The Destruction of Edom

¹ The vision of Obadiah:

This is what the Lord God says about Edom.

We have heard news from the Lord;
an ambassador has been sent among the nations,
saying, “Arise, and let us rise up against her in battle!”

² “Behold, I will make you small among the nations.
You will be greatly despised.
³ The pride of your heart has deceived you,
you who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
whose home is in the heights,
who says in his heart,
‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
⁴ Though you mount on high like the eagle,
and though your nest is set among the stars,
I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord.

⁵ “If thieves came to you,
if robbers by night—
oh, what disaster awaits you—
would they not steal only until they had enough?
If grape pickers came to you,
would they not leave some gleaning grapes?
⁶ How Esau will be ransacked!
How his hidden treasures are sought out!
⁷ All of your allies will drive you out to the border.
The men who were at peace with you have deceived you
and prevailed against you.
Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you.
There is no understanding in him.
⁸ In that day, declares the Lord,
will I not destroy the wise men of Edom
and understanding from the mountain of Esau?
⁹ Your mighty men, O Teman, will be terrified
so that everyone will be destroyed
from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.
¹⁰ For the violence done to your brother Jacob,
shame will cover you,
and you will be destroyed forever.

¹¹ On that day, you stood aloof
while strangers took his wealth,
and foreigners entered into his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
and you were like one of them.

¹² But do not look down on your brother
on the day of his disaster,
and do not rejoice over the descendants of Judah
on the day of their destruction.
Do not speak proudly on the day of distress.

¹³ Do not enter into the gate of my people
on the day of their calamity.
On the day of their calamity,
do not look down on their affliction
or seize their wealth.

¹⁴ Do not stand in the crossroads
to cut off those among them who escape.
Do not deliver up those who remain
on the day of distress.

The Deliverance of Israel

¹⁵ For the day of the Lord is near
for all the nations!
As you have done, it will be done to you.
Your deeds will return upon your own head.
¹⁶ For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
so will all the nations drink continually.
Yes, they will drink, swallow,
and will be as though they had not been.
¹⁷ But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape,
and it will be holy.
The house of Jacob will again possess their rightful inheritance.
¹⁸ The house of Jacob will be a fire,
the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau for stubble.
They will burn among them and devour them.
There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau.”
Indeed, the Lord has spoken.

¹⁹ Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau,
and those of the lowland, the Philistines.
They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria.
Benjamin will possess Gilead.
²⁰ The captives of this host of the Israelites,
will possess the Canaanites to Zarephath,
and the captives of Jerusalem,
who are in Sepharad,
will possess the cities of the Negev.
²¹ Those who have escaped will go up on Mount Zion
to judge on the mountains of Esau,
and the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

«       »