ABDIAS borne in Sichem, of the tribe Ephraim, prophecied the same time
with Amos; so briefly that his prophecie is not parted into chapters:
1. against the Idumeans; foreshewing their destruction; 10. for their
perpetual emnitie against the Iewes, and confederacie with the
Chaldees. 17. The captiuitie and relaxation of the Iewes. 19. And
redemption of the whole world by Christ.
THE vision of Abdias. Thus sayth our Lord God to Edom: We haue heard a
bruit from our Lord, and he hath sent a legate to the Gentils: Rise ye,
and let vs arise against him into battel. 2 Behold I haue geuen thee a
litle one in the Gentils: thou art contemptible excedingly. 3 The pride
of thy hart hath extolled thee, dwelling in the clefts of rockes,
exalting thy throne: which sayst in thy hart: Who shal plucke me downe
to the earth. 4 If thou shalt be exalted as an eagle, and if thou shalt
set thy nest among the starres: thence wil I plucke thee downe, sayth
our Lord. 5 If theues had gone in to thee, if robbers by night, how
hadst thou held thy peace. would not they haue stolen thinges sufficent
for themselues. if the grape gathereres had entered in to thee, would
they not haue left thee at the least a cluster. 6 How haue they
searched Esau, haue they sought out his hidden thinges. 7 Euen to the
border haue they cast thee out: al the men of thy league haue mocked
thee: the men of thy peace haue peuailed against thee: they that eate
with thee, shal lay embushments vnder thee: there is no wisedom in him.
8 Why, shal not I in that day, sayth our Lord, destroy the wise out of
Idumea, and prudence from the mount of Esau, 9 And thy valients of the
South shal feare, that man may perish from the mount of Esau. 10 For
the slaughter, and for the iniquitie against thy brother Iacob,
confusion shal couer thee, and thou shalt perish for euer. 11 In the
day when thou stoodest against him, when strangers tooke his armie, and
foreners entered his gates, and vpon Ierusalem cast lotte: thou also
wast as one of them. 12 And thou shalt not dispise in the day of thy
brother, in the day of his peregrination: and thou shalt not reioyce
ouer the children of Iuda, in the day of their perdition: & thou shalt
not magnifie thy mouth in the day of distresse. 13 Neither shalt thou
enter the gate of my people in the day of their ruine: neither shalt
thou also dispise in his euils in the day of his distruction: and thou
shalt not be sent out against his armie in the day of his destruction.
14 Neither shalt thou stand in the outgoings to kil them that flee: and
thou shalt not shut vp his remnant in the day of tribulation. 15
Because the day of our Lord is at hand vpon al nations: as thou hast
done, so shal it be done to thee: thy retribution he wil returne vpon
thine owne head. 16 For as you haue drunke vpon my holie mount, shal al
Gentils drinke continually: & they shal drinke, and swallow vp, and
they shal be as though they were not. 17 And in mount Sion shal be
saluation, and it shal be holie: and the house of Iacob shal possesse
those that had possessed them. 18 And the house of Iacob shal be a
fyre, and the house of Ioseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble:
and they shal be kindled in them, and shal deuoure them: and there shal
be no remaynes of the house of Esau, because our Lord hath spoken. 19
And they that are toward the South, shal inherite the mount of Esau,
and they in the champaine countries, Philisthiims: and they shal
possesse the region of Ephraim, and the region of Samaria: and Beniamin
shal possesse Galaad. 20 And the transmigration of this host of the
children of Israel, al places of the Chananeits euen to Sarepta: and
the transmigration of Ierusalem, that is in Bosphorus, shal possesse
the cities of the South. 21 And sauiours shal ascend into mount Sion to
iudge the mount of Esau: and the kingdom shal be to our Lord.