חֲזוֹן עֹבַדְיָה כֹּה־אָמַר ה' אֱלוֹהִים לֶאֱדוֹם שְׁמוּעָה שָׁמַעְנוּ מֵאֵת ה' וצִיר בַּגּוֹיִם שֻׁלָּח קוּמוּ וְנָקוּמָה עָלֶיהָ לַמִּלְחָמָה

The vision of Obadiah. A vision is one of several descriptive terms for a prophecy; it refers specifically to the prophet’s ability to see and understand enigmatic matters. So said the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard prophetic tidings from the Lord, and also an envoy was sent among the nations. Diplomatic emissaries have already been sent to various heads of state with the following message: Arise, and let us all rise against it, the land of Edom, in war. Many nations are undertaking a joint campaign to attempt the conquest of Edom. According to one opinion, Obadiah himself was an Edomite convert.

הִנֵּה קָטֹן נְתַתִּיךָ בַּגּוֹיִם בָּזוּי אַתָּה מְאֹד

The prophet addresses Edom: Behold, I rendered you small, a tiny nation among the nations. You have always been a minor kingdom, and furthermore, you are greatly spurned. You have no special status among the nations, and you are unworthy of their attention.

זְדוֹן לִבְּךָ הִשִּׁיאֶךָ שֹׁכְנִי בְחַגְוֵי סֶּלַע מְרוֹם שִׁבְתּוֹ אֹמֵר בְּלִבּוֹ מִי יוֹרִדֵנִי אָרֶץ!

However, the malice of your heart, your aggression and wickedness, has misled you into provoking others into war. Edom, who dwells in the clefts of the rock, his abode is lofty; his fortresses and fortified places are located at high altitudes, far from inhabited areas, causing his pride to swell. He says in his heart: Who will take me down to earth? Who could possibly defeat me here? Although the fortresses hewn from rock in the city of Petra, which is generally identified as the Rock of Edom, were built centuries later, Obadiah is probably referring to similar fortifications in the same area.

אִם־תַּגְבִּיהַּ כַּנֶּשֶׁר וְאִם־בֵּין כּוֹכָבִים שִׂים קִנֶּךָ מִשָּׁם אוֹרִידְךָ נְאֻם־ה'

The prophet responds to this boastful claim: If you raise yourself like the eagle, even loftier than the mountain peaks, or place your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down; this is the utterance of the Lord. Even if others cannot reach you, I, God, can. The retribution that will be visited upon you will be very severe.

אִם־גַּנָּבִים בָּאוּ לְךָ אִם־שׁוֹדְדֵי לַיְלָה אֵיךְ נִדְמֵיתָה! הֲלוֹא יִגְנְבוּ דַּיָּם אִם־בֹּצְרִים בָּאוּ לָךְ הֲלוֹא יַשְׁאִירוּ עֹלֵלוֹת

If thieves came for you, if plunderers of the night, how would you be totally destroyed? How is it possible that you would be completely destroyed? If thieves or robbers were to infiltrate your territory, they would not take everything. Would they not steal just enough for them? They would steal only that which they need, and would leave some items. Obadiah offers another metaphor for the same idea: If grape harvesters came for you, would they not leave grape gleanings? Even gatherers of grapes leave behind a few grapes in the vineyard.

אֵיךְ נֶחְפְּשׂוּ עֵשָׂו נִבְעוּ מַצְפֻּנָיו

By contrast, how the treasure of Esau was searched and totally pillaged. Alternatively, how is Esau examined thoroughly. How his hoards and riches are revealed. He has been entirely stripped of all his wealth.

עַד־הַגְּבוּל שִׁלְּחוּךָ כֹּל אַנְשֵׁי בְרִיתֶךָ הִשִּׁיאוּךָ יָכְלוּ לְךָ אַנְשֵׁי שְׁלֹמֶךָ לַחְמְךָ יָשִׂימוּ מָזוֹר תַּחְתֶּיךָ אֵין תְּבוּנָה בּוֹ

All the men of your covenant escorted you to the border. The members of your alliance, possibly local Midyanite or Arab tribes, accompanied you only to the edge of the battlefield, and then they abandoned you there. Alternatively, it was your own confederacy that betrayed you and expelled you from your borders. Your allies misled you and overcame you; they who eat your bread, the people whom you sustained and protected, will set a snare, or will inflict a wound, in your place. Alternatively, this phrase might mean that your bread has grown moldy, or that it has been placed upon your wounds for therapeutic purposes, in the manner that moldy bread was placed upon a sore. There is no sagacity in him, your people, and therefore you are unable to prepare for this situation and protect yourselves.

הֲלוֹא בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם ה' וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי חֲכָמִים מֵאֱדוֹם וּתְבוּנָה מֵהַר עֵשָׂו

Will it not be on that day of Edom’s downfall – the utterance of the Lord – that I will eliminate the wise from Edom, and understanding from the Mountain of Esau? They will march to their demise, unable to prevent it.

וְחַתּוּ גִבּוֹרֶיךָ תֵּימָן לְמַעַן יִכָּרֶת־אִישׁ מֵהַר עֵשָׂו מִקָּטֶל

Your mighty, Teman, which is part of the land of Edom, perhaps the name of a clan or a city, will be dismayed, or broken, so that, with the result that, each man from the Mountain of Esau, will be eliminated by the massive slaughter. The term Teman often appears in the Bible together with Edom.

מֵחֲמַס אָחִיךָ יַעֲקֹב תְּכַסְּךָ בוּשָׁה וְנִכְרַתָּ לְעוֹלָם

After describing Edom’s downfall, the prophet cites the reason why this will occur: For the villainy done by you to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be eliminated forever.

בְּיוֹם עֲמָדְךָ מִנֶּגֶד בְּיוֹם שְׁבוֹת זָרִים חֵילוֹ וְנָכְרִים בָּאוּ שְׁעָרָיו וְעַל־יְרוּשָׁלִַם יַדּוּ גוֹרָל גַּם־אַתָּה כְּאַחַד מֵהֶם

The prophet continues to address Edom and explains that their villainy took various forms: On the day that you stood opposite, on the day that strangers, foreign nations, captured his riches, the property and army of your brother Jacob, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots on Jerusalem, you too were like one of them. When several armies are preparing to conquer a city, they divide the different areas of the city between them by means of a lottery in order to prevent internal squabbles over the loot. The prophet accuses Edom not only of standing aside at the hour of his brother’s distress, but of encouraging his enemies and rejoicing in his downfall, and even of joining the war themselves. Perhaps Edom was not powerful enough to fight by itself, but it collaborated with the conquering armies.

וְאַל־תֵּרֶא בְיוֹם אָחִיךָ בְּיוֹם נָכְרוֹ וְאַל־תִּשְׂמַח לִבְנֵי־יְהוּדָה בְּיוֹם אָבְדָם וְאַל־תַּגְדֵּל פִּיךָ בְּיוֹם צָרָה

Do not gaze scornfully on the day of the downfall of your brother, on the day of his calamity, when all ignored him. Do not rejoice over the children of Judah on the day of their destruction; do not open wide your mouth to mock them on the day of their distress. Since the Kingdom of Judah had ruled over Edom for many years, their downfall enhanced the Edomites’ self-image.

אַל־תָּבוֹא בְשַׁעַר־עַמִּי בְּיוֹם אֵידָם אַל־תֵּרֶא גַם־אַתָּה בְּרָעָתוֹ בְּיוֹם אֵידוֹ וְאַל־תִּשְׁלַחְנָה בְחֵילוֹ בְּיוֹם אֵידוֹ

Do not enter the gate of My people on the day of their ruin; you, their brother, also, do not gaze on his misfortune on the day of his ruin, and do not reach for his riches, their possessions, on the day of his ruin.

וְאַל־תַּעֲמֹד עַל־הַפֶּרֶק לְהַכְרִית אֶת־פְּלִיטָיו וְאַל־תַּסְגֵּר שְׂרִידָיו בְּיוֹם צָרָה

Do not stand at the crossroads to eliminate his survivors. The Edomites stood guard at crossroads and killed any Judean refugees who were seeking to flee. And do not turn over to the enemy his refugees, the survivors of Judah, on the day of distress.

כִּי־קָרוֹב יוֹם־ה' עַל־כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָ יֵעָשֶׂה לָּךְ גְּמֻלְךָ יָשׁוּב בְּרֹאשֶׁךָ

For the day of justice and vengeance of the Lord is near, it will fall upon all the nations; and on that day, what you did will be done to you; your retribution will return upon your head.

כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר שְׁתִיתֶם עַל־הַר קָדְשִׁי יִשְׁתּוּ כָל־הַגּוֹיִם תָּמִיד וְשָׁתוּ וְלָעוּ וְהָיוּ כְּלוֹא הָיוּ

For as you drank in celebration of the defeat of Israel on My holy mountain, so will all the nations drink always the cups of rage; they will drink and they will swallow, they will choke and suffer distress, and ultimately they will be as if they had not been, as they will die.

ובְהַר צִיּוֹן תִּהְיֶה פְלֵיטָה וְהָיָה קֹדֶשׁ וְיָרְשׁוּ בֵּית יַעֲקֹב אֵת מוֹרָשֵׁיהֶם

But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant on the day of the Lord, and it, the mount, will be holy, as it will not be profaned; and the house of Jacob will take possession from their dispossessors, who plundered them.

וְהָיָה בֵית־יַעֲקֹב אֵשׁ וּבֵית יוֹסֵף לֶהָבָה וּבֵית עֵשָׂו לְקַשׁ וְדָלְקוּ בָהֶם וַאֲכָלוּם וְלֹא־יִהְיֶה שָׂרִיד לְבֵית עֵשָׂו כִּי ה' דִּבֵּר

The house of Jacob will be fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau, the Edomites, will be straw, and they, the fire and flame, will ignite them, the straw, and consume them; there will not be any survivor of the house of Esau, as the Lord has spoken.

וְיָרְשׁוּ הַנֶּגֶב אֶת־הַר עֵשָׂו וְהַשְּׁפֵלָה אֶת־פְּלִשְׁתִּים וְיָרְשׁוּ אֶת־שְׂדֵה אֶפְרַיִם וְאֵת שְׂדֵה שֹׁמְרוֹן וּבִנְיָמִן אֶת־הַגִּלְעָד

On the day of the redemption of the Jewish people, the former boundaries between territories will change. The residents of the South, the tribes of Judah and Simeon, will take possession of the Mountain of Esau, and the residents of the plain in the Land of Israel will possess the nearby Philistines; they will also take possession of the Field of Ephraim and the Field of Samaria, the capital of Ephraim; and Benjamin will possess the Gilad. The inheritance of Benjamin previously reached the Jordan River, but from the day of the redemption no one will prevent their further expansion into Gilad.

וְגָלֻת הַחֵל הַזֶּה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר כְּנַעֲנִים עַד־צָרְפַת וְגָלֻת יְרוּשָׁלִַם אֲשֶׁר בִּסְפָרַד יִרְשׁוּ אֵת עָרֵי הַנֶּגֶב

The exile of this host of the children of Israel, their soldiers and exiled congregation, who are among, living in, the land of the Canaanites, up to Tzarefat, and the exile of Jerusalem that is in Sefarad, will take possession of the cities of the South. Tzarefat was a city in Sidon where Elijah had traveled in his wanderings many years earlier. However, there is an ancient tradition that identifies Tzarefat with France, which is the country known by this name in modern Hebrew. Sefarad was a city in Asia Minor, but again there is a tradition that it is Spain, called Sefarad in modern Hebrew. In any case, the meaning is that Jews who were exiled to distant lands will return and take over the cities of the south, which will not be heavily populated because their former residents will have expanded into the highlands of Esau.

וְעָלוּ מוֹשִׁעִים בְּהַר צִיּוֹן לִשְׁפֹּט אֶת הַר עֵשָׂו וְהָיְתָה לַה' הַמְּלוּכָה

Saviors, leaders of Israel, will ascend Mount Zion to judge the remnant on the Mountain of Esau. At that time, when the sinners are brought to justice and wickedness will cease entirely, none will deny the rule of Heaven and claim loyalty to false gods, and the kingdom will be to the Lord.