The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
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!
1
The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle! ”
2 "Listen to this, Edom: I'm turning you to a no-account, the runt of the godless nations, despised.
2
Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised.
3 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!'
3
The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground? ”
4 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.
4
Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.
5 "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?
5
If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night—how you have been destroyed! —would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?
6 Oh, they'll take Esau apart, piece by piece, empty his purse and pockets.
6
How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures sought out!
7 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.
7
All your allies have driven you to your border; those at peace with you have deceived you; they have prevailed against you; those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you— you have no understanding.
8 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.
8
Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau?
9 Your great heroes will desert you, Teman. There'll be nobody left in Esau's mountains.
9
And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.
10 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.
10
Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.
11 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.
11
On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.
12 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.
12
But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress.
13 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.
13
Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity.
14 And you shouldn't have stood waiting at the outskirts and cut off refugees, And traitorously turned in helpless survivors who had lost everything.
14
Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.
15 "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.
15
For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.
16 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.
16
For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been.
17 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.
17
But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.
18 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.
18
The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.
19 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.
19
Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
20 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.
20
The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negeb.
21 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.
21
Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025