Obadiah

New International Version

We have heard a message from the Lord:
    An envoy^(E) was sent to the nations to say,
“Rise, let us go against her for battle”^(F)—

² “See, I will make you small^(G) among the nations;
    you will be utterly despised.
³ The pride^(H) of your heart has deceived you,
    you who live in the clefts of the rocks^[a](I)
    and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
    ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’^(J)
4 Though you soar like the eagle
    and make your nest^(K) among the stars,
    from there I will bring you down,”^(L)
declares the Lord.^(M)
5 “If thieves came to you,
    if robbers in the night—
oh, what a disaster awaits you!—
    would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
If grape pickers came to you,
    would they not leave a few grapes?^(N)
6 But how Esau will be ransacked,
    his hidden treasures pillaged!
⁷ All your allies^(O) will force you to the border;
    your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread^(P) will set a trap for you,^[b]
    but you will not detect it.

⁸ “In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “will I not destroy^(Q) the wise men of Edom,
    those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
⁹ Your warriors, Teman,^(R) will be terrified,
    and everyone in Esau’s mountains
    will be cut down in the slaughter.
¹⁰ Because of the violence^(S) against your brother Jacob,^(T)
    you will be covered with shame;
    you will be destroyed forever.^(U)
11 On the day you stood aloof
    while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
    and cast lots^(V) for Jerusalem,
    you were like one of them.^(W)
12 You should not gloat^(X) over your brother
    in the day of his misfortune,^(Y)
nor rejoice^(Z) over the people of Judah
    in the day of their destruction,^(AA)
nor boast^(AB) so much
    in the day of their trouble.^(AC)
13 You should not march through the gates of my people
    in the day of their disaster,
nor gloat over them in their calamity^(AD)
    in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
    in the day of their disaster.
¹⁴ You should not wait at the crossroads
    to cut down their fugitives,^(AE)
nor hand over their survivors
    in the day of their trouble.

¹⁵ “The day of the Lord is near^(AF)
    for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
    your deeds^(AG) will return upon your own head.
¹⁶ Just as you drank^(AH) on my holy hill,^(AI)
    so all the nations will drink^(AJ) continually;
they will drink and drink
    and be as if they had never been.^(AK)
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;^(AL)
    it will be holy,^(AM)
    and Jacob will possess his inheritance.^(AN)
18 Jacob will be a fire
    and Joseph a flame;
Esau will be stubble,
    and they will set him on fire^(AO) and destroy^(AP) him.
There will be no survivors^(AQ)
    from Esau.”
The Lord has spoken.

¹⁹ People from the Negev will occupy
    the mountains of Esau,
and people from the foothills will possess
    the land of the Philistines.^(AR)
They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,^(AS)
    and Benjamin^(AT) will possess Gilead.
²⁰ This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan
    will possess the land as far as Zarephath;^(AU)
the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
    will possess the towns of the Negev.^(AV)
21 Deliverers^(AW) will go up on^[c] Mount Zion
    to govern the mountains of Esau.
    And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.^(AX)