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Coming Judgment against Edom

Obadiah’s[a] vision:

This is what the Lord God has to say about Edom.
We have heard a report from the Lord,
    and a messenger has been dispatched among the nations to say[b]
“Get up! Let us rise up against her to fight!”

God’s Announcement to Edom

“Look! I will make you insignificant among the nations;
    you will be utterly despised.
The arrogance in your heart has deceived you,
    who inhabit hidden places on rocky cliffs,
    whose dwelling is in the heights,
    who say continuously to yourself,[c]
        ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
Though you soar high like the eagle
    and make your nest among the stars,
I will bring you down even from there,”
        declares the Lord.[d]

The Harvest from Edom’s Arrogance

“If thieves came against you,
    if marauding gangs by night
        —Oh, how you will be destroyed!—
Would they not steal only until they had enough?
If grape pickers came to you,
    would they not leave some[e] grapes to be gleaned?

“Oh, how Esau is ransacked,
    how his hidden treasures are thoroughly[f] searched out!
All your allies will force you out of the land,[g]
    your associates will deceive you and prevail against you.
Your friends[h] will lay out a trap for you,
    and you will[i] never understand it!

“In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “will I not destroy the wise from Edom,
    and those with understanding from Esau’s Mountain?
Teman, our mighty soldiers will be dismayed,
    so that every man from Esau’s Mountain will be slaughtered.”[j]

Judgment for Edom’s Cruelty to Jacob

10 “Shame will overwhelm you
    because of the violence you inflicted on your brother Jacob,
and you will be excluded[k] forever.

11 “On the day you just stood by,[l]
when[m] strangers carried away Jacob’s[n] wealth
and foreigners entered his gates,
    casting lots for Jerusalem,
you were just like one of them.

12 “You should not have gloated over your brother,[o]
    on the day of his calamity.
You should not have rejoiced
    when[p] the descendants of Judah were perishing.
You should not have boasted[q]
    when[r] they were in distress.

13 “You should not have entered the gate of my people
    on the day of their disaster.[s]
Also, you should not have gloated over Judah’s[t] misfortune
    on the day of his disaster,[u]
nor should you have plundered his wealth
    on the day of his disaster.[v]
14 And you should not have taken your stand at the crossroads
    to cut down his fleeing refugees,
nor should you have handed over his survivors
    on the day of his distress.”

The Lord’s Judgment and Israel’s Final Victory

15 “Indeed, the Day of the Lord approaches all nations.
    As you have done it will be done to you—
        your deeds will return to haunt you![w]
16 Just as you have drunk from the cup of my wrath[x] upon my holy mountain,
    so will all nations drink from the cup of my wrath[y] perpetually.
They will drink, they will gulp it down,
    and they will be as if they had never existed!

17 “But there will be a delivered remnant on Mount Zion.
    There will be holiness,
        and the house of Jacob will take back their possessions.

18 “The house of Jacob will be a fire,
and the house of Joseph a flame,
    but the house of Esau will be kindling.
Then Jacob and Joseph[z] will burn and consume Esau,[aa]
    and no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.”
Indeed, the Lord has spoken it.

19 “Those in the Negev[ab] will possess Esau’s Mountain,
    and those in the Shephelah[ac] the Philistines.
They will possess the fields of Ephraim
    and the fields of Samaria,
while Benjamin will possess the territory of[ad] Gilead.
20 The exiles, the Israeli host,
    will possess the territory of the[ae] Canaanites all the way to Zarephath.
The exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad[af]
    will possess the cities of the Negev.[ag]
21 Deliverers will assemble on Mount Zion to judge Esau’s Mountain,
    and to the Lord will the kingdom belong!”

Footnotes

  1. Obadiah 1:1 The Heb. name Obadiah means Servant of the Lord
  2. Obadiah 1:1 The Heb. lacks to say
  3. Obadiah 1:3 Lit. continually in your heart
  4. Obadiah 1:4 Cf. Jer 49:14-16
  5. Obadiah 1:5 The Heb. lacks some
  6. Obadiah 1:6 The Heb. lacks thoroughly
  7. Obadiah 1:7 Lit. out to the border
  8. Obadiah 1:7 Lit. Your bread; i.e. those who eat your bread
  9. Obadiah 1:7 The Heb. lacks you will
  10. Obadiah 1:9 Lit. will be cut off by slaughter
  11. Obadiah 1:10 Lit. cut off
  12. Obadiah 1:11 Or stood in opposition
  13. Obadiah 1:11 Lit. in the day
  14. Obadiah 1:11 Lit. his
  15. Obadiah 1:12 Lit. in the day of your brother
  16. Obadiah 1:12 Lit. in the day
  17. Obadiah 1:12 Lit. have let your mouth boast
  18. Obadiah 1:12 Lit. in the day
  19. Obadiah 1:13 The Heb. words their disaster may be a word play on the Heb. word Edom
  20. Obadiah 1:13 Lit. his
  21. Obadiah 1:13 The Heb. words his disaster may be a word play on the Heb. word Edom
  22. Obadiah 1:13 The Heb. words his disaster may be a word play on the Heb. word Edom
  23. Obadiah 1:15 Lit. return on your own head
  24. Obadiah 1:16 The Heb. lacks from the cup of my wrath
  25. Obadiah 1:16 The Heb. lacks from the cup of my wrath
  26. Obadiah 1:18 Lit. They
  27. Obadiah 1:18 Lit. them
  28. Obadiah 1:19 I.e. southern region of Israel; cf. Josh 10:40
  29. Obadiah 1:19 I.e. the verdant central lowlands of Israel; cf. Josh 10:40
  30. Obadiah 1:19 The Heb. lacks will possess the territory of
  31. Obadiah 1:20 The Heb. lacks the territory of
  32. Obadiah 1:20 I.e. perhaps Sardis, capital of Lydia, Saparda in eastern Assyria, Sparta in Greece, or a location in Spain (so Targ of Jonathan)
  33. Obadiah 1:20 I.e. southern region of Israel; cf. Josh 10:40