Obadiah 1 - EasyEnglish Bible 2024（EASY）

Chapter 1God will punish Edom's people

1This is the vision that Obadiah saw.

The Almighty Lord says this about Edom.

We have heard a message from the Lord.

Someone has taken a message to the nations to say,

‘Get ready to attack Edom!’

2The Lord says to Edom,

‘Listen to me! I will make you very weak.

All the other nations will think that you are useless.

3You are proud that you are very strong.

But you deceive yourselves.

You live among the high rocks

where no enemy can attack you.

Your home is high up in the mountains.

You think to yourselves,

“Nobody can reach us and pull us down!”

4You might try to fly high in the sky like an eagle.

You might even try to make your home among the stars.

But I would bring you down from there!’

That is what the Lord says.

5‘If robbers came to rob you in the night,

they would only take the things that they wanted.

If people came to pick your grapes at harvest time,

they would leave some fruit for the poor people.

But it will be terrible for you!

6Esau's people will lose everything!

Nothing will remain.

Your enemies will take all your valuable things,

even if you hide them!

7Even the nations who have been your friends

will chase you out of your own country.

Nations who have agreed to help you will deceive you.

They will take away your power.

People that you trusted as your friends

will suddenly catch you in a trap.’

8The Lord says,

‘At that time, I will destroy the wise men of Edom.

Yes, I will remove the clever men from Esau's mountain!

9Brave soldiers from Teman will be very afraid.

All the descendants of Esau who live in the mountains will die.

Edom's people helped Judah's enemy

10You were cruel to Jacob's descendants.

They were your brothers but you killed them.

Because of that, you will become very ashamed.

You will come to a final end.

11A foreign army attacked Jerusalem and they went into the city.

They threw dice to decide what valuable things they would take.

You stood and watched while this happened.

You did nothing to help your brothers.

Instead, you were as bad as the foreign enemy.

12When your brothers were in great trouble,

that should not have made you happy.

You should not have laughed at Judah's people

when their enemy was destroying them.

You should not have boasted

when you saw that they were suffering.

13When my people were in great trouble,

you should not have gone in through the gates of their city.

You should not have been happy

to see that they were suffering.

When they were in great trouble,

you should not have taken their valuable things for yourselves.

14You waited beside the road from the city.

You attacked people who were trying to escape.

You caught people who were running away.

You gave them back to their enemies.

You should not have done that to my people

when they were in great trouble.

The day when God will judge people

15The day of the Lord

will come soon.

Then I will judge the people of all the nations.

You will receive punishment

in the same way that you have punished others.

You will receive the punishment that you deserve

for the wicked things that you have done.

16You went on my holy hill and you drank there.

In the same way, people of all nations will have to drink.

They will continue to drink my punishment

until they can drink no more.

Finally, they will completely disappear.

17But on Mount Zion, there will be people who are free again.

It will become a holy place.

Jacob's descendants will take back for themselves

the land that belongs to them.

18Jacob's descendants will be like a hot fire.

Yes, Joseph's descendants will be like flames of fire.

They will completely destroy Esau's descendants,

as a fire destroys dry grass.

None of Esau's descendants will remain.’

That is what the Lord says.

19Israel's people from the Negev Desert

will take the mountains of Esau for themselves.

Those who live in the low hills in the west

will take the land of the Philistines for themselves.

They will also take the land of Ephraim and Samaria.

Benjamin's people will take the region of Gilead for themselves.

20The strong group of Israel's people who have been in exile will return.

They will take the land that belonged to Canaan's people,

as far as Zarephath.

The people of Jerusalem who were in exile in Sepharad

will take the towns in the Negev.

21The people who have become free

will go up to Mount Zion.

They will rule over Edom, Esau's kingdom.

Then the Lord will rule as King!