Obadiah
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The vision of Obadiah.
Edom’s Certain Judgment
This is what the Lord God has said about Edom:(A)
We have heard a message from the Lord;(B)
a messenger has been sent(C) among the nations:
“Rise up,(D) and let us go to war against her.”[a]
2 Look, I will make you insignificant(E)
among the nations;
you will be deeply despised.
3 Your presumptuous heart has deceived you,(F)
you who live in clefts of the rock[b][c](G)
in your home on the heights,
who say to yourself,
“Who can bring me down to the ground?”(H)
4 Though you seem to soar[d] like an eagle(I)
and make your nest among the stars,(J)
even from there I will bring you down.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
5 If thieves came to you,(K)
if marauders by night—
how ravaged you would be!—
wouldn’t they steal only what they wanted?
If grape pickers came to you,
wouldn’t they leave some grapes?(L)
6 How Esau will be pillaged,(M)
his hidden treasures searched out!(N)
7 Everyone who has a treaty with you(O)
will drive you to the border;
everyone at peace with you
will deceive and conquer you.
Those who eat your bread(P)
will set[e] a trap for you.
He will be unaware of it.(Q)
8 In that day—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
will I not eliminate the wise ones of Edom(R)
and those who understand
from the hill country of Esau?
9 Teman,[f](S) your warriors(T) will be terrified
so that everyone from the hill country of Esau
will be destroyed by slaughter.(U)
Edom’s Sins against Judah
10 You will be covered with shame
and destroyed forever
because of violence done to your brother Jacob.(V)
11 On the day you stood aloof,(W)
on the day strangers captured his wealth,[g]
while foreigners entered his gate
and cast lots for Jerusalem,(X)
you were just like one of them.(Y)
12 Do not[h] gloat over your brother(Z)
in the day of his calamity;
do not rejoice over the people of Judah(AA)
in the day of their destruction;
do not boastfully mock[i](AB)
in the day of distress.(AC)
13 Do not enter the gate of My people
in the day of their disaster.(AD)
Yes, you—do not gloat over their misery
in the day of their disaster
and do not appropriate their possessions(AE)
in the day of their disaster.
14 Do not stand at the crossroads[j](AF)
to cut off their fugitives,
and do not hand over their survivors
in the day of distress.
Judgment of the Nations
15 For the Day of the Lord(AG) is near,
against all the nations.(AH)
As you have done,(AI) so it will be done to you;
what you deserve will return on your own head.(AJ)
16 As you have drunk on My holy mountain,(AK)
so all the nations will drink continually.(AL)
They will drink and gulp down
and be as though they had never been.
17 But there will be a deliverance on Mount Zion,(AM)
and it will be holy;(AN)
the house of Jacob will dispossess(AO)
those who dispossessed them.[k](AP)
18 Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire,(AQ)
and the house of Joseph, a burning flame,
but the house of Esau will be stubble;
Jacob[l] will set them on fire and consume Edom.[m]
Therefore no survivor will remain(AR)
of the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.
Future Blessing for Israel
19 People from the Negev will possess(AS)
the hill country of Esau;(AT)
those from the Judean foothills will possess
the land of the Philistines.(AU)
They[n] will possess
the territories of Ephraim and Samaria,(AV)
while Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah[o]
and who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath(AW)
as well as the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
will possess the cities of the Negev.(AX)
21 Saviors[p] will ascend Mount Zion(AY)
to rule over the hill country of Esau,
but the kingdom will be the Lord’s.(AZ)
Footnotes
- Obadiah 1:1 = Edom
- Obadiah 1:3 Or in Sela; probably = Petra
- Obadiah 1:3 Probably Petra
- Obadiah 1:4 Or to build high
- Obadiah 1:7 Some LXX mss, Sym, Tg, Vg; MT reads They will set your bread as
- Obadiah 1:9 = a region or city in Edom
- Obadiah 1:11 Or forces
- Obadiah 1:12 Or You should not throughout vv. 12-14
- Obadiah 1:12 Lit not make your mouth big
- Obadiah 1:14 Hb obscure
- Obadiah 1:17 DSS, LXX, Syr, Vg, Tg; MT reads Jacob will possess its inheritance
- Obadiah 1:18 Lit they
- Obadiah 1:18 Lit them
- Obadiah 1:19 = The house of Jacob
- Obadiah 1:20 Or of this host of the Israelites; Hb obscure
- Obadiah 1:21 Or Those who have been delivered
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.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
