Obadiah 1

¹¹This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly.

¹²So I will send fire upon Teman to consume the citadels of Bozrah.”

¹⁹Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.

¹²This is what the Lord God says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt,

¹³therefore this is what the Lord God says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.

¹Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.”

²Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress?

³and declare that this is what the Lord God says: Behold, I am against you, O Mount Seir. I will stretch out My hand against you and make you a desolate waste.

⁴I will turn your cities into ruins, and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

³but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

⁴Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the Lord is indignant forever.

⁹The Lord of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.

¹⁸Edom will become a possession, as will Seir, his enemy; but Israel will perform with valor.

⁵¹He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame—she who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.

²⁵Therefore, He recognizes their deeds; He overthrows them in the night and they are crushed.

²⁶He strikes them for their wickedness in full view,

¹⁵Egypt will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the nations. For I will diminish Egypt so that it will never again rule over the nations.

¹³You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.

¹⁴I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

²³A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.

¹⁶The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

⁶We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.

⁷Amaziah struck down 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He took Sela in battle and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this very day.

⁴Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the Lord is indignant forever.

²Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.

⁹Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!

⁶Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,

⁷he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’

¹²How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.

¹³You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.

¹⁶The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

⁵³Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, the destroyers I send will come against her,” declares the Lord.

⁹If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, would they not steal only what they wanted?

²¹When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not go over the vines again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

¹How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.

¹⁹“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!

⁶Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten—two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,” declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

¹⁰But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his hiding places, and he will be unable to conceal himself. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and neighbors, and he will be no more.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

¹⁹Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

²²He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.

³⁷A sword is against her horses and chariots and against all the foreigners in her midst, and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasuries, and they will be plundered.

³I will give you the treasures of darkness and the riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by name.

⁹Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

¹⁸I am not speaking about all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the Scripture: ‘The one who shares My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’

¹⁴All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer seek you, for I have struck you as an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins.

⁷Concerning Edom, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?

³⁰And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.

¹²For it is not an enemy who insults me; that I could endure. It is not a foe who rises against me; from him I could hide.

¹³But it is you, a man like myself, my companion and close friend.

¹⁴Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

¹²He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.

¹³He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.

¹⁰The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.

¹³The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. The cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴The Lord has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

³Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

²⁰And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

¹³therefore this is what the Lord God says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.

¹Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.”

²Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress?

¹²So I will send fire upon Teman to consume the citadels of Bozrah.”

²²Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s mighty men will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

⁵When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.

⁶The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood. It drips with fat—with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

¹¹This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly.

³but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

⁴Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the Lord is indignant forever.

⁴¹Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁷Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”

⁹I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁴⁵You have cut short the days of his youth; You have covered him with shame. Selah

⁷Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”

¹⁰Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.

³They cast lots for My people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.

¹⁸When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.

²⁸These are the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;

²⁹in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;

¹¹Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the population.

⁵He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.

¹⁵As you rejoiced when the inheritance of the house of Israel became desolate, so will I do to you. You will become a desolation, O Mount Seir, and so will all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

¹¹But now many nations have assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let us feast our eyes on Zion.”

¹⁷Do not gloat when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

¹⁸or the Lord will see and disapprove, and turn His wrath away from him.

³Do not boast so proudly, or let arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by Him actions are weighed.

⁴⁰and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”

⁴¹In the same way, the chief priests, scribes, and elders mocked Him, saying,

⁵Because you harbored an ancient hatred and delivered the Israelites over to the sword in the time of their disaster at the final stage of their punishment,

¹⁵but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’

¹²Perhaps the Lord will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.”

¹⁷I can count all my bones; they stare and gloat over me.

¹⁰Because you have said, ‘These two nations and countries will be ours, and we will possess them,’ even though the Lord was there,

⁹This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom and broke a covenant of brotherhood.

¹²But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress.

⁷How awful that day will be! None will be like it! It is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved out of it.

⁸You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.

³to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.

⁶This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they exiled a whole population, delivering them up to Edom.

¹³For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

⁸Because you have plundered many nations, the remnant of the people will plunder you—because of your bloodshed against man and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.

²For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³For the day is near, the Day of the Lord is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.

¹¹Come quickly, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves. Bring down Your mighty ones, O Lord.

¹²Let the nations be roused and advance to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the nations on every side.

⁷Then Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done to them, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.

¹⁷Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.

¹²For this is what the Lord says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must drink it too.

¹⁷For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

¹⁵This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.

¹⁶And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.”

²²Thus says your Lord, the Lord, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering. From that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again.

²³I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”

⁹Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!

¹⁰Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

¹¹“In that day I will restore the fallen tent of David. I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,

¹²that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear My name,” declares the Lord, who will do this.

²⁷But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

¹For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.

²The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the Lord’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.

¹⁹Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.

²⁰But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

⁸Surely the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord.

³²And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has promised, among the remnant called by the Lord.

⁶On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among the sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and on the left, while the people of Jerusalem remain secure there.

¹⁷And the Light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame. In a single day it will burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and thistles.

⁸Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue them.

¹⁹you are to tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them into a single stick, and they will become one in My hand.’

²⁴Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

⁴⁴Fields will be purchased with silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah—the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev—because I will restore them from captivity, declares the Lord.”

¹²that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear My name,” declares the Lord, who will do this.

⁴For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon left in ruins. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.

⁵Woe to the dwellers of the seacoast, O nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you, and no one will be left.”

⁴Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out in joyful dancing.

⁵Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant and enjoy the fruit.

⁴Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the Lord is indignant forever.

⁵You will see this with your own eyes, and you yourselves will say, ‘The Lord is great—even beyond the borders of Israel.’”

²¹you are to tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘I will take the Israelites out of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.

²²I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over all of them. Then they will no longer be two nations and will never again be divided into two kingdoms.

⁹“Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

¹⁰So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.”

²⁶Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to the widow of Zarephath in Sidon.

¹³In the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord.

⁴⁴Fields will be purchased with silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah—the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev—because I will restore them from captivity, declares the Lord.”

⁶I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had not rejected them. For I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them.

⁷Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their hearts will be glad as with wine. Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.

¹⁹The cities of the Negev have been shut tight, and no one can open them. All Judah has been carried into exile, wholly taken captive.

⁹On that day the Lord will become King over all the earth—the Lord alone, and His name alone.

²⁰consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

¹⁵Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

²⁷Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey Him.’

²⁰It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender to rescue them.

¹⁶Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you.