Beginning
God’s Judgment on Edom
1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus says my Lord Yahweh concerning Edom:
Edom’s Approaching Destruction
We have heard a report from Yahweh, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up and let us rise against it[a] for battle.” 2 “Look, I will[b] make you insignificant among the nations. You will be utterly despised! 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of a rock, the heights of its dwelling, you who say in your heart: ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ 4 Even if you soar like the eagle, even if your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down!” declares[c] Yahweh: 5 “If thieves came to you, if plunderers of the night—How you have been destroyed!—would they not steal what they wanted?[d] If grape gatherers came, would they not leave gleanings? 6 How Esau has been pillaged; his treasures have been ransacked! 7 All of your allies[e] have driven you up to the boundary; your confederates[f] have deceived you and have prevailed against you. Those who eat your bread have set an ambush for you, there is no[g] understanding of it.[h] 8 On that day,” declares[i] Yahweh, “will I not destroy the wise men from Edom, and understanding from the mountain of Esau? 9 And your warriors will be shattered, O Teman, so that everyone[j] from the mountain of Esau will be cut off because of the slaughter!
Edom’s Treachery against Judah
10 “Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you and you will be cut off forever. 11 On the day you stood nearby,[k] on the day strangers took[l] his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots over Jerusalem, you were also like one of them. 12 But you should not have gloated[m] over your brother’s day, on the day of his misfortune, and you should not have rejoiced over the people[n] of Judah on the day of their perishing, and you should not have opened your mouth wide on the day of distress. 13 You should not have entered the gate of my people on the day of their disaster. You also should not have gloated over his misery on the day of his disaster, and you should not have stretched out your hands on the day of his disaster. 14 And you should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives and you should not have handed over his survivors on the day of distress.
Future Judgment of the Nations
15 “For the day of Yahweh is near against all the nations! Just as you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return on your own head. 16 For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain,[o] all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and they will slurp, and they will be as if they had never been. 17 But on Mount Zion there will be an escape, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will take possession of their dispossessors. 18 And the house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; and they will set them on fire and will consume them. And there will not be a survivor for the house of Esau,” for Yahweh has spoken.
Future Blessing for Israel
19 Those of the Negev will take possession of the mountain of Esau, and those of the Shephelah will possess the land of the Philistines, and they shall take possession of the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and Benjamin will take possession of Gilead. 20 And the exiles[p] of this army of the people of Israel will possess Canaan up to Zarephath, and the exiles[q] of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will take possession of the cities of the Negev. 21 And those who have been saved will go up on Mount Zion to rule the mountain of Esau. And the kingdom will belong to[r] Yahweh.
Jonah Disobeys Yahweh
1 And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Get up! Go to the great city Nineveh and cry out against her, because their evil has come up before me.”[a] 3 But Jonah set out to flee toward Tarshish from the presence of[b] Yahweh. And he went down to Joppa and found a merchant ship going to Tarshish, and paid her fare, and went on board her to go with them toward Tarshish from the presence of[c] Yahweh.
4 And Yahweh hurled a great wind upon the sea, and it was a great storm on the sea, and the merchant ship was in danger of breaking up.[d] 5 And the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they threw the contents[e] that were in the merchant ship into the sea to lighten it for them. And meanwhile Jonah went down into the hold of the vessel and lay down and fell asleep. 6 And the captain[f] of the ship approached him and said to him, “Why are you sound asleep?[g] Get up! Call on your god! Perhaps your god[h] will take notice of us and we won’t perish!” 7 And they said to one another,[i] “Come, let us cast lots so that we may know on whose account this disaster has come on us!” And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they said to him, “Please tell us whoever is responsible that this disaster has come upon us! What is your occupation? And from where do you come? What is your country? And from which people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were greatly afraid,[j] and they said to him, “What is this you have done?” because they[k] knew that he was fleeing from the presence of[l] Yahweh (because he had told them). 11 So they said to him, “What shall we do to you so that the sea may quiet down for us?” because the sea was growing more and more tempestuous.[m] 12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea so that the sea may quiet down for you, because I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you all.” 13 But the men rowed hard to bring the ship[n] back to the dry land, and they could not do so because the sea was growing more and more tempestuous[o] against them. 14 So they cried out to Yahweh, and they said, “O Yahweh! Please do not let us perish because of this man’s life, and do not make us guilty of innocent blood,[p] because you, O Yahweh, did what you wanted.” 15 And they picked Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 So the men feared Yahweh greatly,[q] and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made[r] vows.
Jonah Is Swallowed by a Fish and Prays to Yahweh
17 [s] And Yahweh provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
2 And Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from the belly of the fish 2 and said,
“I called from my distress[t] to Yahweh,
and he answered me;
from the belly of Sheol[u] I cried for help—
you heard my voice.
3 And you threw me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the sea currents surrounded me;
all your breakers and your surging waves
passed over me.
4 And I said, ‘I am banished[v]
from your sight;
how[w] will I continue to look[x]
on your holy temple?’[y]
5 The waters encompassed me up to my neck;
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 I went down to the foundations of the mountains;
the Underworld—its bars were around me forever.
But you brought up my life from the pit,
Yahweh my God.
7 When my life was ebbing away from me,
I remembered Yahweh,
and my prayer came to you,
to your holy temple.[z]
8 Those who worship vain idols
forsake their loyal love.[aa]
9 But I, with a voice of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you;
I will fulfill what I have vowed.
Deliverance[ab] belongs to Yahweh!”
10 And Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out on the dry land.
The People of Nineveh Repent at Jonah’s Proclamation
3 And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 “Get up! Go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the message that I am telling you.” 3 So Jonah got up[ac] and went to Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an extraordinarily great city[ad]—a journey of three days across.[ae] 4 And Jonah began to go into the city a journey of one day, and he cried out and said, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be demolished!”[af] 5 And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least important.[ag]
The King’s Proclamation
6 And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. 7 And he had a proclamation made, and said,
“In Nineveh, by a decree of the king and his nobles:
“No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything! They must not eat, and they must not drink water! 8 And the human beings and the animals must be covered with sackcloth! And they must call forcefully to God, and each must turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his[ah] hands. 9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind and turn from his blazing anger[ai] so that[aj] we will not perish.”
10 And God saw their deeds—that they turned from their evil ways—and God changed his mind about the evil that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.[ak]
Jonah Is Angry at Yahweh’s Compassion
4 And this[al] was greatly displeasing[am] to Jonah, and he became furious.[an] 2 And he prayed to Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh, was this not what I said[ao] while I was in my homeland? Therefore I originally fled[ap] to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and having great steadfast love,[aq] and one who relents concerning calamity.[ar] 3 And so then, Yahweh, please take my life from me, because for me death is better than life!” 4 And Yahweh said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”[as]
5 And Jonah went out from the city and sat down east of the city, and he made for himself a shelter there. And he sat under it in the shade, waiting to see[at] what would happen with the city. 6 And Yahweh God appointed a plant,[au] and he made it grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. And Jonah was very glad[av] about the plant. 7 So God appointed a worm at daybreak[aw] the next day, and it attacked the plant, and it withered. 8 And when the sun rose,[ax] God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head and he grew faint. And he asked that he could die[ay] and said, “My death is better than my life!” 9 So God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry[az] about the plant?” And he said, “It is right for me to be angry enough to die!”[ba]
10 But Yahweh said, “You are troubled about the plant, for which you did not labor nor cause it to grow. It grew up in a night and it perished in a night![bb] 11 And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, the great city, in which there are[bc] more than one hundred and twenty thousand[bd] people who do not know right from left,[be] plus many animals?”
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