FIFTH VISION: THE LORD BESIDE THE ALTAR

9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar,ao and he said:

Strike the capitals of the pillarsap

so that the thresholds shake;

knock them down on the heads of all the people.

Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword.aq

None of those who flee will get away;ar

none of the fugitives will escape.

2 If they dig down to Sheol,as

from there my hand will take them;

if they climb up to heaven,at

from there I will bring them down.

3 If they hide

on the top of Carmel,

from there I will track them downau

and seize them;

if they conceal themselves

from my sight on the sea floor,a

from there I will command

the sea serpent to bite them.b

4 And if they are driven

by their enemies into captivity,c

from there I will command

the sword to kill them.d

I will keep my eye on them

for harm and not for good.e

5 The Lord, the God of Armies—

he touches the earth;f

it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn;

all of it rises like the Nile

and subsides like the Nile of Egypt.g

6 He builds his upper chambers

in the heavensh

and lays the foundation of his vault

on the earth.i

He summons the water of the sea

and pours it out over the surface of the earth.j

The Lord is his name.k

ANNOUNCEMENT OF JUDGMENT

7 Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to me?l

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Didn’t I bring Israel from the land of Egypt,

the Philistines from Caphtor,A,m

and the Arameans from Kir?n

8 Look, the eyes of the Lord God

are on the sinful kingdom,o

and I will obliterate it

from the face of the earth.p

However, I will not totally destroy

the house of Jacobq—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

9 for I am about to give the command,

and I will shake the house of Israelr

among all the nations,

as one shakes a sieve,

but not a pebble will fall to the ground.

10 All the sinners among my peoples

who say, “Disaster will never overtakeB

or confront us,”t

will die by the sword.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESTORATION

11 In that day

I will restore the fallen shelteru of David:v

I will repair its gaps,

restore its ruins,w

and rebuild it as in the days of old,x

12 so that they may possess

the remnant of Edomy

and all the nations

that bear my name—* z

this is the declaration of the Lord;

he will do this.

13 Look, the days are coming—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

when the plowman will overtake the reaperaa

and the one who treads grapes,

the sower of seed.

The mountains will drip with sweet wine,

and all the hills will flow with it.ab

14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel.A,ac

They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities,ad

plant vineyards and drink their wine,

make gardens and eat their produce.ae

15 I will plant them on their land,

and they will never again be uprooted

from the land I have given them.af

The Lord your God has spoken.

OBADIAH

The vision of Obadiah.

EDOM’S CERTAIN JUDGMENT

This is what the Lord God has said about Edom:a

We have heard a message from the Lord;b

an envoy has been sentc among the nations:

“Rise up,d and let’s go to war against her.”A

2 Look, I will make you insignificante

among the nations;

you will be deeply despised.

3 Your arrogant heart has deceived you,f

you who live in clefts of the rockB,C,g

in your home on the heights,

who say to yourself,

“Who can bring me down to the ground?”h

4 Though you seem to soarD like an eagleF

and make your nest among the stars,j

even from there I will bring you down.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

5 If thieves came to you,k

if marauders by night—

how ravaged you would be!—

wouldn’t they steal only what they wanted?

If grape harvesters came to you,

wouldn’t they leave a few grapes?l

6 How Esau will be pillaged,m

his hidden treasures searched out!n

7 Everyone who has a treaty with youo

will drive you to the border;

everyone at peace with you

will deceive and conquer you.

Those who eat your breadp

will setE a trap for you.

He will be unaware of it.q

8 In that day—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

will I not eliminate the wise ones of Edomr

and those who understand

from the hill country of Esau?

9 Teman,F,s your warriorst will be terrified

so that everyone from the hill country of Esau

will be destroyed by slaughter.u

EDOM’S SINS AGAINST JUDAH

10 You will be covered with shame

and destroyed forever

because of violence done to your brother Jacob.v

11 On the day you stood aloof,w

on the day strangers captured his wealth,G

while foreigners entered his city gate

and cast lots for Jerusalem,x

you were just like one of them.y

12 Do not* gloat over your brotherz

in the day of his calamity;

do not rejoice over the people of Judahaa

in the day of their destruction;

do not boastfully mockB,ab

in the day of distress.ac

13 Do not enter my people’s city gate

in the day of their disaster.ad

Yes, you—do not gloat over their misery

in the day of their disaster,

and do not appropriate their possessionsae

in the day of their disaster.

14 Do not stand at the crossroadsC,af

to cut off their fugitives,

and do not hand over their survivors

in the day of distress.

JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS

15 For the day of the Lordag is near,

against all the nations.ah

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

what you deserve will return on your own head.aj

16 As you have drunk on my holy mountain,ak

so all the nations will drink continually.a

They will drink and gulp down

and be as though they had never been.

17 But there will be a deliverance on Mount Zion,b

and it will be holy;c

the house of Jacob will dispossessd

those who dispossessed them.D,E

18 Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire,f

and the house of Joseph, a burning flame,

but the house of Esau will be stubble;

JacobE will set them on fire and consume Edom.F

Therefore no survivor will remaing

of the house of Esau,

for the Lord has spoken.

FUTURE BLESSING FOR ISRAEL

19 People from the Negev will possessh

the hill country of Esau;i

those from the Judean foothills will possess

the land of the Philistines.j

TheyG will possess

the territories of Ephraim and Samaria,k

while Benjamin will possess Gilead.

20 The exiles of the Israelites who are in HalahH

and who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephathl

as well as the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad

will possess the cities of the Negev.m

21 SaviorsI will ascend Mount Zionn

to rule over the hill country of Esau,

and the kingdom will be the Lord’s.o

JONAH