Obadiah 1; Psalms 82-83 - Prayer Tents

Edom’s Judgment Announced

1This is the vision that the Sovereign Lord revealed to Obadiah concerning the land of Edom. We have heard a message from the Lord that an ambassador was sent to the nations to say, “Get ready, everyone! Let’s assemble our armies and attack Edom!”H2377H5662H559H136H3069H123H8085H8052H3068H6735H7971H1471H6965H6965H44212The Lord says to Edom, “I will cut you down to size among the nations; you will be greatly despised.H5414H6996H1471H3966H9593You have been deceived by your own pride because you live in a rock fortress and make your home high in the mountains. ‘Who can ever reach us way up here?’ you ask boastfully.H2087H3820H5377H7931H2288H5553H3427H4791H559H3820H3381H7764But even if you soar as high as eagles and build your nest among the stars, I will bring you crashing down,” says the Lord.H1361H5404H7760H7064H3556H3381H5002H30685“If thieves came at night and robbed you (what a disaster awaits you!), they would not take everything. Those who harvest grapes always leave a few for the poor. But your enemies will wipe you out completely!H1590H935H7703H3915H1820H1589H1767H1219H935H7604H59556Every nook and cranny of Edom will be searched and looted. Every treasure will be found and taken.H6215H2664H4710H11587“All your allies will turn against you. They will help to chase you from your land. They will promise you peace while plotting to deceive and destroy you. Your trusted friends will set traps for you, and you won’t even know about it.H582H1285H7971H1366H582H7965H5377H3201H3899H7760H4204H83948At that time not a single wise person will be left in the whole land of Edom,” says the Lord. “For on the mountains of Edom I will destroy everyone who has understanding.H3117H5002H3068H6H2450H123H8394H2022H62159The mightiest warriors of Teman will be terrified, and everyone on the mountains of Edom will be cut down in the slaughter.H1368H8487H2865H376H2022H6215H3772H6993

Reasons for Edom’s Punishment

10“Because of the violence you did to your close relatives in Israel, you will be filled with shame and destroyed forever.H2555H251H3290H955H3680H3772H576911When they were invaded, you stood aloof, refusing to help them. Foreign invaders carried off their wealth and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem, but you acted like one of Israel’s enemies.H3117H5975H3117H2114H7617H2428H5237H935H8179H3032H1486H3389H25912“You should not have gloated when they exiled your relatives to distant lands. You should not have rejoiced when the people of Judah suffered such misfortune. You should not have spoken arrogantly in that terrible time of trouble.H7200H3117H251H3117H5235H8055H1121H3063H3117H6H6310H1431H3117H686913You should not have plundered the land of Israel when they were suffering such calamity. You should not have gloated over their destruction when they were suffering such calamity. You should not have seized their wealth when they were suffering such calamity.H935H8179H5971H3117H343H7200H7451H3117H343H7971H2428H3117H34314You should not have stood at the crossroads, killing those who tried to escape. You should not have captured the survivors and handed them over in their terrible time of trouble.H5975H6563H3772H6412H5462H8300H3117H6869

Edom Destroyed, Israel Restored

15“The day is near when I, the Lord, will judge all godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads.H3117H3068H7138H1471H6213H6213H1576H7725H721816Just as you swallowed up my people on my holy mountain, so you and the surrounding nations will swallow the punishment I pour out on you. Yes, all you nations will drink and stagger and disappear from history.H8354H6944H2022H1471H8354H8548H8354H3886H380817“But Jerusalem will become a refuge for those who escape; it will be a holy place. And the people of Israel will come back to reclaim their inheritance.H2022H6726H6413H6944H1004H3290H3423H418018The people of Israel will be a raging fire, and Edom a field of dry stubble. The descendants of Joseph will be a flame roaring across the field, devouring everything. There will be no survivors in Edom. I, the Lord, have spoken!H1004H3290H784H1004H3130H3852H1004H6215H7179H1814H398H8300H1004H6215H3068H169619“Then my people living in the Negev will occupy the mountains of Edom. Those living in the foothills of Judah will possess the Philistine plains and take over the fields of Ephraim and Samaria. And the people of Benjamin will occupy the land of Gilead.H5045H3423H2022H6215H8219H6430H3423H7704H669H7704H8111H1144H156820The exiles of Israel will return to their land and occupy the Phoenician coast as far north as Zarephath. The captives from Jerusalem exiled in the north will return home and resettle the towns of the Negev.H1546H2426H1121H3478H3669H6886H1546H3389H5614H3423H5892H504521Those who have been rescued will go up to Mount Zion in Jerusalem to rule over the mountains of Edom. And the Lord himself will be king!”H3467H5927H2022H6726H8199H2022H6215H4410H3068

82[A psalm of Asaph.] God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings.H4210H623H430H5324H5712H410H8199H7130H430 2“How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked? InterludeH8199H5766H5375H6440H7563H5542 3“Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.H8199H1800H3490H6663H6041H7326 4Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people.H6403H1800H34H5337H3027H7563 5But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core.H3045H995H1980H2825H4144H776H4131 6I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High.H559H430H1121H5945 7But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’”H403H4191H120H5307H259H8269 8Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you.H6965H430H8199H776H5157H1471

83[A song. A psalm of Asaph.] O God, do not be silent! Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, O God.H7892H4210H623H1824H430H2790H8252H410 2Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies? Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?H341H1993H8130H5375H7218 3They devise crafty schemes against your people; they conspire against your precious ones.H6191H5475H5971H3289H6845 4“Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”H559H3212H3582H1471H8034H3478H2142 5Yes, this was their unanimous decision. They signed a treaty as allies against you—H3289H3162H3820H3772H1285 6these Edomites and Ishmaelites; Moabites and Hagrites;H168H123H3459H4124H1905 7Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and people from Philistia and Tyre.H1381H5983H6002H6429H3427H6865 8Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot. InterludeH804H3867H2220H1121H3876H5542 9Do to them as you did to the Midianites and as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.H6213H4080H5516H2985H5158H7028 10They were destroyed at Endor, and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.H8045H5874H1828H127 11Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did. Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna,H7896H5081H6159H2062H5257H2078H6759 12for they said, “Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!”H559H4999H430H3423 13O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind!H430H7896H1534H7179H6440H7307 14As a fire burns a forest and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,H784H1197H3293H3852H3857H2022H3857 15chase them with your fierce storm; terrify them with your tempest.H7291H5591H926H5492 16Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, O Lord.H4390H6440H7036H1245H8034H3068 17Let them be ashamed and terrified forever. Let them die in disgrace.H954H926H5703H2659H6 18Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.H3045H8034H3068H5945H776