The prophecy of Obadiah.We have received tidings from GOD,And an envoy has been sent out among the nations:“Up! Let us rise up against her for battle.”Thus said the Sovereign GOD concerning Edom:

I will make you least among nations,You shall be most despised.

Your arrogant heart has seduced you,You who dwell in clefts of the rock,In your lofty abode.You think in your heart,“Who can pull me down to earth?”

Should you nest as high as the eagle,Should your eyrie be lodged ’mong the stars,Even from there I will pull you down—declares GOD.

If thieves were to come to you,Marauders by night,They would steal no more than they needed.If vintagers came to you,They would surely leave some gleanings.How utterly you are destroyed!

How thoroughly rifled is Esau,aEsau I.e., the Edomites, descendants of Jacob’s twin brother; cf. Gen. 36.1. How ransacked his hoards!

All your allies turned you backAt the frontier;Your own confederatesHave duped and overcome you;[Those who ate] your breadHave planted snares under you.He is bereft of understanding.

In that day—declares GOD—I will make the wise vanish from Edom,Understanding from Esau’s mount.

Your warriors shall lose heart, O Teman,And no one on Esau’s mountShall survive the slaughter.

For the outrage to your brother Jacob,Disgrace shall engulf you,And you shall perish forever.

On that day when you stood aloof,When aliens carried off his goods,When foreigners entered his gatesAnd cast lots for Jerusalem,You were as one of them.

How could youbHow could you Lit. “Do not,” and so through v. 14. gaze with gleeOn your brother that day,On his day of calamity!How could you gloatOver the people of JudahOn that day of ruin!How could you loudly jeerOn a day of anguish!

How could you enter the gate of My peopleOn its day of disaster,Gaze in glee with the othersOn its misfortuneOn its day of disaster,And lay hands on its wealthOn its day of disaster!

How could you stand at the passescpasses Meaning of Heb. uncertain. To cut down its fugitives!How could you betray those who fledOn that day of anguish!

As you did, so shall it be done to you;Your conduct shall be requited.Yea, against all nationsThe day of GOD is at hand.

That same cup that youdyou I.e., the Israelites. drank on My Holy MountShall all nations drink evermore,eevermore Emendation yields “at My hand,” cf. Isa. 51.17; Jer. 25.15; Ps. 75.9. Drink till their speech grows thick,And they become as though they had never been.

But on Zion’s mount a remnant shall survive,And it shall be holy.fholy I.e., inviolate; cf. Jer. 2.3. The House of Jacob shall dispossessThose who dispossessed them.

The House of Jacob shall be fire,And the House of Joseph flame,And the House of Esau shall be straw;They shall burn it and devour it,And no survivor shall be left of the House of Esau—for GOD has spoken.

gMeaning of parts of vv. 19–21 uncertain. Thus they shall possess the Negeb and Mount Esau as well, the Shephelah and Philistia. They shall possess the Ephraimite country and the district of Samaria,hdistrict of Samaria After the exile of the northern tribes, the city and district of Samaria were occupied mainly by non-Israelites. and BenjaminiBenjamin Emendation yields “the land of the Ammonites.” along with Gilead.

And that exiled force of Israelites [shall possess] what belongs to the Phoenicians as far as Zarephath,jZarephath A town in southern Phoenicia; see 1 Kings 17.9. while the Jerusalemite exile community of SepharadkSepharad Probably Asia Minor, called Saparda in Persian cuneiform inscriptions. shall possess the towns of the Negeb.

For liberators shall march uplliberators shall march up Several ancient versions read “they [the exiles from Jerusalem named in the preceding verse] shall march up victorious.” on Mount Zion to wreak judgment on Mount Esau; and dominion shall be GOD’s.