5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
behold, it descends for judgment upon mEdom,
upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
6 The Lord has a nsword; it is sated with blood;
it is gorged with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a osacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
The Lord’s Day of Vengeance
1 dWho is this who comes from Edom,
in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,
he who is splendid in his apparel,
marching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, speaking in righteousness,
mighty to save.”
2 Why is your apparel red,
and your garments like his who treads in the ewinepress?
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone,
and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood1 spattered on my garments,
and stained all my apparel.
4 For the fday of vengeance was in my heart,
and my year of redemption2 had come.
5 I looked, but gthere was no one to help;
I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me salvation,
and my wrath upheld me.
6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger;
I made them drunk in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
Judgment on Edom
7 mConcerning Edom.
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Is nwisdom no more in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom vanished?
8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,
O inhabitants of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
the time when I punish him.
9 If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave gleanings?
oIf thieves came by night,
would they not destroy only enough for themselves?
10 But I have stripped Esau bare;
I have uncovered his hiding places,
and he is not able to conceal himself.
His children are destroyed, and his brothers,
and his neighbors; and he is no more.
11 Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive;
and let your widows trust in me.”
12 For thus says the Lord: “If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but pyou must drink. 13 For I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be qperpetual wastes.”
14 rI have heard a message from the Lord,
and an envoy has been sent among the nations:
“Gather yourselves together and come against her,
and rise up for battle!
15 For behold, I will make you small among the nations,
despised among mankind.
16 The horror you inspire has deceived you,
and the pride of your heart,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,1
who hold the height of the hill.
Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,
I will bring you down from there,
declares the Lord.
17 “Edom shall become a horror. sEveryone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. 18 tAs when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown, says the Lord, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. 19 uBehold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him2 run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? vWho will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? 20 wTherefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away. Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 21 xAt the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. 22 yBehold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains.”
Prophecy Against Edom
12 “Thus says the Lord God: Because lEdom acted revengefully against the house of Judah and has grievously offended in taking vengeance on them, 13 therefore thus says the Lord God, I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it man and beast. And I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword. 14 And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath, and they shall know my vengeance, declares the Lord God.
11 rThus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Edom,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
sbecause he pursued his brother with the sword
and cast off all pity,
and his anger tore tperpetually,
and he kept his wrath forever.
12 So I will send a fire upon Teman,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.”
The Lord’s Love for Israel
2 b“I have loved you,” says the Lord. cBut you say, “How have you loved us?” d“Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet eI have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, f“Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”
