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A Plea for Mercy

5Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
   look, and see our disgrace!
² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
   our homes to aliens.
³ We have become orphans, fatherless;
   our mothers are like widows.
⁴ We must pay for the water we drink;
   the wood we get must be bought.
⁵ With a yoke^* on our necks we are hard driven;
   we are weary, we are given no rest.
⁶ We have made a pact with^* Egypt and Assyria,
   to get enough bread.
⁷ Our ancestors sinned; they are no more,
   and we bear their iniquities.
⁸ Slaves rule over us;
   there is no one to deliver us from their hand.
⁹ We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
   because of the sword in the wilderness.
¹⁰ Our skin is black as an oven
   from the scorching heat of famine.
¹¹ Women are raped in Zion,
   virgins in the towns of Judah.
¹² Princes are hung up by their hands;
   no respect is shown to the elders.
¹³ Young men are compelled to grind,
   and boys stagger under loads of wood.
¹⁴ The old men have left the city gate,
   the young men their music.
¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has ceased;
   our dancing has been turned to mourning.
¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head;
   woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷ Because of this our hearts are sick,
   because of these things our eyes have grown dim:
¹⁸ because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate;
   jackals prowl over it.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, reign for ever;
   your throne endures to all generations.
²⁰ Why have you forgotten us completely?
   Why have you forsaken us these many days?
²¹ Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored;
   renew our days as of old—
²² unless you have utterly rejected us,
   and are angry with us beyond measure.

Obadiah

Proud Edom Will Be Brought Low

1 The vision of Obadiah.

Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom:
We have heard a report from the Lord,
   and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
‘Rise up! Let us rise against it for battle!’
² I will surely make you least among the nations;
   you shall be utterly despised.
³ Your proud heart has deceived you,
   you that live in the clefts of the rock,^*
   whose dwelling is in the heights.
You say in your heart,
   ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
⁴ Though you soar aloft like the eagle,
   though your nest is set among the stars,
   from there I will bring you down,

says the Lord.

Pillage and Slaughter Will Repay Edom’s Cruelty

⁵ If thieves came to you,
   if plunderers by night
   —how you have been destroyed!—
   would they not steal only what they wanted?
If grape-gatherers came to you,
   would they not leave gleanings?
⁶ How Esau has been pillaged,
   his treasures searched out!
⁷ All your allies have deceived you,
   they have driven you to the border;
your confederates have prevailed against you;
   those who ate^* your bread have set a trap for you—
   there is no understanding of it.
⁸ On that day, says the Lord,
   I will destroy the wise out of Edom,
   and understanding out of Mount Esau.
⁹ Your warriors shall be shattered, O Teman,
   so that everyone from Mount Esau will be cut off.

Edom Wronged His Brother

¹⁰ For the slaughter and violence done to your brother Jacob,
   shame shall cover you,
   and you shall be cut off for ever.
¹¹ On the day that you stood aside,
   on the day that strangers carried off his wealth,
and foreigners entered his gates
   and cast lots for Jerusalem,
   you too were like one of them.
¹² But you should not have gloated^* over^* your brother
   on the day of his misfortune;
you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah
   on the day of their ruin;
you should not have boasted
   on the day of distress.
¹³ You should not have entered the gate of my people
   on the day of their calamity;
you should not have joined in the gloating over Judah’s^* disaster
   on the day of his calamity;
you should not have looted his goods
   on the day of his calamity.
¹⁴ You should not have stood at the crossings
   to cut off his fugitives;
you should not have handed over his survivors
   on the day of distress.

¹⁵ For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
   your deeds shall return on your own head.
¹⁶ For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
   all the nations around you shall drink;
they shall drink and gulp down,^*
   and shall be as though they had never been.

Israel’s Final Triumph

¹⁷ But on Mount Zion there shall be those that escape,
   and it shall be holy;
and the house of Jacob shall take possession of those who dispossessed them.
¹⁸ The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
   the house of Joseph a flame,
   and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
   and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau;

for the Lord has spoken.
¹⁹ Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,
   and those of the Shephelah the land of the Philistines;
they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
   and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
²⁰ The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah^*
   shall possess^* Phoenicia as far as Zarephath;
and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
   shall possess the towns of the Negeb.
²¹ Those who have been saved^* shall go up to Mount Zion
   to rule Mount Esau;
   and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah

22 He appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan as governor over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had left. ²³Now when all the captains of the forces and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite. ²⁴Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, ‘Do not be afraid because of the Chaldean officials; live in the land, serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.’ ²⁵But in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men; they struck down Gedaliah so that he died, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶Then all the people, high and low,^* and the captains of the forces, set out and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

7 When all the leaders of the forces in the open country and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon, ⁸they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their troops. ⁹Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan swore to them and their troops, saying, ‘Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall go well with you. ¹⁰As for me, I am staying at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us; but as for you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and live in the towns that you have taken over.’ ¹¹Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan as governor over them, ¹²then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been scattered and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah; and they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.

13 Now Johanan son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴and said to him, ‘Are you at all aware that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?’ But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them. ¹⁵Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, ‘Please let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one else will know. Why should he take your life, so that all the Judeans who are gathered around you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah would perish?’ ¹⁶But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, ‘Do not do such a thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael.’

Insurrection against Gedaliah

41In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah, ²Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him, because the king of Babylon had appointed him governor in the land. ³Ishmael also killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

4 On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, ⁵eighty men arrived from Shechem and Shiloh and Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and their bodies gashed, bringing grain-offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. ⁶And Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, ‘Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.’ ⁷When they reached the middle of the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them, and threw them^* into a cistern. ⁸But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, ‘Do not kill us, for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.’ So he refrained, and did not kill them along with their companions.

9 Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down was the large cistern^* that King Asa had made for defence against King Baasha of Israel; Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled that cistern with those whom he had killed. ¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

11 But when Johanan son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him heard of all the crimes that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done, ¹²they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at the great pool that is in Gibeon. ¹³And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him, they were glad. ¹⁴So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned and came back, and went to Johanan son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites. ¹⁶Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him took all the rest of the people whom Ishmael son of Nethaniah had carried away captive^* from Mizpah after he had slain Gedaliah son of Ahikam—soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs, whom Johanan brought back from Gibeon.^{* 17}And they set out, and stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt ¹⁸because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.