American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
The vision of Obadiah.Thus saith the Lord Jehovah concerning Edom: We have heard tidings from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
Behold, I have made thee small among the nations: thou art greatly despised.
The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of {Or, Sela}the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
Though thou mount on high as the eagle, and though thy nest be set among the stars, I will bring thee down from thence, saith Jehovah.
If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night (how art thou cut off!), would they not steal only till they had enough? if grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?
How are {Or, the men}the things of Esau searched! how are his hidden treasures sought out!
All the men of thy confederacy have {Or, driven thee out}brought thee on thy way, even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; {Or, thy bread they make &c.}they that eat thy bread lay a {Or, wound}snare under thee: there is no understanding {Or, of it}in him.
Shall I not in that day, saith Jehovah, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter.
For the violence done to thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
In the day that thou stoodest {Or, aloof}on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his {Or, forces}substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
But look not thou on the day of thy brother in {Or, the day that he was made a stranger}the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress.
Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay ye hands on their substance in the day of their calamity.
And stand thou not in the crossway, to cut off those of his that escape; and deliver not up those of his that remain in the day of distress.
For the day of Jehovah is near upon all the nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy {Or, recompense}dealing shall return upon thine own head.
For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and {Or, talk foolishly}swallow down, and shall be as though they had not been.
But in mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall burn among them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining to the house of Esau; for Jehovah hath spoken it.
And they of the South shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the lowland the Philistines; and they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
And the captives of this {Or, fortress}host of the children of Israel, {Or, shall possess that which belongeth to the Canaanites, even &c. Or, that are among the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and &c.}that are among the Canaanites, shall possess even unto Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, that are in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South.
And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be Jehovah's.
but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.
And Jehovah said unto her,Two nations are in thy womb,And two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels:And the one people shall be stronger than the other people;And the elder shall serve the younger.
And Isaac his father answered and said unto him,Behold, {Or, away from}of the fatness of the earth shall be thy dwelling,And {Or, away from}of the dew of heaven from above.
And by thy sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother;And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt break loose,That thou shalt shake his yoke from off thy neck.
And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And Jehovah gave victory to David whithersoever he went.
In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves.
Let mine outcasts dwell with thee; as for Moab, be thou a covert to him from the face of the destroyer. For {Or, extortion}the extortioner is brought to nought, destruction ceaseth, {Hebrew: the treaders down.}the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
And I am very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they {Or, helped for evil}helped forward the affliction.
So the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
By the rivers of Babylon,There we sat down, yea, we wept,When we remembered Zion.
Upon the willows in the midst thereofWe hanged up our harps.
For there they that led us captive required of us {Hebrew: words of song.}songs,And {Or, our tormentors}they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying,Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
How shall we sing Jehovah's songIn a foreign land?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,Let my right hand forget her skill.
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,If I remember thee not;If I prefer not JerusalemAbove my chief joy.
Remember, O Jehovah, against the children of EdomThe day of Jerusalem;Who said, Rase it, rase it,Even to the foundation thereof.
O daughter of Babylon, {Or, that art laid waste}that art to be destroyed,Happy shall he be, that rewardeth theeAs thou hast served us.
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little onesAgainst the rock.
And {Greek: one.}a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all.
And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates:
and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her; and they shall be weary.Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
I will make thee a perpetual desolation, and thy cities shall not {Another reading is, return}be inhabited; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his god.
Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay ye hands on their substance in the day of their calamity.
And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go.
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.
For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away {Hebrew: a captivity.}captives.
For my sword hath drunk its fill in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my {Hebrew: devoting, or, ban.}curse, to judgment.
{Or, Though Edom say}Whereas Edom saith, We are {Or, as otherwise read, impoverished}beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and men shall call them The border of wickedness, and The people against whom Jehovah hath indignation for ever.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.
And Samuel said unto Saul, Jehovah sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of Jehovah.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I {Or, will visit}have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.
Now go and smite Amalek, and {Hebrew: devote.}utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
And Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and {Or, strove}laid wait in the valley.
And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
And Saul smote the Amalekites, from Havilah as thou goest to Shur, that is before Egypt.
And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they {Hebrew: devoted.}destroyed utterly.
Then came the word of Jehovah unto Samuel, saying,
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And Samuel was wroth; and he cried unto Jehovah all night.
And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a {Hebrew: hand.}monument, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal.
And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of Jehovah: I have performed the commandment of Jehovah.
And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God; and the rest we have {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed.
Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what Jehovah hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
And Samuel said, {Or, Though thou be little….art thou not head of the tribes of Israel?}Though thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Jehovah anointed thee king over Israel;
and Jehovah sent thee on a journey, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of Jehovah, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah?
And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah, and have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God in Gilgal.
And Samuel said, Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Jehovah, and thy words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship Jehovah.
And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee; for thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, and Jehovah hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
And as Samuel turned about to go away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his robe, and it rent.
And Samuel said unto him, Jehovah hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine, that is better than thou.
And also the {Or, Victory Or, Glory}Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.
Then he said, I have sinned: yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Jehovah thy God.
So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped Jehovah.
Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him cheerfully. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah in Gilgal.
Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.
And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; {Or, but}for Samuel mourned for Saul: and Jehovah repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Jehovah; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the {Or, mightiest}chiefest of the herdsmen that belonged to Saul.
Who is this that cometh from Edom, with {Or, crimsoned}dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winevat?
I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yea, I {Or, will tread…and trample}trod them in mine anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their {Or, strength}lifeblood {Or, shall be}is sprinkled upon my garments, and I {Or, will stain}have stained all my raiment.
For the day of vengeance {Or, is}was in my heart, and {Or, my year of redemption}the year of my redeemed is come.
And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my wrath, it upheld me.
And {Or, I will tread…and make…and I will pour out}I trod down the peoples in mine anger, and {Or, according to another reading, brake them in pieces}made them drunk in my wrath, and I {Or, brought down their strength to the earth}poured out their lifeblood on the earth.
I will make mention of the lovingkindnesses of Jehovah, and the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.
For he said, Surely, they are my people, children that will not deal falsely: so he was their Saviour.
{Another reading is, In all their adversity he was no adversary}In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.
{Or, Then his people remembered the ancient days of Moses &c.}Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the {Another reading is, shepherd.}shepherds of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit in the midst of them?
that caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses? that divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name?
that led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness, so that they stumbled not?
As the cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of Jehovah caused them to rest; so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.
Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where are thy zeal and thy mighty acts? the yearning of thy heart and thy compassions are restrained toward me.
For thou art our Father, though Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, O Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name.
O Jehovah, why dost thou make us to err from thy ways, and hardenest our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
Thy holy people possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
We are become as they over whom thou never barest rule, as they that were not called by thy name.