The Destruction of Edom
(Jeremiah 49:7–22)

1This is the vision of Obadiah (servant of YHWH):

This is what the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH} says about Edom (red)—

We have heard a message from the LORD {YHWH};

an envoy has been sent among the nations

to say, “Rise up,

and let us go to battle against her!”—

2“Behold, I will make you small among the nations;

you will be deeply despised.

3The pride of your heart has deceived you,

O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks (in the retreats of Sela)a

whose habitation is the heights,

who say in your heart,

‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

4Though you soar like the eagle

and make your nest among the stars,

even from there I will bring you down,”

declares the LORD {YHWH}.

5“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?

6But how Esau (hairy) will be pillaged,

his hidden treasures sought out!

7All 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 breadb

will set a trap for you

without your awareness of it.

8In that day, declares the LORD {YHWH},

will I not destroy the wise men of Edom (red)

and the men of understanding

in the mountains of Esau (hairy)?

9Then your mighty men, O Teman (south),

will be terrified,

so that everyone in the mountains of Esau (hairy)

will be cut down in the slaughter.

10Because of the violence against your brother Jacob (he grasps the heel),

you will be covered with shame

and cut off forever.

11On the day you stood aloof

while strangers carried off his wealth

and foreigners entered his gate

and cast lots for Jerusalem (city of peace),

you were just like one of them.

12But you should not gloat in that day,

your brother’s day of misfortune,

nor rejoice over the people of Judah (praised)

in the day of their destruction,

nor boast proudly \nor enlarge your mouth/c

in the day of their distress.

13You 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.

14Nor 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

15For the Day of the LORD {Yowm YHWH} is near

for all the nations.

As you have done, it will be done to you;

your recompense will return upon your own head.

16For 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.

17But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance,

and it will be holy,

and the house of Jacob (he grasps the heel)

will reclaim their possession.

18Then the house of Jacob (he grasps the heel) will be a blazing fire,

and the house of Joseph (YHWH has added) a burning flame;

but the house of Esau (hairy) will be stubble—

Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it.

Therefore no survivor will remain

from the house of Esau.”

For the LORD {YHWH} has spoken.

19Those from the Negev (southland) will possess the mountains of Esau (hairy);

those from the foothills {Shephelah}d will possess the land of the Philistines (immigrants).

They will occupy the fields of Ephraim (doubly fruitful) and Samaria (watch mountain),

and Benjamin will possess (son of the right hand) Gilead (rocky region).

20And the exiles of this host of the Israelites (God prevails)

will possess the land of the Canaanites (merchants) as far as Zarephath (refinery);

and the exiles from Jerusalem (city of peace) who are in Sepharad (separated)

will possess the cities of the Negev (southland).

21The deliverers will ascend (The deliverers will go up from)e Mount Zion

to rule over the mountains of Esau (hairy).

And the kingdom will belong to the LORD {YHWH}.