?’
4 Though you (I)build loftily like the eagle,
Though you set your nest among the (J)stars,
From there I will bring you down,” declares Yahweh.
5 “If (K)thieves came to you,
If [c]robbers by night—
Oh how you will be ruined!—
Would they not thieve only [d]until they had enough?
If grape gatherers came to you,
(L)Would they not allow some gleanings to remain?
6 Oh how Esau will be (M)searched out
And his hidden treasures ransacked!
7 All the (N)men who have [e]a covenant with you
Will send you forth to the border,
And the men at peace with you
Will deceive you and overpower you.
They who eat your (O)bread
Will set an ambush for you.
(There is (P)no discernment [f]in him.)
8 Will I not on that day,” declares Yahweh,
“(Q)Cause the wise men to perish from Edom
And discernment from the mountain of Esau?
9 Then your (R)mighty men will be dismayed, O (S)Teman,
So that each one may be (T)cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.
10 “Because of (U)violence to your brother Jacob,
[g]You will be covered with shame,
(V)And you will be cut off forever.
11 On the day that you (W)stood aloof,
On the day that strangers took his wealth captive
And foreigners entered his gate
And (X)cast lots for Jerusalem—
(Y)You too were as one of them.
12 (Z)Now do not look on your brother’s day with triumph,
The day of his misfortune.
And (AA)do not be glad over the sons of Judah
In the day when they perish;
And (AB)do not [h]let your mouth speak great things
In the day of their distress.
13 Do not enter the gate of My people
In the (AC)day of their disaster.
Indeed, you, do not look on their calamity with triumph
In the day of their disaster.
And do not (AD)send out for their wealth
In the day of their disaster.
14 Do not (AE)stand at the fork of the road
To cut down those among them who escape;
And do not deliver over their survivors
In the day of their distress.
The Day of Yahweh Is Near
15 “For the (AF)day of Yahweh draws near on all the nations.
(AG)As you have done, it will be done to you.
Your (AH)dealings will return on your own head.
16 Because just as you all (AI)drank on (AJ)My holy mountain,
All the nations (AK)will drink continually.
They will drink and [i]swallow,
And they will be as if they never were.
17 But on Mount (AL)Zion there will be those who escape,
And it will be holy.
And the house of Jacob will (AM)possess their possessions.
18 Then the house of Jacob will be a (AN)fire
And the house of Joseph a flame;
But the house of Esau will be as stubble.
And they will set [j]them on fire and consume [k]them
So that there will be (AO)no survivor of the house of Esau,”
For Yahweh has spoken.
The Kingdom of Yahweh
19 Then those of the [l]Negev will (AP)possess the mountain of Esau,
And those of the [m]Shephelah, the (AQ)Philistine plain;
And they will (AR)possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria,
And Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 And the exiles of this [n]military force of the sons of Israel,
Who are among the Canaanites as far as (AS)Zarephath,
And the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad,
Will possess the (AT)cities of the Negev.
21 And the (AU)saviors will ascend Mount Zion
To judge the mountain of Esau,
And the (AV)kingdom will belong to Yahweh.
Footnotes
- Obadiah 1:1 The personal covenant name of God, a form of I AM WHO I AM, cf. Ex 3:14-15
- Obadiah 1:3 Or Sela
- Obadiah 1:5 Lit devastators of the night
- Obadiah 1:5 Lit their sufficiency
- Obadiah 1:7 Lit your covenant
- Obadiah 1:7 In Esau; or of it
- Obadiah 1:10 Lit Shame will cover you
- Obadiah 1:12 Lit make your mouth large
- Obadiah 1:16 Or stagger
- Obadiah 1:18 The people of Esau
- Obadiah 1:18 The people of Esau
- Obadiah 1:19 South country
- Obadiah 1:19 Or lowland
- Obadiah 1:20 Or rampart
Obadiah
EasyEnglish Bible
God will punish Edom's people
1 This is the vision that Obadiah saw.
The Almighty Lord says this about Edom.[a]
We have heard a message from the Lord.
Someone has taken a message to the nations to say,
‘Stand up and fight against Edom.’
2 The Lord says to Edom,
‘I will make you small among other people.
They will think that you are not worth anything.
3 You think that you are better than other people. And so you believe something that is not true.
You live in a place that is difficult to reach.
Your home is high up in a place among rocks.
You say to yourself,
“Nobody can reach us up here.”
4 You may be like a strong bird that flies high.
And you may make your home in the highest places among the stars.
But I will bring you down from there.’
That is what the Lord says.
5 He says,
‘Men might come in the night
to take away what is yours.
(Oh! What a very bad thing will happen to you!)
But they would not take everything.
If people came to take fruit from your trees,
they would leave some fruit on the tree.
6 But people will take everything from Esau's people (also called Edom).
They will even take the valuable things that you hide.
7 People who have helped you to fight
will push you out from your country.
They will tell you what is not true. You will believe them.
They will be stronger than you
because you will believe their words.
They will make a trap for you.’
8 The Lord says,
‘Some men in Edom know what is right.[b] But, at that time, I will kill them.
Some men in the mountains know what is good. (These are the mountains where Esau's people live.) But I will kill those men.
9 There are men from Teman city that fight. But I will make them afraid.
Esau's people live in the mountains. And everyone there will die.
10 This will happen because you were cruel to your brother Jacob (the people in Israel).
God will make you ashamed because of this and you will die.
11 Men from other countries came into Jerusalem. They took away all the good things from Jerusalem. They played a game for the best things. You were as bad as they were. You did not help the Israelites.
12 Your brothers in Judah were in great trouble.
You thought that you were better than they. But you were wrong to think that.
You should not have been happy when the people in Judah were dying.
You should not have been happy when they were in trouble.
13 You should not have walked like soldiers through my people's gates.
You did that at the time when they were in trouble.
You should not have thought that you were better than they.
You thought it at the time when they were in trouble.
You should not have taken what belonged to them.
14 You waited at the place where the roads joined each other.
You wanted to kill those that ran away from the enemy.
That is why you waited there.
You should not have done that.
Some Israelites were still alive, but they were in trouble.
You should not have taken them to the enemy.
The day of the Lord
15 The day of the Lord will come soon for all the world's people.[c]
God will do to you what you did to other people.
God will be angry with you because you did those things to them.
16 You drank on my special hill.[d]
In the same way, people from all countries will drink and they will not stop.
They will drink until God has killed them.[e]
17 But on Mount Zion, people will be free.
It will be special to me.
Jacob's descendants will have the country that belongs to them.
I will give it to them.
18 The people in Jacob's and Joseph's family will kill all the people that belong to Esau's family.’
This is what the Lord said.
19 People will come from the Negev. They will come to live in the mountains of Edom.
People will come from the low hills in the west, and they will take the Philistines' country for themselves.
They will live in the fields in Ephraim and Samaria.[f]
Benjamin's people will take Gilead.
20 Some people lived in Israel,
but they now have to live with the Canaanites.
They will get the country as far as Zarephath.
Some people lived in Jerusalem, but now they have to be in Sepharad.
They will get the towns in the Negev.
21 Men will come to make Jerusalem free,
and they will rule over Edom.
And that country will belong to the Lord.[g]
Footnotes
- 1:1 When we write Lord like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as ‘Yahweh’, or as ‘Jehovah’. It is his own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14. It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.
- 1:8 The people in Edom were descendants of Esau. The Israelites were descendants of Jacob. Jacob and Esau were brothers.
- 1:15 The day of the Lord is the time when God judges his people's enemies. It is when he makes his people strong again.
- 1:16 In verses 16-18, God is speaking to the people of Edom.
- 1:16 The people from Edom had drunk alcohol in God's holy place. It was where the Israelites prayed to God, in Jerusalem city. God is saying that he will punish them. It will be like when people drink poison. It will be like a drink that contains God's anger. But they will not be able to stop drinking. They will drink until God's anger has killed them all.
- 1:19 Ephraim was the name that people used for the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
- 1:21 God says that he will give to Judah's people the land that belonged to their enemies. God does not forget his people. He does not forget what their enemies did. And he will kill all their enemies. God says that he will save his people and he will make them strong again.
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.