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Obadiah 1

God will punish Edom's people

1 This is the vision that Obadiah saw.

The Almighty Lord says this about Edom.

1:1When we write Lord like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as the Hebrew name ‘Yahweh’. It is God's own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14. It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.

We have heard a message from the Lord.

Someone has taken a message to the nations to say,

‘Get ready to attack Edom!’

2 The Lord says to Edom,

‘Listen to me! I will make you very weak.

All the other nations will think that you are useless.

3 You are proud that you are very strong.

But you deceive yourselves.

You live among the high rocks

where no enemy can attack you.

Your home is high up in the mountains.

You think to yourselves,

“Nobody can reach us and pull us down!”

4 You might try to fly high in the sky like an eagle.

You might even try to make your home among the stars.

But I would bring you down from there!’

That is what the Lord says.

5 ‘If robbers came to rob you in the night,

they would only take the things that they wanted.

If people came to pick your grapes at harvest time,

they would leave some fruit for the poor people.

But it will be terrible for you!

6 Esau's people will lose everything!

1:6The people of Edom were descendants of Esau. Esau was the brother of Jacob, the ancestor of the Israelites.

Nothing will remain.

Your enemies will take all your valuable things,

even if you hide them!

7 Even the nations who have been your friends

will chase you out of your own country.

Nations who have agreed to help you will deceive you.

They will take away your power.

People that you trusted as your friends

will suddenly catch you in a trap.’

8 The Lord says,

‘At that time, I will destroy the wise men of Edom.

Yes, I will remove the clever men from Esau's mountain!

9 Brave soldiers from Teman will be very afraid.

1:9Teman was an important city in Edom.

All the descendants of Esau who live in the mountains will die.

Edom's people helped Judah's enemy

10 You were cruel to Jacob's descendants.

They were your brothers but you killed them.

Because of that, you will become very ashamed.

You will come to a final end.

11 A foreign army attacked Jerusalem and they went into the city.

They threw dice to decide what valuable things they would take.

You stood and watched while this happened.

You did nothing to help your brothers.

Instead, you were as bad as the foreign enemy.

12 When your brothers were in great trouble,

that should not have made you happy.

You should not have laughed at Judah's people

when their enemy was destroying them.

You should not have boasted

when you saw that they were suffering.

13 When my people were in great trouble,

you should not have gone in through the gates of their city.

You should not have been happy

to see that they were suffering.

When they were in great trouble,

you should not have taken their valuable things for yourselves.

14 You waited beside the road from the city.

You attacked people who were trying to escape.

You caught people who were running away.

You gave them back to their enemies.

You should not have done that to my people

when they were in great trouble.

The day when God will judge people

15 The day of the Lord will come soon.

Then I will judge the people of all the nations.

You will receive punishment

in the same way that you have punished others.

You will receive the punishment that you deserve

for the wicked things that you have done.

16 You went on my holy hill and you drank there.

1:16The holy hill was Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

In the same way, people of all nations will have to drink.

They will continue to drink my punishment

until they can drink no more.

Finally, they will completely disappear.

17 But on Mount Zion, there will be people who are free again.

It will become a holy place.

Jacob's descendants will take back for themselves

the land that belongs to them.

18 Jacob's descendants will be like a hot fire.

Yes, Joseph's descendants will be like flames of fire.

1:18Joseph was a son of Jacob, the ancestor of Israel's people. Jacob's descendants and Joseph's descendants both mean God's people, the Israelites.

They will completely destroy Esau's descendants,

as a fire destroys dry grass.

None of Esau's descendants will remain.’

That is what the Lord says.

19 Israel's people from the Negev Desert

will take the mountains of Esau for themselves.

Those who live in the low hills in the west

will take the land of the Philistines for themselves.

1:19Philistines came from a country near Israel called Philistia. They were a nation of people who were powerful enemies of Israel. They lived beside the sea on the west side of Israel.

They will also take the land of Ephraim and Samaria.

1:19Ephraim and Samaria were names for the northern kingdom of Israel.

Benjamin's people will take the region of Gilead for themselves.

1:19Benjamin and Judah were the two tribes of the southern kingdom of Israel.

20 The strong group of Israel's people who have been in exile will return.

They will take the land that belonged to Canaan's people,

as far as Zarephath.

1:20Canaan is the land that God promised to give to Abraham and to his descendants. See Genesis 12:7.

The people of Jerusalem who were in exile in Sepharad

will take the towns in the Negev.

21 The people who have become free

will go up to Mount Zion.

They will rule over Edom, Esau's kingdom.

Then the Lord will rule as King!