Isaiah 34:9-12

34:9 Edom’s ¹  streams will be turned into pitch

and her soil into brimstone;

her land will become burning pitch.

34:10 Night and day it will burn; ² 

its smoke will ascend continually.

Generation after generation it will be a wasteland

and no one will ever pass through it again.

34:11 Owls and wild animals ³  will live there, ⁴ 

all kinds of wild birds ⁵  will settle in it.

The Lord ⁶  will stretch out over her

the measuring line of ruin

and the plumb line ⁷  of destruction. ⁸ 

34:12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom

and all her officials will disappear. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 49:16-18

49:16 The terror you inspire in others ¹⁰ 

and the arrogance of your heart have deceived you.

You may make your home in the clefts of the rocks;

you may occupy the highest places in the hills. ¹¹ 

But even if you made your home where the eagles nest,

I would bring you down from there,”

says the Lord.

49:17 “Edom will become an object of horror.

All who pass by it will be filled with horror;

they will hiss out their scorn

because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ¹² 

49:18 Edom will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah

and the towns that were around them.

No one will live there.

No human being will settle in it,”

says the Lord.

Ezekiel 25:13-14

25:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom, and I will kill the people and animals within her, ¹³  and I will make her desolate; from Teman to Dedan they will die ¹⁴  by the sword. 25:14 I will exact my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel. They will carry out in Edom my anger and rage; they will experience ¹⁵  my vengeance, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Ezekiel 36:3-4

36:3 So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip ¹⁶  and slander among the people, 36:4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, and to the desolate ruins and the abandoned cities that have become prey and an object of derision to the rest of the nations round about –

Ezekiel 36:7

36:7 So this is what the sovereign Lord says: I vow ¹⁷  that the nations around you will endure insults as well.

Ezekiel 36:9

36:9 For indeed, I am on your side; ¹⁸  I will turn to you, and you will be plowed and planted.

Ezekiel 36:14-15

36:14 therefore you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the sovereign Lord. 36:15 I will no longer subject you to ¹⁹  the nations’ insults; no longer will you bear the shame of the peoples, and no longer will you bereave ²⁰  your nation, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Joel 3:19

3:19 Egypt will be desolate

and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,

because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, ²¹ 

in whose land they shed innocent blood.

Obadiah 1:10

Edom’s Treachery Against Judah

1:10 “Because ²²  you violently slaughtered ²³  your relatives, ²⁴  the people of Jacob, ²⁵ 

shame will cover you, and you will be destroyed ²⁶  forever.

Obadiah 1:18-21

1:18 The descendants of Jacob will be a fire,

and the descendants of Joseph a flame.

The descendants of Esau will be like stubble.

They will burn them up and devour them.

There will not be a single survivor ²⁷  of the descendants of Esau!”

Indeed, the Lord has spoken it.

1:19 The people of the Negev ²⁸  will take possession ²⁹  of Esau’s mountain,

and the people of the Shephelah ³⁰  will take

possession ³¹  of the land of ³²  the Philistines.

They will also take possession of the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria,

and the people of Benjamin will take possession ³³  of Gilead. ³⁴ 

1:20 The exiles of this fortress ³⁵  of the people of Israel

will take possession ³⁶  of what belongs to

the people of Canaan, as far as Zarephath, ³⁷ 

and the exiles of Jerusalem ³⁸  who are in Sepharad ³⁹ 

will take possession of the towns of the Negev.

1:21 Those who have been delivered ⁴⁰  will go up on Mount Zion

in order to rule over ⁴¹  Esau’s mountain.

Then the Lord will reign as King! ⁴² 

[34:9]  ¹ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Edom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:10]  ² tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”

[34:11]  ³ tn קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).

[34:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).

[34:11]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof vÿ’orev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.

[34:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.

[34:11]  ⁸ sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.

[34:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “will be nothing”; NCV, TEV, NLT “will all be gone.”

[49:16]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of this Hebrew word (תִּפְלֶצֶת, tifletset) is uncertain because it occurs only here. However, it is related to a verb root that refers to the shaking of the pillars (of the earth) in Job 9:6 and a noun (מִפְלֶצֶת, mifletset) that refers to “horror” or “shuddering” used in Job 21:6; Isa 21:4; Ezek 7:18; Ps 55:6. This is the nuance that is accepted by BDB, KBL, HAL and a majority of the modern English versions. The suffix is an objective genitive. The fact that the following verb is masculine singular suggests that the text here (הִשִּׁיא אֹתָךְ, hishi’ ’otakh) is in error for הִשִּׁיאָתָךְ (hishi’atakh; so G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 327, n. 16.a).

[49:16]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text of the first four lines reads: “Your terror [= the terror you inspire] has deceived you, [and] the arrogance of your heart, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who occupy the heights of the hill.” The sentence is broken up and restructured to better conform with English style.

[49:17]  ¹² sn This verse is very similar to Jer 19:8 where the same judgment is pronounced on Jerusalem. For the meaning of some of the terms here (“hiss out their scorn” and “all the disasters that have happened to it”) see the notes on that verse.

[25:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “and I will cut off from her man and beast.”

[25:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “fall.”

[25:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “know.”

[36:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lip of the tongue.”

[36:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[36:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I (am) toward you.”

[36:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “cause you to hear.”

[36:15]  ²⁰ tc The MT reads תַכְשִׁלִי (takhshiliy), a metathesis for תַשְׁכִלִי (tashkhiliy) from the root שָׁכַל (shakhal) which is used in each of the previous verses.

[3:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “violence of the sons of Judah.” The phrase “of the sons of Judah” is an objective genitive (cf. KJV “the violence against the children of Judah”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “violence done to the people of Judah”). It refers to injustices committed against the Judeans, not violence that the Judeans themselves had committed against others.

[1:10]  ²² tn Heb “from.” The preposition is used here with a causal sense.

[1:10]  ²³ tn Heb “because of the slaughter and because of the violence.” These two expressions form a hendiadys meaning “because of the violent slaughter.” Traditional understanding connects the first phrase “because of the slaughter” with the end of v. 9 (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). It is preferable, however, to regard it as parallel to the reference to violence at the beginning of v. 11. Both the parallel linguistic structure of the two phrases and the metrical structure of the verse favor connecting this phrase with the beginning of v. 10 (cf. NRSV, TEV).

[1:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the violence of your brother.” The genitive construction is to be understood as an objective genitive. The meaning is not that Jacob has perpetrated violence (= subjective genitive), but that violence has been committed against him (= objective genitive).

[1:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “your brother Jacob” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NCV “your relatives, the Israelites.”

[1:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “be cut off” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[1:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “will be no survivor”; NAB “none shall survive.”

[1:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the Negev”; ASV “the South”; NCV, TEV “southern Judah.” The Hebrew text does not have the words “the people of,” but these words have been supplied in the translation for clarity. The place name “the Negev” functions as a synecdoche (container for contents) for the people living in the Negev.

[1:19]  ²⁹ sn The verb יָרַשׁ (yarash, “to take possession of [something]”) which is repeated three times in vv. 19-20 for emphasis, often implies a violent means of acquisition, such as through military conquest. Obadiah here pictures a dramatic reversal: Judah’s enemies, who conquered them then looted all her valuable possessions, will soon be conquered by the Judeans who will in turn take possession of their valuables. The punishment will fit the crime.

[1:19]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew text does not have the words “the people of,” but they are supplied in the translation since “the Shephelah” functions as a synecdoche referring to residents of this region.

[1:19]  ³¹ tn The phrase “will take possession” does not appear in this clause, but is implied from its previous use in this verse. It is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[1:19]  ³² tn The words “the land of” are not present in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:19]  ³³ tn The phrase “will take possession” does not appear in this clause, but is implied from its previous use in this verse. It is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:19]  ³⁴ sn Gilead is a mountainous region on the eastern side of the Jordan River in what is today the country of Jordan.

[1:20]  ³⁵ tn Or “army” (TEV); KJV, NAB, NASB “host”; NIV “company.” Some text critics suggest revocalizing MT הַחֵל (hakhel, “the fortress”) to the place- name הָלָה (halah, “Halah”; so NRSV), the location to which many of the Israelite exiles were sent in the 8th century (2 Kgs 7:6; 18:11; 1 Chr 5:26). The MT form is from הַיִל (hayil, “strength”), which is used elsewhere to refer to an army (Exod 14:17; 1 Sam 17:20; 2 Sam 8:9), military fortress (2 Sam 20:15; 22:33), leaders (Exod 18:21) and even wealth or possessions (Obad 1:11, 13).

[1:20]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew text has no verb here. The words “will possess” have been supplied from the context.

[1:20]  ³⁷ sn Zarephath was a Phoenician coastal city located some ten miles south of Sidon.

[1:20]  ³⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:20]  ³⁹ sn The exact location of Sepharad is uncertain. Suggestions include a location in Spain, or perhaps Sparta in Greece, or perhaps Sardis in Asia Minor. For inscriptional evidence that bears on this question see E. Lipinski, “Obadiah 20,” VT 23 (1973): 368-70. The reason for mentioning this location in v. 20 seems to be that even though it was far removed from Jerusalem, the Lord will nonetheless enable the Jewish exiles there to return and participate in the restoration of Israel that Obadiah describes.

[1:21]  ⁴⁰ tc The present translation follows the reading מוּשָׁעִים (musha’im, “those who have been delivered”; cf. NRSV, CEV) rather than מוֹשִׁעִים (moshi’im,“deliverers”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT) of the MT (cf. LXX, Aquila, Theodotion, and Syriac).

[1:21]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “to judge.” In this context the term does not mean “to render judgment on,” but “to rule over” (cf. NAB “to rule”; NIV “to govern”).

[1:21]  ⁴² tn Heb “then the kingdom will belong to the Lord.”