The Destruction of Edom (Jeremiah 49:7–22)
1 UST This is a message that Yahweh our God gave to{ me,} Obadiah, about the people of Edom. Yahweh our God has said this to us:“I have sent a messenger to other nations, telling them to prepare to go and attack Edom.” BSB BSB: This is the vision of Obadiah: This is what the Lord GOD says about Edom—We have heard a message from the LORD; an envoy has been sent among the nations to say, “Rise up, and let us go to battle against her!”—
2 UST { Now Yahweh says this to the people of Edom:}“Listen to me— I will soon cause you to become the weakest and most despised nation{ on the earth}. BSB BSB: “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you will be deeply despised.
3 UST Your capital city is high in the rocky cliffs, and you are very proud. You think that you are safe there— that no army can conquer you. But you have deceived yourselves. BSB BSB: The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
4 UST Even if you could live where eagles live or even higher than that, among the stars, you would still not be safe there from the attackers that I am sending to you. I, Yahweh, declare this{ to you}. BSB BSB: Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
5 UST When thieves break into someone’ s house during the night and rob them, they certainly steal only the things that they want. And people who pick grapes always leave a few grapes on the vines. But{, unlike them,} attackers will destroy your country completely! BSB BSB: “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, how you will be ruined—would they not steal only what they wanted? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings?
6 UST Descendants of Esau, these attackers will completely take away everything that you own. They will even find{ and take away} the valuable things that you have hidden. BSB BSB: But how Esau will be pillaged, his hidden treasures sought out!
7 UST All your allies will turn against you, and they will force you to leave your country. Those with whom you have peace now will trick you and defeat you. Those who eat meals with you now are planning to trap you. You people of Edom do not understand any of this. BSB BSB: All the men allied with you will drive you to the border; the men at peace with you will deceive and overpower you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you without your awareness of it.
8 UST I, Yahweh, declare that at that time, I will certainly destroy{ even} Edom’ s{ famous} wise men. No one living in those cliffs will know what to do any more. BSB BSB: In that day, declares the LORD, will I not destroy the wise men of Edom and the men of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
9 UST The soldiers in the army of Edom will become terrified. Then when your army stops fighting, the attackers will completely destroy all you people who live in the land of Edom.” BSB BSB: Then your mighty men, O Teman, will be terrified, so that everyone in the mountains of Esau will be cut down in the slaughter.
10 UST “{ All of this will happen because} you acted cruelly to your relatives who are descendants of Jacob{, the twin brother of your ancestor Esau}. So now everyone will be ashamed of you, and the attackers will destroy you forever. BSB BSB: Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.
11 UST At the time when strangers carried away the Israelite’ s wealth, you did nothing to help them. Foreigners conquered all the cities of Judah, and they even took whatever they wanted from Jerusalem. And you were just as bad as those foreigners{, because you did nothing to help}. BSB BSB: On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them.
12 UST You should not have gloated about the disaster that the Israelites were experiencing. You should not have been happy when their towns were ruined. You should not have made fun of them when they were suffering. BSB BSB: But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress.
13 UST They are my people, so you should not have entered their city gates when they were experiencing this terrible disaster. Yes, you! You should not have enjoyed watching them suffer. You women should not have taken away their valuable possessions. BSB BSB: You should not enter the gate of My people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over their affliction in the day of their disaster, nor loot their wealth in the day of their disaster.
14 UST You should not have stood at the crossroads to kill some of the Israelites who were trying to escape. You should not have captured others of them who had survived{ and turned them over to their enemies} when they were experiencing those disasters.” BSB BSB: Nor should you stand at the crossroads to cut off their fugitives, nor deliver up their survivors in the day of their distress.
The Deliverance of Israel 15 UST “{ You should have helped the Israelites,} because the time is coming soon when I, Yahweh, will judge and punish all the nations. I will do the same things to you{ people of Edom} that you did to others. The same{ evil} things that you did to others will happen to you. BSB BSB: For the Day of the LORD is near for all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your recompense will return upon your own head.
16 UST { The people of Edom should not have done these evil things to you, people of Israel,} because in the way that you suffered in Jerusalem, the hill where my holy temple is, in that same way I will continue to punish all the other nations. I will punish them severely and make them disappear completely. BSB BSB: For as you drank on My holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and gulp it down; they will be as if they had never existed.
17 UST But some people in Jerusalem will survive, and Jerusalem will become a holy place. Then the Israelites will once again occupy the land that belongs to them. BSB BSB: But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will reclaim their possession.
18 UST The people of Israel will be like a fire, and the people of Edom will be like dry grass. They will destroy the people of Edom, just as fire completely burns up dry grass. None of the descendants of Edom will survive. This will certainly happen because I, Yahweh, have said it will happen.” BSB BSB: Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble—Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken.
19 UST The Israelites who live in the southern wilderness of Judea will capture the land of Edom. The Israelites who live in the western foothills will capture the region of Phoenicia. The Israelites will also capture the areas that belonged to{ the tribe of} Ephraim and that surrounded{ the city of} Samaria{ to the north}. The people of the tribe of Benjamin will capture the region east of the Jordan River. BSB BSB: Those from the Negev will possess the mountains of Esau; those from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 UST A great number of the people from{ the kingdom of} Israel were captured and taken away from their homes. They lived in the land of Canaan.{ But they will return, and} they will capture and occupy that land as far{ north} as Zarephath. Many of the people were captured and taken away from Jerusalem. They now live in Sepharad. They will{ return and} occupy the cities in the southern wilderness of Judea. BSB BSB: And the exiles of this host of the Israelites will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath; and the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negev.
21 UST { After} Israel’ s military leaders{ conquer the land of Edom, they} will{ then} rule over Edom from high up in Jerusalem. And Yahweh will be their king. BSB BSB: The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to rule over the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will belong to the LORD.