< Obadiah 1 >

1 This is a message that Yahweh our God gave to me, Obadiah, about the Edom [people-group]. Yahweh our God has told me this about [the people of] Edom: “I, Yahweh, have sent a messenger to other nations, telling them to prepare to go and attack Edom.”
Visioun of Abdias. The Lord God seith these thingis to Edom. We herden an heryng of the Lord, and he sente a messanger to hethene men. Rise ye, and togidere rise we ayens hym in to batel.
2 And Yahweh says this to the people of Edom: “I will soon cause you to become the weakest and most despised nation [on the earth].
Lo! Y yaf thee litil in hethene men, thou art ful myche `worthi to be dispisid.
3 Your [capital city] is high in the rocky cliffs, and you are very proud; you think that you are safe from being attacked by your enemies [RHQ], but you [IDM] have deceived yourselves.
The pride of thin herte enhaunside thee, dwellynge in crasyngis of stoonys, areisynge thi seete. Whiche seist in thin herte, Who schal drawe me doun in to erthe?
4 And I tell you that even if [you had wings and] could fly higher than eagles fly, and if you could make your homes among the stars, I would bring you [crashing] down from there.
Thouy thou schalt be reisid as an egle, and thouy thou schalt putte thi nest among sterris, fro thennus Y schal drawe thee doun, seith the Lord.
5 When thieves break into someone’s house during the night, they certainly [RHQ] steal only the things that they want. And people who pick grapes always [RHQ] leave a few grapes on the vines. But your country will be completely destroyed!
If niyt theuys hadden entrid to thee, if outlawis bi niyt, hou schuldist thou haue be stille? whether thei schulden not haue stole thingis ynow to hem? If gadereris of grapis hadden entrid to thee, whether thei schulden haue left nameli clustris to thee?
6 Everything that is valuable will be taken away. [Your enemies] will find and take away even the valuable things that you have hidden.
Hou souyten thei Esau, serchiden the hid thingis of him?
7 All (your allies/nations who promised to help you) will turn against you, and they will force you to leave your country/land. Those with whom you have peace now will trick/deceive you and defeat you. Those who eat meals with you now are planning to trap you, and [then they will say to you], ‘You are not [RHQ] as clever [as you thought you were]!’
Til to the termes thei senten out thee; and alle men of thi couenaunt of pees scorneden thee, men of thi pees wexiden stronge ayens thee; thei that schulen ete with thee, schulen put aspies, ether tresouns, vndur thee; ther is no prudence in hym.
8 I, Yahweh, declare that at the time that I destroy Edom, I will punish the men who live in those cliffs who [thought that they] were wise.
Whether not in that dai, seith the Lord, Y schal lese the wise men of Idumee, and prudence of the mount of Esau?
9 The soldiers from Teman [town] will become terrified; all you people who are descendants of Esau will be (wiped out/killed).
And thi stronge men schulen drede of myddai, that a man of the hil of Esau perische.
10 You acted cruel in a cruel way toward your relatives who are descendants of Jacob, [the twin brother of your ancestor Esau]. So now you will be disgraced forever; you will be completely destroyed.
For sleyng and for wickidnesse ayens thi brother Jacob, confusioun schal hile thee, and thou schalt perische with outen ende.
11 Foreigners entered the gates of Jerusalem and (cast lots/threw small stones that were marked) to decide what valuable things they would take away; but you were as bad as those foreigners, because you just stood there [and did not help the Israelis].
In the dai whanne thou stodist ayens hym, whanne aliens token the oost of hym, and straungeris entriden the yatis of hym, and senten lot on Jerusalem, thou were also as oon of hem.
12 You should not have (gloated/been happy) about the disaster that the Israelis were experiencing. You should not have been happy when their towns were ruined. You should not have made fun [of them] when they were suffering.
And thou schalt not dispise in the dai of thi brother, in the dai of his pilgrimage, and thou schalt not be glad on the sones of Juda, in the dai of perdicioun of hem; and thou schalt not magnefie thi mouth in the dai of angwisch,
13 They are my people, so you should not have entered their [city] gates when they were experiencing those disasters and you should not have laughed at them. And you should not have taken away their [valuable] possessions.
nether schalt entre in to the yate of my puple, in the dai of fallyng of hem; and thou schalt not dispise in the yuels of hym, in the dai of his distriyng; and thou schalt not be sent out ayens his oost, in the day of his distriyng;
14 You should not have stood at crossroads to catch those who were [trying to] escape. You should not have [captured them and] put them into the hands of [their enemies] when they were experiencing those disasters.”
nether thou schalt stonde in the goynges out, that thou sle hem that fledden; and thou schalt not close togidere the residues, ether left men, of hym, in the day of tribulacioun,
15 “There will soon be the time when I, Yahweh, will judge [and punish] all the nations. And you [people of Edom] will experience the same [disasters] that you caused [others to experience]. The same evil things that you have done to others will happen to you.
for the dai of the Lord is niy on alle `hethene men. As thou hast doon, it schal be doon to thee; he schal conuerte thi yeldyng in to thin heed.
16 [My people in Jerusalem have been punished] because I was very angry with them. [It is as though] [MET] they drank [a cup of very bitter liquid] on Zion, my sacred hill. But [I] will punish [MET] all the other nations even more severely, and cause them to disappear completely.
For as ye drunken on myn hooli hil, alle hethene men schulen drynke bisili, and thei schulen drynke, and schulen soupe vp; and thei schulen be as if thei ben not.
17 But some [people in Jerusalem will escape], and Jerusalem will become a very holy/sacred place. Then the descendants of Jacob will [conquer and] possess again the land that truly belongs to them.
And saluacioun schal be in the hil of Sion, and it schal be hooli; and the hous of Jacob schal welde hem whiche weldiden hem.
18 The descendants [MTY] of Jacob and his son Joseph will be like [MET] a fire, and the people [MTY] of Edom will be like [MET] stubble that will be completely burned in that fire. Not one person will remain alive. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it.”
And the hous of Jacob schal be fier, and the hous of Joseph schal be flawme, and the hous of Esau schal be stobil; and `thei schulen be kyndlid in hem, and thei schulen deuoure hem; and relifs schulen not be of the hous of Esau, for the Lord spak.
19 The Israeli people [who live] in the southern desert are the ones who will capture Edom. And those [who live in] the western foothills will capture the Phoenicia [region] and the areas of Ephraim and Samaria. And people of the tribe of Benjamin will conquer the Gilead [region].
And these that ben at the south, schulen enherite the hil of Esau; and thei that ben in the lowe feeldis, schulen enherite Filistiym; and thei schulen welde the cuntrei of Effraym, and cuntrei of Samarie; and Beniamyn schal welde Galaad.
20 Those who were (exiled in/forced to go to) [Babylon] will [return to their land] [and] capture the Phoenicia [region] as far north as Zarephath [on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea]. People of Jerusalem who were captured and taken to Sardis, [the capital city of the Lydia region], will capture the towns in the southern desert.
And ouerpassyng of this oost of sones of Israel schal welde alle places of Cananeis, til to Sarepta; and the transmygracioun of Jerusalem, that is in Bosphoro, schal welde citees of the south.
21 The army of Jerusalem will attack Edom and conquer it, and Yahweh will be their king.
And sauyours schulen stie in to the hil of Sion, for to deme the hil of Esau, and a rewme schal be to the Lord.

< Obadiah 1 >