We have heard a report from Yahweh, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up and let us rise against it^a for battle.” ²“Look, I will^b make you insignificant among the nations. You will be utterly despised! ³The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of a rock, the heights of its dwelling, you who say in your heart: ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ ⁴Even if you soar like the eagle, even if your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down!” declares^c Yahweh: ⁵“If thieves came to you, if plunderers of the night—How you have been destroyed!—would they not steal what they wanted?^d If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? ⁶How Esau has been pillaged; his treasures have been ransacked! ⁷All of your allies^e have driven you up to the boundary; your confederates^f have deceived you and have prevailed against you. Those who eat your bread have set an ambush for you, there is no^g understanding of it.^h ⁸On that day,” declaresⁱ Yahweh, “will I not destroy the wise men from Edom, and understanding from the mountain of Esau? ⁹And your warriors will be shattered, O Teman, so that everyone^j from the mountain of Esau will be cut off because of the slaughter!

Edom’s Treachery against Judah

¹⁰“Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you and you will be cut off forever. ¹¹On the day you stood nearby,^k on the day strangers took^l his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots over Jerusalem, you were also like one of them. ¹²But you should not have gloated^m over your brother’s day, on the day of his misfortune, and you should not have rejoiced over the peopleⁿ of Judah on the day of their perishing, and you should not have opened your mouth wide on the day of distress. ¹³You should not have entered the gate of my people on the day of their disaster. You also should not have gloated over his misery on the day of his disaster, and you should not have stretched out your hands to his wealth on the day of his disaster. ¹⁴And you should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives and you should not have handed over his survivors on the day of distress.

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Footnotes

aThat is, Edom
bThe NET Bible note for this verse points out: “The Hebrew perfect verb form used here usually describes past events. However, here and several times in the following verses it is best understood as portraying certain fulfillment of events that at the time of writing were still future. It is the perfect of certitude”
cLiterally “a declaration of”
dLiterally “their sufficiency”
eLiterally “men of your covenant”
fLiterally “men of your peace”
gThe preposition בּ plus אֵין indicates the absence of a thing within a location
hOr “in him”
iLiterally “a declaration of”
jLiterally “each”
kLiterally “the day of your standing nearby”
lLiterally “the day of the taking captive by strangers”
mThe Hebrew expression “to look upon” often has the sense of “to feast the eyes upon” or “to gloat over”
nLiterally “son”