Amos (2) – Obadiah

Amos (2)

Chapter 9

1 I saw the Lord standing on the altar, and he said,— “Smite the lintel, and moved shall be the pillars, And strike the head of them all; And the rest of them with the sword shall I slay: Flee from them shall not he who fleeth, And escape from them shall not he who escapeth: (385)

2 If they dig to hell, thence my hand shall bring them out; And if they ascend to heaven, I will thence draw them down;

3 And if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, There will I search for and draw them forth; And if they be hid from my eyes in the bottom of the sea, I will there command the serpent to bite them;

4 And if they go to captivity before their enemies, I will there command the sword to slay them; Yea, I will set my eyes on them For evil, and not for good.”

5 And the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, will smite the land, And it will tremble, and mourn shall all who dwell in it; And heave up like a river shall the whole of it, And it shall be sunk as by the river of Egypt.—

6 He who builds his ascendings in the heavens, And founds his jointings on the earth, Who calls the waters of the sea, And pours them on the face of the earth,— Jehovah is his name. (392-3)

7 Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians to me? O house of Israel, saith Jehovah; Did I not make Israel to ascend from Egypt, And the Philistines from Cappadocia, And the Syrians from Kir?

8 Behold, the eyes of Jehovah are on every wicked kingdom; And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Except that by destroying I shall not destroy The house of Jacob! Saith Jehovah.

9 For, behold, I will command, And I shall shake the house of Israel among all nations, As wheat is shaken in a sieve, And fall shall not a grain on the ground:

10 By the sword shall die all the wicked of my people, Who say, “Draw near and overtake us Shall not, for our sake, the evil.”

11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David, That is fallen, and I will fence in its breaches, And its ruins will I raise up; And I will build it as in ancient days;

12 That possess they may the remnants of Edom, And all the nations on whom my name shall be called, Saith Jehovah, the doer of this.

13 Behold, the days are coming, saith Jehovah, That meet shall the plowman the reaper, And the treader of grapes the bearer of seed; And distill shall the mountains sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow down with milk

14 And I will restore the captivity of my people Israel; And they shall build wasted cities, and dwell in them; They shall plant vineyards, and drink their wine; They shall make gardens, and eat their fruit:

15 And I will plant them in their own land, And they shall be plucked up no more From their own land, which I have given to them, Saith Jehovah, thy God.

Obadiah

a translation

of Calvin’s Version

of The Prophecies of Obadiah.

CHAPTER 1.

1 The vision of Obadiah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah against Edom,— A rumor have we heard from Jehovah, And a messenger to the nations has been sent,—(423) “Arise ye, and we shall arise against her to battle.”

2 Lo, small have I set thee among the nations, Despised greatly wert thou: (425)

3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, Who dwellest in the clefts of the rock: “Who shall draw me down to the ground?”

4 If thou shouldst rise high as the eagle, And if among the clouds thou shouldest set thy nest, Thence shall I draw thee down, saith Jehovah.

5 Have thieves come to thee, or night-robbers? How hast thou been reduced to silence? Have they not stolen what sufficed them? Have vintagers come to thee? Have they not left some clusters?—

6 How much sought out have been the things of Esau, And thoroughly searched his hidden places!

7 To the border have they driven thee, All the men of thy confederacy; Deceived thee, prevailed against thee, have they, The men who were at peace with thee; The men who did eat thy bread Have set a wound under thee:— There is in him no understanding!

8 Shall I not in that day, saith Jehovah, Destroy the wise from Edom, And understanding from the mount of Esau? Yea, broken down shall be thy valiant ones, O Teman,

9 So that cut off shall be every man, From the mount of Esau by slaughter.

10 For the oppression of thy brother Jacob, Cover thee shall reproach, And thou shalt be cut off forever.

11 In the day when thou didst stand on the other side, In the day when aliens took away his substance, And foreigners entered his gates, And on Jerusalem did cast lots, Even thou wert as one of them.

12 But thou shouldest not look on the day of thy brother, In the day of his alienation; Nor shouldest rejoice over the children of Judah, In the day of their destruction; Nor speak with thy mouth proud things, In the day of distress;

13 Nor shouldest thou enter the gate of my people, In the day of their destruction; Nor look on him, especially thou, in his distress, In the day of his destruction; Nor stretch thy hand to his substance, In the day of his destruction:

14 Nor shouldest thou stand on the outlets, To destroy those who were escaping; Nor deliver up his remnants in the day of distress.

15 Seeing that near is the day of Jehovah on all nations, As thou hast done, it shall be done to thee, Thy reward shall be returned on thine own head;

16 For as ye have drunk on my holy mountain, Drink shall all nations continually; They shall drink and drink up; And they shall be as though they never had been.

17 But in mount Zion shall be deliverance, And Zion shall be holiness; And possess shall the house of Jacob their own possessions:

18 The house of Jacob shall be also a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame, And the house of Esau shall be chaff; And kindled they shall be among them, and consume them; And no remnant shall be to the house of Esau; For thus hath Jehovah spoken.

19 They shall also possess the south of the mount of Esau, And the plain, even that of the Philistines; And they shall possess the fields of Ephraim And the fields of Samaria, And Benjamin shall possess Gilead:

20 And the emigrants of this host of the children of Israel Shall possess the land of the Canaanites to Zarephath; And the emigrants of Jerusalem, what is in Sepharad, Even the southern cities: (451)

21 And ascend shall saviors to mount Zion, To judge the mount of Esau; And Jehovah’s shall be the kingdom.