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19 Egypt shall become a desolation
    and Edom a desolate wilderness,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah,
    in whose land they have shed innocent blood.(A)

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An Oracle concerning Egypt

19 An oracle concerning Egypt.

See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
    and comes to Egypt;
the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
    and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.(A)
I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
    and they will fight, one against the other,
    neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city, kingdom against kingdom;(B)
the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
    and I will confound their plans;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead
    and the ghosts and the familiar spirits;(C)
I will deliver the Egyptians
    into the hand of a hard master;
a fierce king will rule over them,
    says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts.(D)

The waters of the Nile will be dried up,
    and the river will be parched and dry;(E)
its canals will become foul,
    and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up.
Reeds and rushes will rot away,(F)
    the reeds beside the Nile;[a]
all that is sown by the Nile will dry up,
    be driven away, and be no more.
Those who fish will mourn;
    all who cast hooks in the Nile will lament,
    and those who spread nets on the water will languish.
The workers in flax will be in despair,
    and the carders and those at the loom will grow pale.
10 Its weavers will be dismayed,
    and all who work for wages will be grieved.(G)

11 Clearly the princes of Zoan are foolish;
    the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I am one of the sages,
    a descendant of ancient kings”?(H)
12 Where now are your sages?
    Let them tell you and make known
    what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt.(I)
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools,
    and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of its tribes
    have led Egypt astray.(J)
14 The Lord has poured into them[b]
    a spirit of confusion;
and they have made Egypt stagger in all its doings
    as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.(K)
15 Neither head nor tail, palm branch or reed,
    will be able to do anything for Egypt.

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Footnotes

  1. 19.7 Gk: Heb beside the Nile, beside the mouth of the Nile
  2. 19.14 Gk Compare Tg: Heb it

18 And if the family of Egypt do not go up and present themselves, there will be no rain for them; there will be the plague that the Lord inflicts on the nations that do not go up to keep the Festival of Booths.[a](A) 19 Such shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to keep the Festival of Booths.[b](B)

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Footnotes

  1. 14.18 Or Tabernacles
  2. 14.19 Or Tabernacles

35 May my torn flesh be avenged on Babylon,”
    the inhabitants of Zion shall say.
“May my blood be avenged on the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
    Jerusalem shall say.(A)

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For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you

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but I have hated Esau; I have made his hill country a desolation and his heritage a desert for jackals.(A) If Edom says, ‘We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,’ the Lord of hosts says: They may build, but I will tear down, until they are called the wicked country, the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.

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10 I will bring them home from the land of Egypt
    and gather them from Assyria;
I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
    until there is no room for them.(A)

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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.(A)
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.(B)
12 But you should not have gloated over[a] 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.(C)
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[b] disaster
    on the day of his calamity;
you should not have stolen his goods
    on the day of his calamity.(D)
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.(E)
16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
    all the nations shall drink continually;
they shall drink and gulp down[c]
    and shall be as though they had never been.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 12 Heb on the day of
  2. 13 Heb his
  3. 16 Meaning of Heb uncertain

Proud Edom Will Be Brought Low

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)

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11 Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Edom,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,[a]
because he pursued his brother with the sword
    and cast off all pity;
he maintained his anger perpetually[b]
    and kept his wrath[c] forever.(A)
12 So I will send a fire on Teman,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 1.11 Heb cause it to return
  2. 1.11 Syr Vg: Heb and his anger tore perpetually
  3. 1.11 Gk Syr Vg: Heb and his wrath kept

Judgment on Mount Seir

35 The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it,(A) and say to it: Thus says the Lord God:

I am against you, Mount Seir;
    I stretch out my hand against you
    to make you a desolation and a waste.
I lay your towns in ruins;
    you shall become a desolation,
    and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Because you cherished an ancient enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment,(B) therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will make you bloody, and blood shall pursue you; since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go.(C) I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses those killed with the sword shall fall.(D) I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall never be inhabited. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.(E)

10 Because you said, “These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them”—although the Lord was there(F) 11 therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy that you showed because of your hatred against them, and I will make myself known among you[a] when I judge you.(G) 12 You shall know that I, the Lord, have heard all the abusive speech that you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are laid desolate; they are given us to devour.” 13 And you magnified yourselves against me with your mouth and multiplied your words against me; I heard it.(H) 14 Thus says the Lord God: As the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.(I) 15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir and all Edom, all of it. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. 35.11 Gk: Heb them

Proclamation against Ammon

25 The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them.(A) Say to the Ammonites: Hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God: Because you said, “Aha!” over my sanctuary when it was profaned and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate and over the house of Judah when it went into exile,(B) therefore I am handing you over to the people of the East for a possession. They shall set their encampments among you and pitch their tents in your midst; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon a fold for flocks. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.(C) For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within you against the land of Israel,(D) therefore I have stretched out my hand against you and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.(E)

Proclamation against Moab

Thus says the Lord God: Because Moab[a] said, “The house of Judah is like all the other nations,” therefore I will lay open the flank of Moab from the towns[b] on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. 10 I will give it along with Ammon to the people of the East as a possession. Thus Ammon shall be remembered no more among the nations, 11 and I will execute judgments upon Moab. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

Proclamation against Edom

12 Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom acted revengefully against the house of Judah and has grievously offended in taking vengeance upon them,(F) 13 therefore thus says the Lord God: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it humans and animals, and I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword.(G) 14 I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall act in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath, and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord God.(H)

Proclamation against Philistia

15 Thus says the Lord God: Because with unending hostilities the Philistines acted in vengeance and with malice of heart took revenge in destruction,(I) 16 therefore thus says the Lord God: I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines, cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the rest of the seacoast.(J) 17 I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful punishments. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance on them.(K)

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Footnotes

  1. 25.8 Gk OL: Heb Moab and Seir
  2. 25.9 Heb towns from its towns

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Edom,
    you that live in the land of Uz;
but to you also the cup shall pass;
    you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.(A)

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17 Edom shall become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.(A)

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Vengeance on Edom

63 “Who is this coming from Edom,
    from Bozrah in garments stained crimson?
Who is this so splendidly robed,
    marching in his great might?”

“It is I, announcing vindication,
    mighty to save.”(A)

“Why are your robes red
    and your garments like theirs who tread the winepress?”(B)

“I have trodden the winepress alone,
    and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
    and trampled them in my wrath;
their juice spattered on my garments,
    and I stained all my robes.(C)
For the day of vengeance was in my mind,
    and the year for my redeeming work had come.(D)
I looked, but there was no helper;
    I was abandoned, and there was no one to sustain me,
so my own arm brought me victory,
    and my wrath sustained me.(E)
I trampled down peoples in my anger;
    I crushed them[a] in my wrath,
    and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 63.6 Heb mss: MT I made them drunk

Judgment on the Nations

34 Draw near, O nations, to hear;
    O peoples, give heed!
Let the earth hear and all that fills it,
    the world and all that comes from it.(A)
For the Lord is enraged against all the nations
    and furious against all their hordes;
    he has doomed them, has given them over for slaughter.(B)
Their slain shall be cast out,
    and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
    the mountains shall flow with their blood.(C)
All the host of heaven shall rot away,
    and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall wither
    like a leaf withering on a vine
    or fruit withering on a fig tree.(D)

When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,
    upon Edom it will fall,
    upon the people I have doomed to judgment.(E)
The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;
    it is gorged with fat,
    with the blood of lambs and goats,
    with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
    a great slaughter in the land of Edom.(F)
Wild oxen shall fall with them
    and young steers with the mighty bulls.
Their land shall be soaked with blood,
    and their soil made rich with fat.(G)

For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
    a year of vindication for Zion’s cause.[a](H)
And the streams of Edom[b] shall be turned into pitch
    and her soil into sulfur;
    her land shall become burning pitch.(I)
10 Night and day it shall not be quenched;
    its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
    no one shall pass through it forever and ever.(J)
11 But the desert owl[c] and the screech owl[d] shall possess it;
    the great owl and the raven shall live in it.
He shall stretch the line of confusion
    and the plummet of chaos over it.(K)
12 They shall call its nobles No Kingdom There,
    and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
    nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of jackals,
    an abode for ostriches.(L)
14 Wildcats shall meet with hyenas;
    goat-demons shall call to each other;
there also Lilith shall repose
    and find a place to rest.(M)
15 There shall the owl nest
    and lay and hatch and brood in its shadow;
there also the buzzards shall gather,
    each one with its mate.(N)
16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
    Not one of these shall be missing;
    none shall be without its mate.
For his mouth, it has commanded,
    and his spirit, it has gathered them.(O)
17 He has cast the lot for them;
    his hand has portioned it out to them with the line.
[[They shall possess it;
    from generation to generation they shall live in it.(P)

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Footnotes

  1. 34.8 Or of recompense by Zion’s defender
  2. 34.9 Heb her streams
  3. 34.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  4. 34.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain

15 And the Lord will dry up[a]
    the tongue of the sea of Egypt
and will wave his hand over the River
    with his scorching wind
and will split it into seven channels
    and make a way to cross on foot;(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 11.15 Gk Syr: Heb destroy

Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
    the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down!
    Down to its foundations!”(A)

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