^5 (A)The Lord has prepared his sword in heaven, and now it will strike Edom, those people whom he has condemned to destruction. ⁶ His sword will be covered with their blood and fat, like the blood and fat of lambs and goats that are sacrificed. The Lord will offer this sacrifice in the city of Bozrah; he will make this a great slaughter in the land of Edom. ⁷ The people will fall like wild oxen and young bulls, and the earth will be red with blood and covered with fat. ⁸ This is the time when the Lord will rescue Zion and take vengeance on her enemies.

⁹ The rivers of Edom will turn into tar, and the soil will turn into sulfur. The whole country will burn like tar. ^10 (B)It will burn day and night, and smoke will rise from it forever. The land will lie waste age after age, and no one will ever travel through it again. ¹¹ Owls and ravens will take over the land. The Lord will make it a barren waste again, as it was before the creation. ¹² There will be no king to rule the country, and the leaders will all be gone.^{[a] 13} Thorns and thistles will grow up in all the palaces and walled towns, and jackals and owls will live in them. ¹⁴ Wild animals will roam there, and demons will call to each other. The night monster^[b] will come there looking for a place to rest. ¹⁵ Owls will build their nests, lay eggs, hatch their young, and care for them there. Vultures will gather there, one after another.

¹⁶ Search in the Lord's book of living creatures and read what it says. Not one of these creatures will be missing, and not one will be without its mate. The Lord has commanded it to be so; he himself will bring them together. ¹⁷ It is the Lord who will divide the land among them and give each of them a share. They will live in the land age after age, and it will belong to them forever.

The Lord's Judgment on Edom

^7 (A)This is what the Lord Almighty said about Edom: “Have the people of Edom lost their good judgment? Can their advisers no longer tell them what to do? Has all their wisdom disappeared? ⁸ People of Dedan, turn and run! Hide! I am going to destroy Esau's descendants because the time has come for me to punish them. ⁹ When people pick grapes, they leave a few on the vines, and when robbers come at night, they take only what they want. ¹⁰ But I^[a] have stripped Esau's descendants completely and uncovered their hiding places, so that they can no longer hide. All the people of Edom are destroyed. Not one of them is left. ¹¹ Leave your orphans with me, and I will take care of them. Your widows can depend on me.

¹² “If even those who did not deserve to be punished had to drink from the cup of punishment, do you think that you will go unpunished? No, you must drink from the cup! ¹³ I myself have sworn that the city of Bozrah will become a horrifying sight and a desert; people will make fun of it and use its name as a curse. All the nearby villages will be in ruins forever. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

¹⁴ I said, “Edom, I have received a message from the Lord. He has sent a messenger to tell the nations to assemble their armies and to get ready to attack you. ¹⁵ The Lord is going to make you weak, and no one will respect you. ¹⁶ Your pride has deceived you. No one fears you as much as you think they do. You live on the rocky cliffs, high on top of the mountain; but even though you live as high up as an eagle, the Lord will bring you down. The Lord has spoken.”

¹⁷ The Lord said, “The destruction that will come on Edom will be so terrible that everyone who passes by will be shocked and terrified. ^18 (B)The same thing will happen to Edom that happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, when they and the nearby towns were destroyed. No one will ever live there again. I, the Lord, have spoken. ^19 (C)Like a lion coming out of the thick woods along the Jordan River up to the green pasture land, I will come and make the Edomites run away suddenly from their country. Then the leader I choose will rule the nation. Who can be compared to me? Who would dare challenge me? What ruler could oppose me? ²⁰ So listen to the plan that I have made against the people of Edom, and to what I intend to do to the people of the city of Teman. Even their children will be dragged off, and everyone will be horrified. ²¹ When Edom falls, there will be such a noise that the entire earth will shake, and the cries of alarm will be heard as far away as the Gulf of Aqaba. ²² The enemy will attack Bozrah like an eagle swooping down with outspread wings. On that day Edom's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labor.”

Prophecy against Edom

^12 (A)The Sovereign Lord said, “The people of Edom took cruel revenge on Judah, and that revenge has brought lasting guilt on Edom. ¹³ Now I announce that I will punish Edom and kill every person and animal there. I will make it a wasteland, from the city of Teman to the city of Dedan, and the people will be killed in battle. ¹⁴ My people Israel will take revenge on Edom for me, and they will make Edom feel my furious anger. Edom will know what it means to be the object of my revenge.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.