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Edom falls

The vision of Obadiah.
        The Lord God proclaims concerning Edom:
        We have heard a message from the Lord
            a messenger has been sent among the nations:
        “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”
Look now, I will make you of little importance among the nations;
        you will be totally despised.
Your proud heart has tricked you—
        you who live in the cracks of the rock,
        whose dwelling is high above.
    You who say in your heart,
        “Who will bring me down to the ground?”
Though you soar like the eagle,
        though your nest is set among the stars,
        I will bring you down from there,
says the Lord.

Edom is robbed

If thieves approach you,
        if robbers by night—how you’ve been devastated!—
        wouldn’t they steal only what they wanted?
    If those who gather grapes came to you,
        wouldn’t they leave some grapes?
How Esau has been looted,
        his treasures taken away!
All those who were your allies
        have driven you to the border.
    Those who were on your side tricked you
        and triumphed over you.
They are setting your own bread as a trap under you,[a]
        but you don’t see it coming.
Won’t I on that day, says the Lord,
        destroy the wise from Edom
        and understanding from Mount Esau?
Your warriors will be shattered, Teman,
        and everyone from Mount Esau will be eliminated.

Edom’s misdeeds

10 Because of the slaughter and violence done to your brother Jacob,
        shame will cover you,
        and you will be destroyed forever.
11 You stood nearby,
        strangers carried off his wealth,
    and foreigners entered his gates
        and cast lots for Jerusalem;
    you too were like one of them.
12 But you should have taken no pleasure over your brother
        on the day of his misery;
    you shouldn’t have rejoiced over the people of Judah
        on the day of their devastation;
    you shouldn’t have bragged
        on their day of hardship.
13 You shouldn’t have entered the gate of my people
        on the day of their defeat;
    you shouldn’t have even looked on his suffering
        on the day of his disaster;
    you shouldn’t have stolen his possessions
        on the day of his distress.
14 You shouldn’t have waited on the roads
        to destroy his escapees;
    you shouldn’t have handed over his survivors
        on the day of defeat.
15 The day of the Lord is near
        against all the nations.
    As you have done, so it will be done to you;
        your actions will make you suffer!
16 Just as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
        so will all the nations around you drink;
    they will drink and swallow quickly,
        and they will be like they’ve never been before.

Edom’s punishers

17 But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape,
        and it will be holy;
        and the house of Jacob will drive out those who drove them out.
18 The house of Jacob will be a fire,
        the house of Joseph a flame,
        and the house of Esau straw;
    they will burn them up completely,
        and there will be no one left of the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.
19 Those of the arid southern plain will possess Mount Esau,
        and those of the western foothills, the land of the Philistines;
    they will possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
        and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 Those who remain of the Israelites
            will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath;
    and those left from Jerusalem and who are now living in Sepharad
        will possess the cities of the arid southern plain.
21 The deliverers will go up to Mount Zion
        to rule Mount Esau,
        and the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

Footnotes

  1. Obadiah 1:7 Heb uncertain

The Lord Will Punish the Edomites

This is the vision of Obadiah.

This is what the Lord God says about Edom [C the Edomites were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother (Gen. 25); they were often in conflict with Israel]:
We have heard a ·message [report] from the Lord.
    A ·messenger [envoy] has been sent among the nations, saying,
“·Attack [L Rise up]! Let’s go ·attack [L rise to battle against] Edom!”

The Lord Speaks to the Edomites

“·Soon [L Look; T Behold] I will make you ·the smallest of [or weak among the] nations.
    You will be greatly ·hated [despised] by everyone.
Your pride has ·fooled [deceived] you,
    you who live in the ·hollow places of the cliff [T clefts of the rock].
    Your home is ·up high [on the heights],
you who say to yourself,
    ‘·No one can [L Who can…?] bring me down to the ground.’
Even if you ·fly high [soar] like the eagle
    and make your nest among the stars,
    I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord.
“You will really be ·ruined [L cut off]!
If thieves came to you,
    if ·robbers [plunderers] 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 [some for the poor; the gleanings].
But you, Edom, will ·really lose everything [be cleaned/L searched out]!
    People will find all your hidden treasures!
All ·the people who are your friends [your allies; L the people of your covenant/treaty]
    will force you ·out of the land [L to the border].
The people ·who are at peace with you [or who promised you peace; L of your peace]
    will ·trick [deceive] you and ·defeat [overpower] you.
Those who eat your bread [C indicating fellowship and friendship] with you now
    are planning a trap for you,
and you will ·not notice it [be taken by surprise; have no understanding].”

The Lord says, “On that day
    I will surely destroy the wise people from Edom,
    and those with understanding from the mountains of Edom.
Then, city of Teman, your ·best warriors [mighty men] will be ·afraid [dismayed],
    and everyone from the mountains of Edom will be ·killed [L cut down in the slaughter].
10 You did violence to your ·relatives, the Israelites [L brother Jacob; verse 1; Gen. 25],
    so you will be covered with shame
    and destroyed forever.
11 You stood ·aside without helping [aloof]
    ·while [L on the day] strangers carried Israel’s ·treasures [wealth; or army] away.
When foreigners entered Israel’s city gate
    and threw lots to decide ·what part of Jerusalem they would take [L for Jerusalem],
you were like one of them.

Commands That Edom Broke

12 “Edom, ·do not laugh at [or you should not have gloated over] your ·brother Israel [L brother] in his time of ·trouble [misfortune]
or ·be happy [rejoice] about the ·people [sons; descendants] of Judah ·when they are destroyed [L on the day of destruction].
    Do not ·brag [boast; act with arrogance] ·when cruel things are done to them [L on the day of distress].
13 Do not enter the city gate of my people [C to plunder their goods]
    in their ·time [L day] of ·trouble [disaster; C the Hebrew word for “trouble” sounds like Edom]
or ·laugh at their problems [gloat over them]
    in their ·time [L day] of ·trouble [disaster].
Do not ·take their treasures [loot their wealth]
    in their ·time [L day] of ·trouble [disaster].
14 Do not stand at the crossroads
    to ·destroy [L cut off] ·those who are trying to escape [their fugitives].
Do not capture ·those who escape alive [their survivors] and turn them over to their enemy
    in their ·time [L day] of ·trouble [adversity].

The Nations Will Be Judged

15 “The ·Lord’s day of judging [L day of the Lord] is ·coming soon [near]
    to all the nations.
·The same evil things you did to other people [L As you have done]
    ·will happen [L it will be done] to you;
    ·they [L recompense; reprisal] will come back upon your own head.
16 Because you drank in my ·Temple [L holy mountain],
    all the nations will drink ·on and on [continually].
They will drink and ·drink [L swallow]
    ·until they disappear [L and be as though they were not].
17 But on Mount Zion ·some will escape the judgment [L there will be escape],
    and it will be a holy place.
The ·people [L house] of Jacob will ·take back their land
    from those who ·took it from them [L possess their possessions].
18 The ·people [L house] of Jacob will be like a fire
    and the ·people [L house] of Joseph [C the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Joseph’s sons, Jacob’s grandsons), representing the northern kingdom] like a flame.
But the ·people [L house] of Esau [C the Edomites] will be like ·dry stalks [stubble].
    The ·people [L house] of Jacob will set them on fire and burn them up.
There will be no ·one left [survivors] of the ·people [L house] of Esau.”
    ·This will happen because [L For] the Lord has said it.

19 ·Then God’s people will regain southern Judah from Edom;
    they will take back [L The Negev shall possess] the mountains of ·Edom [L Esau].
·They will take back the western hills
    from [L The Shephelah/foothills shall possess] the Philistines.
They will ·regain [possess] the ·lands [L fields] of Ephraim and Samaria,
    and Benjamin will ·take over [possess] Gilead [C east of the Jordan River].
20 ·People from [L This host of the sons/T children of] Israel who once were ·forced to leave their homes [exiled]
    will take the land of the Canaanites,
    all the way to Zarephath [C in Phoenicia in the far northeast].
·People from Judah who once were forced to leave Jerusalem and [L The exiles of Jerusalem who] live in Sepharad [C unknown location, perhaps Sardis (in present-day Turkey)]
    will take back the cities of ·southern Judah [L the Negev].
21 ·Powerful warriors [Deliverers; Saviors; or Those who have been rescued/delivered] will go up on Mount Zion,
    where they will rule ·the people living on Edom’s mountains [L Mount Esau].
And the kingdom will belong to the Lord.