Obadiah 1

 ¹  This is the vision that the Sovereign LORD revealed to Obadiah concerning the land of Edom.

Edom's Judgment Announced
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!"

 ²  The LORD says to Edom,
"I will cut you down to size among the nations;
  you will be greatly despised.
 ³  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.
 ⁴  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.

 ⁵  "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!
 ⁶  Every nook and cranny of Edom [6] 
  will be searched and looted.
  Every treasure will be found and taken.

 ⁷  "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.
 ⁸  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.
 ⁹  The mightiest warriors of Teman
  will be terrified,
and everyone on the mountains of Edom
  will be cut down in the slaughter.

Reasons for Edom's Punishment
 ¹⁰  "Because of the violence you did
  to your close relatives in Israel, [10] 
you will be filled with shame
  and destroyed forever.
 ¹¹  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.

 ¹²  "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.
 ¹³  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.
 ¹⁴  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.

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.
 ¹⁶  Just 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.

 ¹⁷  "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."  ¹⁸  The 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!

 ¹⁹  "Then my people living in the Negev
  will occupy the mountains of Edom.
Those living in the foothills of Judah [19] 
  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.
 ²⁰  The 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 [20] 
  will return home and resettle the towns of the Negev.
 ²¹  Those who have been rescued [21]  will go up to [21]  Mount Zion in Jerusalem
  to rule over the mountains of Edom.
And the LORD himself will be king!"

<<  6 Hebrew Esau; also in 8b, 9, 18, 19, 21.
<<  10 Hebrew your brother Jacob. The names "Jacob" and "Israel" are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
<<  17a Hebrew Mount Zion. 17b Hebrew house of Jacob; also in 18. See note on 10.
<<  19 Hebrew the Shephelah.
<<  20 Hebrew in Sepharad.
<<  21a As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads Rescuers. 21b Or from.

Revelation 9

The Fifth Trumpet Brings the First Terror
 ¹  Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. [1]   ²  When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air turned dark from the smoke.
   ³  Then locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting like scorpions.  ⁴  They were told not to harm the grass or plants or trees, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.  ⁵  They were told not to kill them but to torture them for five months with pain like the pain of a scorpion sting.  ⁶  In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them!    ⁷  The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces.  ⁸  They had hair like women's hair and teeth like the teeth of a lion.  ⁹  They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle.  ¹⁰  They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people.  ¹¹  Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon—the Destroyer.
   ¹²  The first terror is past, but look, two more terrors are coming!

The Sixth Trumpet Brings the Second Terror
 ¹³  Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God.  ¹⁴  And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River."  ¹⁵  Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth.  ¹⁶  I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.
   ¹⁷  And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths.  ¹⁸  One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues—by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses.  ¹⁹  Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.
   ²⁰  But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk!  ²¹  And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

<<  9:1 Or the abyss, or the underworld; also in 9:11.