Judgment on the Ammonites 1 UDB This message is about the people who descended from Ammon. This is what Yahweh says: "There are plenty of Israelite people left to occupy the land of the tribe of Gad. So, why are the people who worship the god Molech living in those towns? BSB BSB: Concerning the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says: “Has Israel no sons? Is he without heir? Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad? Why have his people settled in their cities?
2 UDB There will be a time when I will sound the battle cry for their enemies to attack their capital city, Rabbah. Then it will become a heap of ruins, and all the nearby towns will be burned. Then the people of Israel will again possess the land that the people of Ammon took away from them. BSB BSB: Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned. Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors, says the LORD.
3 UDB You people of the city of Heshbon, wail, because the city of Ai will be destroyed. You women in the city of Rabbah, weep; put on rough clothing to show you are mourning; run back and forth in confusion inside the city walls, because your god Molech, along with its priests and officials, will be taken away in exile. BSB BSB: Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.
4 UDB Why do you brag about your valleys, your valleys that are so fruitful, you faithless daughter? You think that your wealth will bring you protection against your enemies and so you dare to ask, "Who is there who can come against me?' BSB BSB: Why do you boast of your valleys—your valleys so fruitful, O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, ‘Who can come against me?’
5 UDB But listen to this: I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, will cause you to become terrified. You will all be forced to flee to other countries from the enemies all around you, and no one will be able to bring you together again. BSB BSB: Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you, declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, from all those around you. You will each be driven headlong, with no one to regather the fugitives.
6 UDB But I will enable the Ammonite people to return to their land. That will surely happen, because I, Yahweh, have said it." BSB BSB: Yet afterward I will restore the Ammonites from captivity,” declares the LORD.
Judgment on Edom (Obadiah 1:1–14)
7 UDB This message is about the people of Edom. This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says: "It seems that there are no longer any wise people in Teman district in Edom! There are no people left who can give others good advice. The people who were wise have disappeared. BSB BSB: 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 UDB You people of the city of Dedan, in the south of Edom, turn and flee and hide in deep caves, because I am causing disaster to happen to all the people of Edom, I will punish you! BSB BSB: Turn and run! Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.
9 UDB Those who harvest grapes always leave some on the vines. When thieves come at night, they surely steal only as much as they want. BSB BSB: 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 UDB But I will cause everything in Edom to be destroyed, and there will be nothing left, and there will be no place for people to hide. Many of the children, their relatives and their neighbors, will die, and Edom will not exist anymore. BSB BSB: 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 UDB Leave behind the orphans because I will take care of them, and the widows also will be able to depend on me to help them." BSB BSB: Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives. Let your widows trust in Me.”
12 UDB And this is also what Yahweh says: "If those who do not deserve to suffer must suffer, you people of Edom must suffer much more! You will not escape being punished. BSB BSB: 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 UDB I, Yahweh, have solemnly promised, using my own name, that your chief city Bozrah will become a place that people will be horrified about. It will be a heap of ruins. People will make fun of it and use its name when they curse people. All the nearby towns and villages will be ruined forever." BSB BSB: 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 UDB I heard this message from Yahweh: "I have sent an ambassador to many nations, to tell them to gather together to attack Edom. They must prepare for battle!" BSB BSB: 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 UDB And Yahweh says to the people of Edom, "I will cause your nation to become very unimportant among the other nations. They will all despise your country. BSB BSB: “For behold, I will make you small among nations, despised among men.
16 UDB You have caused people of other nations to be terrified, and you have been very proud, but you have deceived yourselves. You live in caves in the rock cliffs; you think that you are safe there because you live high up there. But even if you make your homes as high up as the eagles' nests, I will cause you to come crashing down. BSB BSB: The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, 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 UDB Edom will become a place about which people are horrified; people who pass by will be horrified and will gasp when they see the destruction. BSB BSB: “Edom will become an object of horror. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.
18 UDB Edom will be destroyed as completely as Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby towns were destroyed long ago. As a result, no one—not a single person—will live there anymore. BSB BSB: As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.
19 UDB I will come to Edom suddenly as a lion comes out of the jungle and leaps on sheep that are eating in good pastures. I will quickly chase the people of Edom from their land. And then I will appoint for them a leader whom I will choose; I can do that because there is no one like me who can object to what I do. No ruler can oppose me. BSB BSB: 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 UDB Listen to what I have planned to do to the people of Teman and the rest of Edom: even the little children will be dragged away, and I will completely get rid of the people who live there. BSB BSB: 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.
21 UDB When Edom is destroyed, the noise will be extremely great, with the result that the earth will shake, and the wailing of the people will be heard as far away as the Sea of Reeds. BSB BSB: At the sound of their fall the earth will quake; their cry will resound to the Red Sea.
22 UDB Look! The enemy troops will swoop down over Bozrah like an eagle spreads its wings when it swoops down to seize an animal. On that day, even the strongest warriors of Edom will be afraid like a woman who is about to give birth." BSB BSB: 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.
Judgment on Damascus (Isaiah 17:1–14)
23 UDB This message is about Damascus. This is what Yahweh says: "The people in the nearby cities of Hamath and Arpad are will be ashamed, because they have heard bad news about Damascus. They are very anxious and restless, like a sea in a big storm. BSB BSB: Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea; their anxiety cannot be calmed.
24 UDB The people of Damascus have become very weak, and they all have panicked and run away in terror. The people are anguished and in pain like a woman experiences who is about to give birth. BSB BSB: Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee. Panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her like a woman in labor.
25 UDB But even now the people of that famous city have not yet abandoned it. That was the city that gave me joy. BSB BSB: How is the city of praise not forsaken, the town that brings Me joy?
26 UDB Its young men will fall in the streets. Its soldiers will all be killed in one day. BSB BSB: For her young men will fall in the streets, and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
27 UDB And I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, will start a fire to burn the walls that surround Damascus, and the palaces of King Ben-Hadad will be burned down." BSB BSB: “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”
Judgment on Kedar and Hazor 28 UDB This is a message about the Kedar people and the kingdom of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon is attacking. This is what Yahweh said: "I will cause an army to advance to attack Kedar and destroy those people who live east of Judah. BSB BSB: Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says: “Rise up, advance against Kedar, and destroy the people of the east!
29 UDB Enemies will capture their tents and their flocks of sheep. They will take away the curtains of their tents, their camels, and all of their other possessions. Everywhere men will shout, 'We are terrified because terrible things are happening all around us!' BSB BSB: They will take their tents and flocks, their tent curtains and all their goods. They will take their camels for themselves. They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’
30 UDB So I, Yahweh, say, 'Run away quickly! You people who live in Hazor, go and hide in deep caves, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon wants to attack you with his army; he is planning to destroy you!' BSB BSB: Run! Escape quickly! Lie low, O residents of Hazor,” declares the LORD, “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has drawn up a plan against you; he has devised a strategy against you.
31 UDB But I say to Nebuchadnezzar, 'Go up and attack that nation whose people feel secure; they do not have allies who will help them and do not have walls with gates that have bars in them. BSB BSB: Rise up, advance against a nation at ease, one that dwells securely,” declares the LORD. “They have no gates or bars; they live alone.
32 UDB Your troops will seize their camels and other livestock. I will scatter in every direction those people who will be in great mourning. I will bring disasters to them from every direction. BSB BSB: Their camels will become plunder, and their large herds will be spoil. I will scatter to the wind in every direction those who shave their temples; I will bring calamity on them from all sides,” declares the LORD.
33 UDB Hazor will become a place where jackals live, and it will be deserted forever. No one will live there again; no people will settle there.'" BSB BSB: “Hazor will become a haunt for jackals, a desolation forever. No one will dwell there; no man will abide there.”
Judgment on Elam 34 UDB The prophet Jeremiah received this message from Yahweh when King Zedekiah was starting to rule Judah. BSB BSB: This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.
35 UDB This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says: "The men of Elam are famous archers; that is how they have made their country very powerful. But I will get rid of them. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow, the mainstay of their might.
36 UDB I will bring their enemies from every direction and they will scatter the people of Elam in all of those directions. The people of Elam will be exiled to every nation on the earth. BSB BSB: I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds. There will not be a nation to which Elam’s exiles will not go.
37 UDB Because I am very angry with the people of Elam, I will enable their enemies to smash Elam; I will cause the people of Elam to experience great disasters. I will enable their enemies, who want to kill them, to pursue them and kill them with swords until I completely get rid of all of them. BSB BSB: So I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who seek their lives. I will bring disaster upon them, even My fierce anger,” declares the LORD. “I will send out the sword after them until I finish them off.
38 UDB I, Yahweh, will judge them there, and then I will get rid of their king and his officials. BSB BSB: I will set My throne in Elam, and destroy its king and officials,” declares the LORD.
39 UDB But then I will enable the people of Elam to return to their land. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it." BSB BSB: “Yet in the last days, I will restore Elam from captivity,” declares the LORD.
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