Obadiah 1

1 Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Edom, A report we have heard from Jehovah, And an ambassador among nations was sent, 'Rise, yea, let us rise against her for battle.'

The vision of Obadiah. The Lord Yahweh says this concerning Edom: We have heard a report from Yahweh and an ambassador has been sent among the nations, saying, “Rise up! Let us rise up against her for battle!”

2 Lo, little I have made thee among nations, Despised [art] thou exceedingly.

Behold, I will make you small among the nations, you will be greatly despised.

3 The pride of thy heart hath lifted thee up, O dweller in clifts of a rock, (A high place [is] his habitation, He is saying in his heart, 'Who doth bring me down [to] earth?')

The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty home; who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?”

4 If thou dost go up high as an eagle, And if between stars thou dost set thy nest, From thence I bring thee down, An affirmation of Jehovah.

Though you soar high like the eagle and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh.

5 If thieves have come in to thee, If spoilers of the night, How hast thou been cut off! Do they not steal their sufficiency? If gatherers have come in to thee, Do they not leave gleanings?

If thieves came to you, if robbers came by night—how you will be ruined!—would they not steal only as much as they needed? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave the gleanings?

6 How hath Esau been searched out! Flowed out have his hidden things,

How Esau has been ransacked, his hidden treasures will be searched out!

7 Unto the border sent thee have all thine allies, Forgotten thee, prevailed over thee, have thy friends, Thy bread they make a snare under thee, There is no understanding in him!

All the men of your alliance will send you on your way to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. They who eat your bread have set a trap under you. There is no understanding in him.

8 Is it not in that day — an affirmation of Jehovah, That I have destroyed the wise out of Edom, And understanding out of the mount of Esau?

“Will I not on that day,” says Yahweh, “destroy the wise men from Edom and understanding out of the mountain of Esau?

9 And broken down have been thy mighty ones, O Teman, So that every one of the mount of Esau is cut off.

Your mighty men will be dismayed, Teman, so that every man may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.

10 For slaughter, for violence [to] thy brother Jacob, Cover thee doth shame, And thou hast been cut off — to the age.

Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever.

11 In the day of thy standing over-against, In the day of strangers taking captive his force, And foreigners have entered his gates, And for Jerusalem have cast a lot, Even thou [art] as one of them!

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

12 And — thou dost not look on the day of thy brother, On the day of his alienation, Nor dost thou rejoice over sons of Judah, In the day of their destruction, Nor make great thy mouth in a day of distress.

But do not gloat over your brother's day, in the day of his misfortune, and do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction; do not boast in the day of their distress.

13 Nor come into a gate of My people in a day of their calamity, Nor look, even thou, on its misfortune in a day of its calamity, Nor send forth against its force in a day of its calamity,

Do not enter my people's gate in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over their affliction in the day of their disaster, do not loot their wealth in the day of their ruin.

14 Nor stand by the breach to cut off its escaped, Nor deliver up its remnant in a day of distress.

Do not stand at the crossroads to cut down his fugitives, and do not deliver up his survivors in the day of distress.

15 For near [is] the day of Jehovah, on all the nations, As thou hast done, it is done to thee, Thy deed doth turn back on thine own head.

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

16 For — as ye have drunk on My holy mount, Drink do all the nations continually, And they have drunk and have swallowed, And they have been as they have not been.

For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. They will drink and swallow and it will be as though they had never existed.

17 And in mount Zion there is an escape, And it hath been holy, And the house of Jacob have possessed their possessions.

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

18 And the house of Jacob hath been a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame, And the house of Esau for stubble, And they have burned among them, And they have consumed them, And there is not a remnant to the house of Esau, For Jehovah hath spoken.

The house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will burn them, and consume them. There will be no survivors to the house of Esau, for Yahweh has spoken it.”

19 And they have possessed the south with the mount of Esau, And the low country with the Philistines, And they have possessed the field of Ephraim, And the field of Samaria, And Benjamin with Gilead.

Those from the Negev will possess the mount of Esau and those of the Shepelah will possess the land of the Philistines. They will possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria; and Benjamin will possess Gilead.

20 And the removed of this force of the sons of Israel, That [is with] the Canaanites unto Zarephat, And the removed of Jerusalem that [is] with the Sepharad, Possess the cities of the south.

The exiles of this host of the people of Israel will possess the land of Canaan as far as Zarephath. The exiles of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev.

21 And gone up have saviours on mount Zion, To judge the mount of Esau, And the kingdom hath been to Jehovah!'

Deliverers will go up to Mount Zion to rule over the hill country of Esau, and the kingdom will belong to Yahweh.