Obadiah 1

1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God against Edom, We haue heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassadour is sent among the heathen: arise, and let vs rise vp against her to battel.

Obadiah's vision. This is what the Lord says about the land of Edom. We have heard from the Lord that a messenger was sent to tell the nations: Get ready! Let's go to war against Edom!

2 Beholde, I haue made thee small among the heathen: thou art vtterly despised.

I will make you insignificant among the nations. You will be totally despised.

3 The pride of thine heart hath deceiued thee: thou that dwellest in the cleftes of the rockes, whose habitation is hie, that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me downe to the ground?

Your heart's pride has deceived you—you who live in a secure fortress of rock in the high mountains, saying to yourselves, “Who can ever bring us down?”

4 Though thou exalt thy selfe as the eagle, and make thy nest among the starres, thence will I bring thee downe, sayth the Lord.

But even though you soar like an eagle, even though you make your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there, declares the Lord.

5 Came theeues to thee or robbers by night? howe wast thou brought to silence? woulde they not haue stolen, til they had ynough? if the grape gatherers came to thee, woulde they not leaue some grapes?

You will be completely destroyed! If thieves came to you, if robbers came at night, wouldn't they steal only what they wanted? If those who harvest grapes came to you, wouldn't they leave some behind?

6 Howe are the things of Esau sought vp, and his treasures searched?

But how Esau will be plundered and their hidden treasures looted!

7 All the men of thy confederacie haue driuen thee to ye borders: the men that were at peace with thee, haue deceiued thee, and preuailed against thee: they that eate thy bread, haue laid a wound vnder thee: there is none vnderstanding in him.

All your allies will drive you out, past the borders of your land. Those who were at peace with you will deceive you, and conquer you. Those who ate with you have ambushed you. You don't understand a thing!

8 Shall not I in that day, saith the Lord, euen destroy the wise men out of Edom, and vnderstanding from the mount of Esau?

On that day, declares the Lord, I will destroy the wise men of Edom—there will be no more wisdom in the mountains of Esau.

9 And thy strong men, O Teman, shall bee afraide, because euery one of the mount of Esau shalbe cut off by slaughter.

Teman, your fighting men will be terrified, so that everyone of the mountains of Esau will be cut down in the massacre.

10 For thy crueltie against thy brother Iaakob, shame shall couer thee, and thou shalt be cut off for euer.

Because of the violence you committed against your brothers, the descendants of Jacob, you will be totally ashamed of yourselves, and destroyed forever.

11 When thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers caried away his substance, and straungers entred into his gates, and cast lots vpon Ierusalem, euen thou wast as one of them.

On that day you stood aside, on that day strangers plundered their wealth and foreigners entered their gates, and divided up Jerusalem by casting lots—and you were like one of them.

12 But thou shouldest not haue beholden the day of thy brother, in the day that hee was made a stranger, neither shouldest thou haue reioyced ouer the children of Iudah, in the day of their destruction: thou shouldest not haue spoken proudly in the day of affliction.

You should not have gloated over your brother's day of disaster. You should not have rejoiced over the day of destruction of the sons of Judah. You should not have boasted over the day of their distress.

13 Thou shouldest not haue entred into the gate of my people, in the day of their destruction, neither shouldest thou haue once looked on their affliction in the day of their destruction, nor haue layde hands on their substance in the day of their destruction.

You should not have marched through the city gates of my people on their day of disaster. You should not have gloated over them on the day of their disaster. You should not have looted their wealth on the day of their disaster.

14 Neyther shouldest thou haue stande in the crosse wayes to cut off them, that shoulde escape, neither shouldest thou haue shut vp the remnant thereof in the day of affliction.

You should not have stood at the crossroads, cutting down those trying to escape. You should not have handed over those who survived on the day of their distress.

15 For the day of the Lord is neere, vpon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall bee done to thee: thy reward shall returne vpon thine head.

For the day of the Lord is near for all nations. What you have done will be done to you; your actions will fall back on your own heads.

16 For as yee haue drunke vpon mine holy Mountaine, so shall all the heathen drinke continually: yea, they shall drinke and swallow vp, and they shalbe as though they had not bene.

For as you drank on my holy mountain, so will all the nations continually drink, and swallow, and they shall be as if they never existed.

17 But vpon mount Zion shalbe deliuerance, and it shalbe holy, and the house of Iaakob shall possesse their possessions,

But on Mount Zion there will be a place of escape, a holy place, and the descendants of Jacob will reclaim their inheritance.

18 And the house of Iaakob shalbe a fire, and the house of Ioseph a flame, and the house of Esau as stubble, and they shall kindle in them and deuoure them: and there shall bee no remnant of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it.

The descendants of Jacob will become a fire, and the descendants of Joseph a flame, and they shall burn up the descendants of Esau like stubble, consuming them completely, so that there will be not a single survivor of the descendants of Esau. For the Lord has spoken.

19 And they shall possesse the South side of the mount of Esau, and the plaine of the Philistims: and they shall possesse the fieldes of Ephraim, and the fieldes of Samaria, and Beniamin shall haue Gilead.

Those living in the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau; those from the foothills of Judah will occupy the land of the Philistines, and possess the fields of Ephraim and Samaria; those from the tribe of Benjamin will occupy Gilead.

20 And the captiuitie of this host of the children of Israel, which were among the Canaanites, shall possesse vnto Zarephath, and the captiuitie of Ierusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possesse the cities of the South.

The army of exiles of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem from Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negev.

21 And they that shall saue, shall come vp to mount Zion to iudge the mount of Esau, and the kingdome shalbe the Lords.

Those who have been saved will go up Mount Zion and rule the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom shall be the Lord's.