Obadiah 1-9
New Catholic Bible
Rise Up! Let Us Attack Edom
1 The vision of Obadiah about Edom:
I heard a message from the Lord,
and a herald has been sent to advise the nations:
“Rise up! Let us attack Edom!”
2 The Lord says to Edom:
I will make you the least of all the nations;
you are the object of utter contempt.
3 The pride in your heart has led you astray,
you who live in the crannies of the rock,
whose dwelling is on the heights.
You think to yourself,
“Who can bring me down to the ground?”
4 Even though you soar like an eagle
and your nest is set among the stars,
from there I will bring you down
says the Lord.
5 If thieves approached you,
or robbers during the night,
you would not be destroyed,
for wouldn’t they steal only what they wanted?
If grape-pickers were to come to you,
wouldn’t they leave gleanings?
6 But note how they will ransack Esau
and steal his hidden treasures.
7 All your former allies
will drive you to your borders.
Your confederates will overpower you,
those who eat your bread will set a trap for you,
but you will not realize it.[a]
8 On that day, says the Lord,
I will destroy all the wise men of Edom,
and wisdom will disappear from the mountains of Esau.
9 Your warriors will be so terrified, O Teman,[b]
that there will be no survivors on the mountains of Esau.
Footnotes
- Obadiah 1:7 The Edomites, a not very numerous people, supposedly descended from Esau (Gen 36), the grandson of Abraham, had settled to the southeast of the Dead Sea; their capital was the city of Petra. Entrenched in their precipitous terrain, they were able to remain safe while the armies of Nebuchadnezzar were on the loose. But their enemies would find them out and make a clean sweep of their land.
- Obadiah 1:9 Teman was south of Edom.
