1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God against Edom, We haue heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassadour is sent among the heathen: arise, and let vs rise vp against her to battel. 2 Beholde, I haue made thee small among the heathen: thou art vtterly despised. 3 The pride of thine heart hath deceiued thee: thou that dwellest in the cleftes of the rockes, whose habitation is hie, that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me downe to the ground? 4 Though thou exalt thy selfe as the eagle, and make thy nest among the starres, thence will I bring thee downe, sayth the Lord. 5 Came theeues to thee or robbers by night? howe wast thou brought to silence? woulde they not haue stolen, til they had ynough? if the grape gatherers came to thee, woulde they not leaue some grapes? 6 Howe are the things of Esau sought vp, and his treasures searched? 7 All the men of thy confederacie haue driuen thee to ye borders: the men that were at peace with thee, haue deceiued thee, and preuailed against thee: they that eate thy bread, haue laid a wound vnder thee: there is none vnderstanding in him. 8 Shall not I in that day, saith the Lord, euen destroy the wise men out of Edom, and vnderstanding from the mount of Esau? 9 And thy strong men, O Teman, shall bee afraide, because euery one of the mount of Esau shalbe cut off by slaughter. 10 For thy crueltie against thy brother Iaakob, shame shall couer thee, and thou shalt be cut off for euer. 11 When thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers caried away his substance, and straungers entred into his gates, and cast lots vpon Ierusalem, euen thou wast as one of them. 12 But thou shouldest not haue beholden the day of thy brother, in the day that hee was made a stranger, neither shouldest thou haue reioyced ouer the children of Iudah, in the day of their destruction: thou shouldest not haue spoken proudly in the day of affliction. 13 Thou shouldest not haue entred into the gate of my people, in the day of their destruction, neither shouldest thou haue once looked on their affliction in the day of their destruction, nor haue layde hands on their substance in the day of their destruction. 14 Neyther shouldest thou haue stande in the crosse wayes to cut off them, that shoulde escape, neither shouldest thou haue shut vp the remnant thereof in the day of affliction. 15 For the day of the Lord is neere, vpon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall bee done to thee: thy reward shall returne vpon thine head. 16 For as yee haue drunke vpon mine holy Mountaine, so shall all the heathen drinke continually: yea, they shall drinke and swallow vp, and they shalbe as though they had not bene. 17 But vpon mount Zion shalbe deliuerance, and it shalbe holy, and the house of Iaakob shall possesse their possessions, 18 And the house of Iaakob shalbe a fire, and the house of Ioseph a flame, and the house of Esau as stubble, and they shall kindle in them and deuoure them: and there shall bee no remnant of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it. 19 And they shall possesse the South side of the mount of Esau, and the plaine of the Philistims: and they shall possesse the fieldes of Ephraim, and the fieldes of Samaria, and Beniamin shall haue Gilead. 20 And the captiuitie of this host of the children of Israel, which were among the Canaanites, shall possesse vnto Zarephath, and the captiuitie of Ierusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possesse the cities of the South. 21 And they that shall saue, shall come vp to mount Zion to iudge the mount of Esau, and the kingdome shalbe the Lords.
1 This is the prophecy of Obadiah—what the Sovereign Lord said about the nation of Edom.
The Lord Will Punish Edom
The Lord has sent his messenger to the nations,
and we have heard his message:
“Get ready! Let us go to war against Edom!”
2 The Lord says to Edom,
“I will make you weak;
everyone will despise you.
3 Your pride has deceived you.
Your capital is a fortress of solid rock;
your home is high in the mountains,
and so you say to yourself,
‘Who can ever pull me down?’
4 Even though you make your home
as high as an eagle's nest,
so that it seems to be among the stars,
yet I will pull you down.
5 “When thieves come at night,
they take only what they want.
When people gather grapes,
they always leave a few.
But your enemies have wiped you out completely.
6 Descendants of Esau, your treasures have been looted.
7 Your allies have deceived you;
they have driven you from your country.
People who were at peace with you have now conquered you.
Those friends who ate with you have laid a trap for you;
they say of you, ‘Where is all that cleverness he had?’
8 “On the day I punish Edom,
I will destroy their clever men
and wipe out all their wisdom.
9 The fighting men of Teman will be terrified,
and every soldier in Edom will be killed.
Reasons for Edom's Punishment
10 “Because you robbed and killed
your relatives, the descendants of Jacob,
you will be destroyed and dishonored forever.
11 You stood aside on that day
when enemies broke down their gates.
You were as bad as those strangers
who carried off Jerusalem's wealth
and divided it among themselves.
12 You should not have gloated
over the misfortune of your relatives in Judah.
You should not have been glad
on the day of their ruin.
You should not have laughed at them
in their distress.
13 You should not have entered the city of my people
to gloat over their suffering
and to seize their riches
on the day of their disaster.
14 You should not have stood at the crossroads
to catch those trying to escape.
You should not have handed them over to the enemy
on the day of their distress.
God Will Judge the Nations
15 “The day is near when I, the Lord,
will judge all nations.
Edom, what you have done
will be done to you.
You will get back what you have given.
16 My people have drunk a bitter cup of punishment
on my sacred hill.
But all the surrounding nations will drink
a still more bitter cup of punishment;
they will drink it all and vanish away.
The Victory of Israel
17 “But on Mount Zion some will escape,
and it will be a sacred place.
The people of Jacob will possess
the land that is theirs by right.
18 The people of Jacob and of Joseph will be like fire;
they will destroy the people of Esau
as fire burns stubble.
No descendant of Esau will survive.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
19 “People from southern Judah will occupy Edom;
those from the western foothills will capture Philistia.
Israelites will possess the territory of Ephraim and Samaria;
the people of Benjamin will take Gilead.
20 The army of exiles from northern Israel
will return and conquer Phoenicia as far north as Zarephath.
The exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sardis
will capture the towns of southern Judah.
21 The victorious men of Jerusalem
will attack Edom and rule over it.
And the Lord himself will be king.”