Judgment on Edom

(Obadiah 1:1–14)

Concerning 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?

8 

Turn [and] run!

Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan,

for I will bring disaster on Esau

at the time I punish him.

9 

If 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?

10 

But 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.

11 

Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives.

Let your widows trust in Me.”

12 

For 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 13 For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”

14 

I have heard a message from the LORD;

an envoy has been sent to the nations:

“Assemble yourselves to march against her!

Rise up for battle!”

15 

“ For behold, I will make you small among nations,

despised among men.

16 

The terror you cause

and the pride of your heart

have deceived you,

O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks,[fn]

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.

17 

“Edom will become an object of horror.

All who pass by will be appalled

and will scoff at all her wounds.

18 

As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown

along with their neighbors,” says the LORD,

“no one will dwell there;

no man will abide there.

19 

Behold, one will come up like a lion

from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture.

For in an instant I will chase [Edom] from [her land].

Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?

For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me?

What shepherd can stand against Me?”

20 

Therefore hear the plans

that the LORD has drawn up against Edom

and the strategies He has devised

against the people of Teman:

Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away;

certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.[fn]

21 

At the sound of their fall the earth will quake;

their cry will resound to the Red Sea.[fn]

22 

Look! 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.

23