Font Size
Obadiah
The Voice
Obadiah
The Voice
Imagine the scene: The Edomites have come with other nations to rob and betray Israel; it looks as though God has allowed Israel’s cousins, the descendants of Isaac through Esau, to steal from His temple and holy city. The Israelites are convinced they have kept Abraham’s covenant with God while the Edomites have forsaken the Lord and His people Israel. Their prayer is for God to provide refuge for those who seek and trust in Him, and to judge their enemies.
1 This is the vision that came to Obadiah:
Listen carefully to what the Eternal Lord says about the nation of Edom.
Learn from their fate.
We have been put on notice through the Eternal’s representative
who was sent to everyone among the nations saying,
“Get up. Get ready to charge against Edom in battle.”
2 Eternal One (to Edom): See how insignificant I will make you compared to other nations;
you will be completely despised by the rest of the world.
3 Your deep pride has blinded you to the truth,
tucked securely in the clefts of the rocks, safely out of reach.
You say to yourself,
“Whose attack can reach up here and bring me down to the ground?”
Edom named its capital city “Rock,” and many of the people there were cave dwellers, virtually unreachable.
4 Even if you fly high as the eagle, believing yourselves strong and free,
and put your nest among the stars,
I will have no trouble bringing you down.
This is declared by the Eternal One.
5 Consider how thoroughly you will be wiped out.
If thieves come to steal from you
And robbers arrive under cover of night,
won’t they take only what they want?
If the grape harvesters arrive,
doesn’t their hasty picking usually leave some fruit in the field for the poor?
6 But Esau, your nation will be ransacked;
there will be nothing left.
Every last treasure you had carefully hidden will be taken.
7 Your supposed allies—every last one—will turn against you;
they will run you out of your own town.
And those who promised you peace
will lie to your face and conquer you.
Even those who shared your bread will ambush you.
You won’t understand what is happening until it is too late.
8 Eternal One: When this day comes,
won’t I destroy the wisest citizens of Edom,
Make all insight vanish from Mount Esau,
and leave all helpless?
9 As for your warriors, great Edomite city of Teman,
they will be routed, shattered.
Their slaughtered bodies will cut off everyone’s path to Mount Esau
10 because of your violent history against your brother Jacob.
Shame will envelop you,
and your nation will be destroyed forever.
11 You just stood there, doing nothing,
while strangers ransacked their city,
While invaders rushed through the gates and divided up Jerusalem for themselves.
You might as well have been one of them.
12 You should never have gloated over your brother’s tragedy that day
or been secretly happy about all their misfortune.
You should never have celebrated the people of Judah’s decimation.
You should never have acted so arrogantly
on the day they suffered so much.
13 You should never have walked through the city gates of My people
on the day of this disaster.
You should never have gloated at their difficulties
on the day of this disaster.
You should never have taken advantage of them and their wealth
on the day of this disaster.
14 You should never have lain in wait along the crossroads
to cut off those trying to escape;
You should never have handed over the handful of survivors to Babylonian captivity
on the day of their great distress.
15 The day of the Eternal’s judgment for all the nations is near.
Whatever evil you have done will be done to you;
Your deeds will come crashing back on your head.
16 Eternal One: Just as you drank to the defeat of My people on My holy mountain,
now you and all the nations around you will always drink excessively.
They will be forced to drink and guzzle a mouthful of suffering,
and it will be as if they never existed.
17 But on Mount Zion will be a place of safety.
Some will escape to that holy hill,
And the people of Jacob will conquer and possess
those who conquered and dispossessed them.
18 The people of Jacob will become a fire
and the family of Joseph a flame.
They will ignite and consume the people of Esau as they execute divine punishment
until only dry stubble remains.
No one from the people of Esau will survive the conflagration.
So declares the Eternal One.
19 Eternal One: The people from the southern desert[a] will take over Mount Esau,
and those from the foothills[b] will flood into the Philistines’ coastal plain.
They will possess the fertile lands of Ephraim and Samaria,
and Benjamin’s people will inhabit Gilead.
20 The army of exiled sons and daughters of Israel will stream back home
and live along the coast and possess the Canaanites as far as Zarephath.
And the exiles of Jerusalem who live in Sepharad
will settle down in the cities and villages of the South.[c]
21 These deliverers will go up to Mount Zion, My holy hill,
and justly rule Mount Esau from there.
And the kingdom they establish will belong to the Eternal One alone.
Obadiah
New International Version
Obadiah
New International Version
Obadiah’s Vision(A)(B)
1 The vision(C) of Obadiah.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom(D)—
We have heard a message from the Lord:
An envoy(E) was sent to the nations to say,
“Rise, let us go against her for battle”(F)—
2 “See, I will make you small(G) among the nations;
you will be utterly despised.
3 The pride(H) of your heart has deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks[a](I)
and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’(J)
4 Though you soar like the eagle
and make your nest(K) among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,”(L)
declares the Lord.(M)
5 “If thieves came to you,
if robbers in the night—
oh, what a disaster awaits you!—
would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
If grape pickers came to you,
would they not leave a few grapes?(N)
6 But how Esau will be ransacked,
his hidden treasures pillaged!
7 All your allies(O) will force you to the border;
your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread(P) will set a trap for you,[b]
but you will not detect it.
8 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“will I not destroy(Q) the wise men of Edom,
those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
9 Your warriors, Teman,(R) will be terrified,
and everyone in Esau’s mountains
will be cut down in the slaughter.
10 Because of the violence(S) against your brother Jacob,(T)
you will be covered with shame;
you will be destroyed forever.(U)
11 On the day you stood aloof
while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots(V) for Jerusalem,
you were like one of them.(W)
12 You should not gloat(X) over your brother
in the day of his misfortune,(Y)
nor rejoice(Z) over the people of Judah
in the day of their destruction,(AA)
nor boast(AB) so much
in the day of their trouble.(AC)
13 You should not march through the gates of my people
in the day of their disaster,
nor gloat over them in their calamity(AD)
in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
in the day of their disaster.
14 You should not wait at the crossroads
to cut down their fugitives,(AE)
nor hand over their survivors
in the day of their trouble.
15 “The day of the Lord is near(AF)
for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
your deeds(AG) will return upon your own head.
16 Just as you drank(AH) on my holy hill,(AI)
so all the nations will drink(AJ) continually;
they will drink and drink
and be as if they had never been.(AK)
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;(AL)
it will be holy,(AM)
and Jacob will possess his inheritance.(AN)
18 Jacob will be a fire
and Joseph a flame;
Esau will be stubble,
and they will set him on fire(AO) and destroy(AP) him.
There will be no survivors(AQ)
from Esau.”
The Lord has spoken.
19 People from the Negev will occupy
the mountains of Esau,
and people from the foothills will possess
the land of the Philistines.(AR)
They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,(AS)
and Benjamin(AT) will possess Gilead.
20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan
will possess the land as far as Zarephath;(AU)
the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
will possess the towns of the Negev.(AV)
21 Deliverers(AW) will go up on[c] Mount Zion
to govern the mountains of Esau.
And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.(AX)
Footnotes
- Obadiah 1:3 Or of Sela
- Obadiah 1:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
- Obadiah 1:21 Or from
The Voice (VOICE)
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.