Chronological

Edom to Be Judged

¹ This is the special dream of Obadiah, what the Lord God says about Edom. We have heard this news from the Lord. And a man has been sent among the nations to say, “Get ready! Let us go fight a war against Edom.” ² “I will make you small among the nations. Everyone will hate you. ³ The pride of your heart has fooled you. You live in the holes of the rock. Your home is high in the mountains. And so you say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ ⁴ Even when you build your home as high as the eagle, and make your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord. ⁵ “If robbers came to you during the night, O how you will be destroyed! Would they not steal only enough for themselves? If those who gather grapes came to you, would they not leave some behind? ⁶ O how Esau will be robbed! His hidden riches will be looked for until they are found. ⁷ All the men you have made an agreement with will drive you from the country. The men at peace with you will lie to you and get power over you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not know it.” ⁸ The Lord says, “On that day I will destroy the wise men from Edom and understanding from Mount Esau. ⁹ Then your powerful soldiers will be troubled, O Teman, and every one from Mount Esau will be killed.

Edom Hurt His Brother

¹⁰ “Because you have hurt your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and destroyed forever. ¹¹ You stood aside on that day when strangers carried his riches away. Men from another land went in through his gate and divided Jerusalem among themselves. And you were like one of them. ¹² Do not look down on your brother in the day of his trouble. Do not be happy about the sons of Judah in the day they are destroyed. Yes, do not speak with pride in the day of their trouble. ¹³ Do not go in through the gate of My people in the day of their trouble. Do not speak with pride about their suffering in the day of their trouble. And do not rob their riches in the day of their trouble. ¹⁴ Do not stand at the cross-roads to kill their people who get away. And do not put into prison those who are left alive in the day of their trouble.

¹⁵ “For the day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. What you do will come back to you on your own head. ¹⁶ Just as you drank on My holy mountain, so all the nations will drink all the time. They will drink and drink, and be as if they had never been.

Israel Will Win

¹⁷ “But on Mount Zion there will be a way to be set free, and it will be holy. The people of Jacob will own what belongs to them. ¹⁸ The people of Jacob will be a fire. The people of Joseph will be burning. But the people of Esau will be like dry grass. They will set them on fire and destroy them. None of the people of Esau will be left alive,” for the Lord has spoken. ¹⁹ People of the Negev will live on Mount Esau. And those in the lower land will live in the land of the Philistines. They will live in the land of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will own Gilead. ²⁰ The people of Israel who are living among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the people of Jerusalem who are in Sephared, will own the cities of the Negev. ²¹ The men of Jerusalem who fight and win the battle will go up Mount Zion to rule over Mount Esau. And the nation will belong to the Lord.

God’s Rule

82 God takes His stand in the great meeting of His people. He judges among the rulers. ² How long will you rulers be wrong in how you judge? How long will you show favor to the sinful? ³ Do the right thing for the weak and those without a father. Stand up for the rights of those who are suffering and in need. ⁴ Save the weak and those in need. Set them free from the hand of the sinful.

⁵ They know nothing; they understand nothing. They walk around in the dark. All that the earth is built upon is shaking. ⁶ I said, “You are gods. You are all sons of the Most High. ⁷ But you will die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”

⁸ Rise up, O God! Say who is guilty or not guilty upon the earth! For all the nations belong to You.

A Prayer for Israel

83 O God, do not keep quiet. Do not be quiet, O God, and do not hold Your peace. ² For, look, those who hate You are making much noise. Those who fight against You have honored themselves. ³ They make bad plans against Your people. They plan against those You care for. ⁴ They say, “Come, let us destroy them as a nation. Let the name of Israel be remembered no longer.” ⁵ For they plan together with one mind. They make an agreement against You: ⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; ⁷ Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with those who live in Tyre; ⁸ Assyria has joined them also. They help the children of Lot.

⁹ Do to them as You did to Midian, and to Sisera and Jabin at the river of Kishon. ¹⁰ They were destroyed at Endor. They were spread over the field. ¹¹ Make their respected men like Oreb and Zeeb. Make their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, ¹² who said, “Let us take for ourselves the fields of God.”

¹³ O my God, make them like dust turning in the wind, like parts of the grass that have no worth and are blown away. ¹⁴ As the fire that burns up the trees and spreads over the mountains, ¹⁵ so go behind them with Your storm. Make them afraid with Your storm. ¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame, so they will look to Your name, O Lord. ¹⁷ Let them be ashamed and afraid forever. Let them be put to shame and lost. ¹⁸ Then they may know that You alone, Whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.