This is what the Lord says:“ The people of Edom have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They chased down their relatives, the Israelites, with swords, showing them no mercy. In their rage, they slashed them continually and were unrelenting in their anger.

耶和华如此说：“以东三番四次地犯罪，我必不免去她的刑罚；因为她拿刀追赶兄弟，毫无怜悯，发怒撕裂，永怀忿怒。

耶和华如此说：“以东三番四次犯罪，怒气不停发作，永远怀着愤怒，拿刀追赶兄弟，丝毫不存怜悯，我必不撤销对它的惩罚。

耶和华如此说：“以东三番四次犯罪，怒气不停发作，永远怀着愤怒，拿刀追赶兄弟，丝毫不存怜悯，我必不撤销对它的惩罚。

耶和华说：“以东人三番四次地犯罪，我必不收回对他们的惩罚，因为他们拔刀追赶自己的弟兄，没有半点怜悯之心；他们怒气不息，永怀愤怒。

“耶和华这样说：‘以东三番四次犯罪，我必不收回惩罚他的命令；因为他拿刀追杀他的兄弟，没有丝毫怜悯；他的怒气不断爆发，他的忿怒永不止息。

耶和華如此說：以東三番四次地犯罪，我必不免去她的刑罰；因為她拿刀追趕兄弟，毫無憐憫，發怒撕裂，永懷忿怒。

耶和華如此說：「以東三番四次犯罪，怒氣不停發作，永遠懷着憤怒，拿刀追趕兄弟，絲毫不存憐憫，我必不撤銷對它的懲罰。

耶和華如此說：「以東三番四次犯罪，怒氣不停發作，永遠懷着憤怒，拿刀追趕兄弟，絲毫不存憐憫，我必不撤銷對它的懲罰。

耶和華說：「以東人三番四次地犯罪，我必不收回對他們的懲罰，因為他們拔刀追趕自己的弟兄，沒有半點憐憫之心；他們怒氣不息，永懷憤怒。

“耶和華這樣說：‘以東三番四次犯罪，我必不收回懲罰他的命令；因為他拿刀追殺他的兄弟，沒有絲毫憐憫；他的怒氣不斷爆發，他的忿怒永不止息。

永恆主這麼說：『以東三番四次地悖逆，我必不收回成命，因為他拿刀追趕他的兄弟，毁盡了憐憫之心；他的忿怒永遠撕裂了人，他的暴怒他長久懷着。

耶和華曰、以東干罪、至三至四、我不挽回厥罰、以其以刃追襲昆弟、絕無矜憫、發忿傷人不已、怒氣恆懷也、

耶和華又曰、以東犯罪、至三至四、更逐兄弟、擊之以刃、絕無矜憫、挾怨傷人、藏怒不已、故我必罰其罪、

主如是云、以東人犯罪、至三至四、更以刃追弟、棄絕矜憫、永遠發怒、恆忿不已、故我降罰以報之、必不挽回、

This is what the Lord says:“ For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not relent. Because he pursued his brother with a sword and slaughtered the women of the land, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked,

The Lord says,“ The people of Edom have sinned again and again. So I will judge them. They chased Israel with swords that were ready to strike them down. They killed the women of the land. They were angry all the time. Their anger was like a fire that blazed out. It could not be stopped.

Thus says the Lord:“ For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.

The LORD says: I will not relent from punishing Edom for three crimes, even four, because he pursued his brother with the sword. He stifled his compassion, his anger tore at him continually, and he harbored his rage incessantly.

This is what the Lord says:“ For three offenses of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, Because he pursued his brother with the sword And stifled his compassion; His anger also tore continually, And he maintained his fury forever.

Thus says the Lord:“ For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because he pursued his brother with the sword, And cast off all pity; His anger tore perpetually, And he kept his wrath forever.

Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever.

The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Edom for three crimes, even four, because he pursued his brother with the sword. He stifled his compassion, his anger tore at them continually, and he harbored his rage incessantly.

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away[ the punishment] thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever:

This is what the LORD says:“ Because Edom has committed three crimes– make that four!– I will not revoke my decree of judgment. He chased his brother with a sword; he wiped out his allies. In his anger he tore them apart without stopping to rest; in his fury he relentlessly attacked them.

Yahweh says:“ For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever;

“ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Edom have sinned greatly by avenging themselves against the people of Judah.Therefore, says the Sovereign Lord, I will raise my fist of judgment against Edom. I will wipe out its people and animals with the sword. I will make a wasteland of everything from Teman to Dedan.I will accomplish this by the hand of my people of Israel. They will carry out my vengeance with anger, and Edom will know that this vengeance is from me. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!

The armies of Edom had again invaded Judah and taken captives.

While Moses was at Kadesh, he sent ambassadors to the king of Edom with this message:“ This is what your relatives, the people of Israel, say: You know all the hardships we have been through.Our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived there a long time, and we and our ancestors were brutally mistreated by the Egyptians.But when we cried out to the Lord, he heard us and sent an angel who brought us out of Egypt. Now we are camped at Kadesh, a town on the border of your land.Please let us travel through your land. We will be careful not to go through your fields and vineyards. We won’t even drink water from your wells. We will stay on the king’s road and never leave it until we have passed through your territory.”But the king of Edom said,“ Stay out of my land, or I will meet you with an army!”The Israelites answered,“ We will stay on the main road. If our livestock drink your water, we will pay for it. Just let us pass through your country. That’s all we ask.”But the king of Edom replied,“ Stay out! You may not pass through our land.” With that he mobilized his army and marched out against them with an imposing force.Because Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their country, Israel was forced to turn around.

Esau’s descendants in Edom may say,“ We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins.” But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies replies,“ They may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again. Their country will be known as‘ The Land of Wickedness,’ and their people will be called‘ The People with Whom the Lord Is Forever Angry.’

This message was given concerning Edom. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:“ Is there no wisdom in Teman? Is no one left to give wise counsel?Turn and flee! Hide in deep caves, you people of Dedan! For when I bring disaster on Edom, I will punish you, too!Those who harvest grapes always leave a few for the poor. If thieves came at night, they would not take everything.But I will strip bare the land of Edom, and there will be no place left to hide. Its children, its brothers, and its neighbors will all be destroyed, and Edom itself will be no more.But I will protect the orphans who remain among you. Your widows, too, can depend on me for help.”And this is what the Lord says:“ If the innocent must suffer, how much more must you! You will not go unpunished! You must drink this cup of judgment!For I have sworn by my own name,” says the Lord,“ that Bozrah will become an object of horror and a heap of ruins; it will be mocked and cursed. All its towns and villages will be desolate forever.”I have heard a message from the Lord that an ambassador was sent to the nations to say,“ Form a coalition against Edom, and prepare for battle!”The Lord says to Edom,“ I will cut you down to size among the nations. You will be despised by all.You have been deceived by the fear you inspire in others and by your own pride. You live in a rock fortress and control the mountain heights. But even if you make your nest among the peaks with the eagles, I will bring you crashing down,” says the Lord.“ Edom will be an object of horror. All who pass by will be appalled and will gasp at the destruction they see there.It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns,” says the Lord.“ No one will live there; no one will inhabit it.I will come like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan, leaping on the sheep in the pasture. I will chase Edom from its land, and I will appoint the leader of my choice. For who is like me, and who can challenge me? What ruler can oppose my will?”Listen to the Lord’s plans against Edom and the people of Teman. Even the little children will be dragged off like sheep, and their homes will be destroyed.The earth will shake with the noise of Edom’s fall, and its cry of despair will be heard all the way to the Red Sea.Look! The enemy swoops down like an eagle, spreading his wings over Bozrah. Even the mightiest warriors will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

O Lord, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem.“ Destroy it!” they yelled.“ Level it to the ground!”

But Egypt will become a wasteland and Edom will become a wilderness, because they attacked the people of Judah and killed innocent people in their land.

This 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!”The Lord says to Edom,“ I will cut you down to size among the nations; you will be greatly despised.You 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.But even if you soar as high as eagles and build your nest among the stars, I will bring you crashing down,” says the Lord.“ 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!Every nook and cranny of Edom will be searched and looted. Every treasure will be found and taken.“ 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.At 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.The mightiest warriors of Teman will be terrified, and everyone on the mountains of Edom will be cut down in the slaughter.“ Because of the violence you did to your close relatives in Israel, you will be filled with shame and destroyed forever.When 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.“ 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.You 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.You 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.

Again a message came to me from the Lord:“ Son of man, turn and face Mount Seir, and prophesy against its people.Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord:“ I am your enemy, O Mount Seir, and I will raise my fist against you to destroy you completely.I will demolish your cities and make you desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.“ Your eternal hatred for the people of Israel led you to butcher them when they were helpless, when I had already punished them for all their sins.As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, since you show no distaste for blood, I will give you a bloodbath of your own. Your turn has come!I will make Mount Seir utterly desolate, killing off all who try to escape and any who return.I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your hills, your valleys, and your ravines will be filled with people slaughtered by the sword.I will make you desolate forever. Your cities will never be rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the Lord.“ For you said,‘ The lands of Israel and Judah will be ours. We will take possession of them. What do we care that the Lord is there!’Therefore, as surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will pay back your angry deeds with my own. I will punish you for all your acts of anger, envy, and hatred. And I will make myself known to Israel by what I do to you.Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard every contemptuous word you spoke against the mountains of Israel. For you said,‘ They are desolate; they have been given to us as food to eat!’In saying that, you boasted proudly against me, and I have heard it all!“ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The whole world will rejoice when I make you desolate.You rejoiced at the desolation of Israel’s territory. Now I will rejoice at yours! You will be wiped out, you people of Mount Seir and all who live in Edom! Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength?“ It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation! It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save!”Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes?“ I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. Their blood has stained my clothes.For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors.I was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm, and my wrath sustained me.I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground, spilling their blood upon the earth.”I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love. I will praise the Lord for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted according to his mercy and love.

Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool.

Give these orders to the people:“ You will pass through the country belonging to your relatives the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. The Edomites will feel threatened, so be careful.Do not bother them, for I have given them all the hill country around Mount Seir as their property, and I will not give you even one square foot of their land.If you need food to eat or water to drink, pay them for it.For the Lord your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the Lord your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.”’“ So we bypassed the territory of our relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We avoided the road through the Arabah Valley that comes up from Elath and Ezion geber.“ Then as we turned north along the desert route through Moab,

“ Do not detest the Edomites or the Egyptians, because the Edomites are your relatives and you lived as foreigners among the Egyptians.

They devise crafty schemes against your people; they conspire against your precious ones.“ Come,” they say,“ let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”Yes, this was their unanimous decision. They signed a treaty as allies against you—these Edomites and Ishmaelites; Moabites and Hagrites;Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and people from Philistia and Tyre.Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Interlude

Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love.

You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck.”From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing. And Esau began to scheme:“ I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.”

This message came to me concerning Edom: Someone from Edom keeps calling to me,“ Watchman, how much longer until morning? When will the night be over?”The watchman replies,“ Morning is coming, but night will soon return. If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.”

Are you rejoicing in the land of Uz, O people of Edom? But you, too, must drink from the cup of the Lord’s anger. You, too, will be stripped naked in your drunkenness.O beautiful Jerusalem, your punishment will end; you will soon return from exile. But Edom, your punishment is just beginning; soon your many sins will be exposed.

Come here and listen, O nations of the earth. Let the world and everything in it hear my words.For the Lord is enraged against the nations. His fury is against all their armies. He will completely destroy them, dooming them to slaughter.Their dead will be left unburied, and the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land. The mountains will flow with their blood.The heavens above will melt away and disappear like a rolled up scroll. The stars will fall from the sky like withered leaves from a grapevine, or shriveled figs from a fig tree.And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens, it will fall upon Edom, the nation I have marked for destruction.The sword of the Lord is drenched with blood and covered with fat— with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of rams prepared for sacrifice. Yes, the Lord will offer a sacrifice in the city of Bozrah. He will make a mighty slaughter in Edom.Even men as strong as wild oxen will die— the young men alongside the veterans. The land will be soaked with blood and the soil enriched with fat.For it is the day of the Lord’s revenge, the year when Edom will be paid back for all it did to Israel.The streams of Edom will be filled with burning pitch, and the ground will be covered with fire.This judgment on Edom will never end; the smoke of its burning will rise forever. The land will lie deserted from generation to generation. No one will live there anymore.It will be haunted by the desert owl and the screech owl, the great owl and the raven. For God will measure that land carefully; he will measure it for chaos and destruction.It will be called the Land of Nothing, and all its nobles will soon be gone.Thorns will overrun its palaces; nettles and thistles will grow in its forts. The ruins will become a haunt for jackals and a home for owls.Desert animals will mingle there with hyenas, their howls filling the night. Wild goats will bleat at one another among the ruins, and night creatures will come there to rest.There the owl will make her nest and lay her eggs. She will hatch her young and cover them with her wings. And the buzzards will come, each one with its mate.Search the book of the Lord, and see what he will do. Not one of these birds and animals will be missing, and none will lack a mate, for the Lord has promised this. His Spirit will make it all come true.He has surveyed and divided the land and deeded it over to those creatures. They will possess it forever, from generation to generation.

For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass away— all the souls I have made.

And“ don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

“ I have always loved you,” says the Lord. But you retort,“ Really? How have you loved us?” And the Lord replies,“ This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob,

Will you be angry with us always? Will you prolong your wrath to all generations?