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Obadiah
The Message
Obadiah
The Message
Your World Will Collapse
1 Obadiah’s Message to Edom
from God, the Master.
We got the news straight from God
by a special messenger sent out to the godless nations:
“On your feet, prepare for battle;
get ready to make war on Edom!
* * *
2-4 “Listen to this, Edom:
I’m turning you to a no-account,
the runt of the godless nations, despised.
You thought you were so great,
perched high among the rocks, king of the mountain,
Thinking to yourself,
‘Nobody can get to me! Nobody can touch me!’
Think again. Even if, like an eagle,
you hang out on a high cliff-face,
Even if you build your nest in the stars,
I’ll bring you down to earth.”
God’s sure Word.
5-14 “If thieves crept up on you,
they’d rob you blind—isn’t that so?
If they mugged you on the streets at night,
they’d pick you clean—isn’t that so?
Oh, they’ll take Esau apart, piece by piece,
empty his purse and pockets.
All your old partners will drive you to the edge.
Your old friends will lie to your face.
Your old drinking buddies will stab you in the back.
Your world will collapse. You won’t know what hit you.
So don’t be surprised”—it’s God’s sure Word!—
“when I wipe out all sages from Edom
and rid the Esau mountains of its famous wise men.
Your great heroes will desert you, Teman.
There’ll be nobody left in Esau’s mountains.
Because of the murderous history compiled
against your brother Jacob,
You will be looked down on by everyone.
You’ll lose your place in history.
On that day you stood there and didn’t do anything.
Strangers took your brother’s army into exile.
Godless foreigners invaded and pillaged Jerusalem.
You stood there and watched.
You were as bad as they were.
You shouldn’t have gloated over your brother
when he was down-and-out.
You shouldn’t have laughed and joked at Judah’s sons
when they were facedown in the mud.
You shouldn’t have talked so big
when everything was so bad.
You shouldn’t have taken advantage of my people
when their lives had fallen apart.
You of all people should not have been amused
by their troubles, their wrecked nation.
You shouldn’t have taken the shirt off their back
when they were knocked flat, defenseless.
And you shouldn’t have stood waiting at the outskirts
and cut off refugees,
And traitorously turned in helpless survivors
who had lost everything.
* * *
15-18 “God’s Judgment Day is near
for all the godless nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you.
What you did will boomerang back
and hit your own head.
Just as you partied on my holy mountain,
all the godless nations will drink God’s wrath.
They’ll drink and drink and drink—
they’ll drink themselves to death.
But not so on Mount Zion—there’s respite there!
a safe and holy place!
The family of Jacob will take back their possessions
from those who took them from them.
That’s when the family of Jacob will catch fire,
the family of Joseph become fierce flame,
while the family of Esau will be straw.
Esau will go up in flames,
nothing left of Esau but a pile of ashes.”
God said it, and it is so.
* * *
19-21 People from the south will take over the Esau mountains;
people from the foothills will overrun the Philistines.
They’ll take the farms of Ephraim and Samaria,
and Benjamin will take Gilead.
Earlier, Israelite exiles will come back
and take Canaanite land to the north at Zarephath.
Jerusalem exiles from the far northwest in Sepharad
will come back and take the cities in the south.
The remnant of the saved in Mount Zion
will go into the mountains of Esau
And rule justly and fairly,
a rule that honors God’s kingdom.
Obadiah
New International Version
Obadiah
New International Version
Obadiah’s Vision(A)(B)
1 The vision(C) of Obadiah.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom(D)—
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)
Footnotes
- Obadiah 1:3 Or of Sela
- Obadiah 1:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
- Obadiah 1:21 Or from
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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