Obadiah 15-21
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Edom’s Fall and Judah’s Restoration
15 Near is the day of the Lord(A)
against all the nations!
As you have done, so will it be done to you,
your conduct will come back upon your own head;
16 As you drank[a] upon my holy mountain,
so will all the nations drink continually.
Yes, they will drink and swallow,
and will become as though they had not been.
17 But on Mount Zion there will be some who escape;[b]
the mountain will be holy,
And the house of Jacob will take possession
of those who dispossessed them.(B)
18 The house of Jacob will be a fire,
the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau stubble.
They will set it ablaze and devour it;
none will survive of the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.
19 They will take possession of the Negeb,[c] Mount Esau, the Shephelah, and Philistia, possess the countryside of Ephraim, the countryside of Samaria, Benjamin, and Gilead.(C) 20 The exiles of this Israelite army will possess the Canaanite land as far as Zarephath,[d] and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negeb. 21 And deliverers[e] will ascend Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingship shall be the Lord’s.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 16 As you drank: i.e., Judah has suffered the punishment of divine wrath in 587 B.C. The oracle promises a similar fate for the nations, especially Edom (v. 18). The metaphor “drinking the cup of God’s wrath” occurs often in the Bible; cf. Jb 21:20; Is 51:17–23; Jer 25:15–16; Rev 14:10.
- 17–19 The Israelites will be restored and will occupy the lands of those who oppressed them. The survivors of Judah will be rejoined by the returned exiles from northern Israel.
- 19 Negeb: the area south of Judah and west of Edom. Gilead: east of the Jordan River.
- 20 Zarephath: a town in Phoenicia, north of Tyre; cf. 1 Kgs 17:10. Sepharad: perhaps Sardis in western Asia Minor. The later rabbis thought it was Spain.
- 21 Deliverers: the victorious Israelites who will rule over their enemies, as the ancient judges did; cf. Jgs 3:9, 15, 31; 10:1.
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