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Obadiah

1 The vision that Obadiah saw. The Sovereign Lord says this concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord. An envoy was sent among the nations,⁠ saying, “Arise! Let us make war against Edom!” 2 The Lord says, “Look! I will make you a weak nation; you will be greatly despised!⁠ 3 Your presumptuous heart has deceived you—you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, whose home is high in the mountains. You think to yourself, ‘No one can bring me down to the ground!’ 4 Even if you were to soar high like an eagle, even if you were to make your nest among the stars, I can bring you down even from there!”⁠ says the Lord. 5 “If thieves came to rob you during the night, they would steal only as much as they wanted. If grape pickers came to harvest your vineyards, they would leave some behind for the poor.⁠ But you will be totally destroyed! 6 How the people of Esau will be thoroughly plundered! Their hidden valuables will be ransacked! 7 All your allies will force you from your homeland! Your treaty partners will deceive you and overpower you.⁠ Your trusted friends will set an ambush for you that will take you by surprise!⁠ 8 “At that time,” the Lord says, “I will destroy the wise sages of Edom, the advisers from Esau’s mountain. 9 Your warriors will be shattered, O Teman, so that everyone will be destroyed from Esau’s mountain!⁠ 10 “Because you violently slaughtered your relatives, the people of Jacob,⁠ shame will cover you, and you will be destroyed forever.⁠ 11 You stood aloof while strangers took his army captive and foreigners advanced to his gates. When they cast lots over Jerusalem, you behaved as though you were in league with them.⁠ 12 You should not have gloated when your relatives suffered calamity.⁠ You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah when they were destroyed. You should not have boasted when they suffered adversity. 13 You should not have entered the city of my people when they experienced distress. You should not have joined in gloating over their misfortune when they suffered distress. You should not have looted their wealth when they endured distress. 14 You should not have stood at the fork in the road to slaughter those trying to escape.⁠ You should not have captured their refugees when they suffered adversity. 15 “For the day of the Lord is approaching for all the nations! Just as you have done, so it will be done to you. You will get exactly what your deeds deserve.⁠ 16 For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. They will drink, and they will gulp down; they will be as though they had never been.⁠ 17 But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape, and it will be a holy place once again.⁠ The descendants of Jacob will conquer those who had conquered them.⁠ 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 of the descendants of Esau!” Indeed, the Lord has spoken it. 19 The people of the Negev will take possession of Esau’s mountain,⁠ and the people of the foothills will take possession of the land of 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 of Gilead. 20 The exiles of this fortress of the people of Israel will take possession of what belongs to the people of Canaan, as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad⁠ will take possession of the towns of the Negev. 21 Those who have been delivered will go up on Mount Zion in order to rule over Esau’s mountain. Then the Lord will reign as King!

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 51:22 and Obadiah 1:16

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Obadiah describes nations drinking the cup of wrath on the holy mountain. Isaiah 51 develops this image, depicting Jerusalem as having drunk the cup dry before God removes it and passes it to her oppressors.

Passages

Isaiah 51:22

Hebrew Bible
17 Wake up! Wake up! Get up, O Jerusalem! You drank from the cup the Lord passed to you, which was full of his anger. You drained dry the goblet full of intoxicating wine. 18 There was no one to lead her among all the children she bore; there was no one to take her by the hand among all the children she raised. 19 These double disasters confronted you. But who feels sorry for you? Destruction and devastation, famine and sword. But who consoles you? 20 Your children faint; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a snare. They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger, by the battle cry of your God. 21 So listen to this, oppressed one, who is drunk, but not from wine. 22 This is what your Sovereign Lord, even your God who judges his people says: “Look, I have removed from your hand the cup of intoxicating wine, the goblet full of my anger. You will no longer have to drink it. 23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’ You made your back like the ground and like the street for those who walked over you.”
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Obadiah 1:16

Hebrew Bible
15 “For the day of the Lord is approaching for all the nations! Just as you have done, so it will be done to you. You will get exactly what your deeds deserve. 16 For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. They will drink, and they will gulp down; they will be as though they had never been. 17 But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape, and it will be a holy place once again. The descendants of Jacob will conquer those who had conquered them. 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 of the descendants of Esau!” Indeed, the Lord has spoken it.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Obadiah

References

"... We find a very similar picture Isaiah 51. Roused for the end of exile and return to the Promised Land, Jerusalem is depicted as having drunk from the cup of wrath such that no one is left to lead them back home. In their state of drunkenness and staggering, Yhwh will graciously remove the cup from His people and pass it on to the instruments of His wrath, the enemies who originally attacked her. Although DOL does not appear explicitly in Isaiah 51, chapter 13 shows that the judgment of all the earth including Babylon — the enemy in view here — will take place on DOL. Grace for Israel and judgment for the nations join together as they have already in Obadiah. In this subsection we have traced the theme of the cup of Yhwh's wrath through DOL contexts in the prophets in an attempt to define how Obadiah is developed through them. We observed a substantial agreement between Obadiah and Isaiah 51. ..."
Daniel Forbes, “The Intertextual Impact of Obadiah on the Writing Prophets” (MA diss., The Master's College, 2014), 76–77.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 51:22 and Obadiah 1:16

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