Obadiah, 1

1. Vision of Obadiah: about Edom. I have received a message from Yahweh, a herald has been sent throughout the nations: 'Up! Let us march against this people. Into battle!' The Lord Yahweh says this:

1.

2. Look, I have reduced you to the smallest of nations, you are now beneath contempt.

2. Behold, I will make you small among the nations, you shall be utterly despised.

3. Your proud heart has misled you, you whose home is in the crannies of the Rock, who make the heights your dwelling, who think to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to earth?'

3. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, whose dwelling is high, who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?"

4. Though you soar like an eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, I shall bring you down from there!-declares Yahweh.

4. Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, thence I will bring you down, says the LORD.

5. If thieves were to come to you (or robbers during the night) surely they would steal only as much as they wanted? If grape-pickers were to come to you, surely they would leave a few gleanings? But how you have been pillaged!

5. If thieves came to you, if plunderers by night -- how you have been destroyed! -- would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?

6. How Esau has been looted, his hidden treasures routed out!

6. How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures sought out!

7. Your allies all pursued you right to the frontier, your confederates kept you in suspense, then got the better of you, your own guests laid a trap for you, 'He has quite lost his wits.'

7. All your allies have deceived you, they have driven you to the border; your confederates have prevailed against you; your trusted friends have set a trap under you -- there is no understanding of it.

8. When that day comes- declares Yahweh- shall I not eliminate sages from Edom and intelligence from Mount Esau?

8. Will I not on that day, says the LORD, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau?

9. Your warriors, Teman, will be so demoralised that the people of Mount Esau will be massacred to the last one. For the slaughter,

9. And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.

10. for the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you and you will be annihilated for ever.

10. For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off for ever.

11. On the day, when you stood aloof while strangers carried off his riches, while foreigners passed through his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were as bad as the rest of them.

11. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.

12. Do not feast your eyes on your brother on the day of his misfortune. Do not gloat over the children of Judah on the day of their ruin. Do not play the braggart on the day of distress.

12. But you should not have gloated over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; you should not have boasted in the day of distress.

13. Do not enter my people's gate on their day of calamity. Do not, you especially, feast your eyes on their suffering on their day of calamity. Do not touch their possessions on their day of calamity.

13. You should not have entered the gate of my people in the day of his calamity; you should not have gloated over his disaster in the day of his calamity; you should not have looted his goods in the day of his calamity.

14. Do not wait at the crossroads to annihilate their fugitives. Do not hand over their survivors on the day of distress.

14. You should not have stood at the parting of the ways to cut off his fugitives; you should not have delivered up his survivors in the day of distress.

15. For the Day of Yahweh is near for all the nations. As you have done, so will it be done to you: your deeds will recoil on your own head.

15. For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you, your deeds shall return on your own head.

16. Just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually, they will drink, will drink greedily, but they will be as though they had never been!

16. For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, all the nations round about shall drink; they shall drink, and stagger, and shall be as though they had not been.

17. But on Mount Zion will be those who have escaped -it will be a sanctuary- and the House of Jacob will recover what is rightfully theirs.

17. But in Mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.

18. Then the House of Jacob will be a fire, the House of Joseph a flame, and the House of Esau like stubble. They will set it alight and burn it up, and no one of the House of Esau will survive. Yahweh has spoken.

18. The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor to the house of Esau; for the LORD has spoken.

19. People from the Negeb will occupy the Mount of Esau, people from the lowlands the country of the Philistines; they will occupy Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will occupy Gilead.

19. Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephe'lah the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of E'phraim and the land of Sama'ria and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

20. The exiles of this army, the sons of Israel, will have the Canaanites' land as far as Zarephthah, while the exiles from Jerusalem now in Sepharad will have the cities of the Negeb.

20. The exiles in Halah who are of the people of Israel shall possess Phoenicia as far as Zar'ephath; and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sephar'ad shall possess the cities of the Negeb.

21. Victorious, they will climb Mount Zion to rule over Mount Esau, and sovereignty will be Yahweh's!

21. Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.