Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did the day Jerusalem was captured. Remember how they kept saying, "Tear it down to the ground!"

This is a message about Edom. Someone calls to me from Edom, "Sentry, how soon will the night be over? Tell me how soon it will end."

Come, people of all nations! Gather around and listen. Let the whole earth and everyone living on it come here and listen.

Their corpses will not be buried, but will lie there rotting and stinking; and the mountains will be red with blood.

The LORD has prepared his sword in heaven, and now it will strike Edom, those people whom he has condemned to destruction.

The people will fall like wild oxen and young bulls, and the earth will be red with blood and covered with fat.

The rivers of Edom will turn into tar, and the soil will turn into sulfur. The whole country will burn like tar.

Owls and ravens will take over the land. The LORD will make it a barren waste again, as it was before the creation.

Thorns and thistles will grow up in all the palaces and walled towns, and jackals and owls will live in them.

Owls will build their nests, lay eggs, hatch their young, and care for them there. Vultures will gather there, one after another.

It is the LORD who will divide the land among them and give each of them a share. They will live in the land age after age, and it will belong to them forever.

"Who is this coming from the city of Bozrah in Edom? Who is this so splendidly dressed in red, marching along in power and strength?" It is the LORD, powerful to save, coming to announce his victory.

The LORD answers, "I have trampled the nations like grapes, and no one came to help me. I trampled them in my anger, and their blood has stained all my clothing.

I was amazed when I looked and saw that there was no one to help me. But my anger made me strong, and I won the victory myself.

The LORD says, "The time is coming when I will punish the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the desert people, who have their hair cut short. All these people are circumcised, but have not kept the covenant it symbolizes. None of these people and none of the people of Israel have kept my covenant."

(SEE 9:25)

So I took the cup from the LORD's hand, gave it to all the nations to whom the LORD had sent me, and made them drink from it.

(SEE 25:19)

The LORD said, "The destruction that will come on Edom will be so terrible that everyone who passes by will be shocked and terrified.

Like a lion coming out of the thick woods along the Jordan River up to the green pasture land, I will come and make the Edomites run away suddenly from their country. Then the leader I choose will rule the nation. Who can be compared to me? Who would dare challenge me? What ruler could oppose me?

When Edom falls, there will be such a noise that the entire earth will shake, and the cries of alarm will be heard as far away as the Gulf of Aqaba.

Laugh on, people of Edom and Uz; be glad while you can. Your disaster is coming too; you too will stagger naked in shame.

Zion has paid for her sin; the LORD will not keep us in exile any longer. But Edom, the LORD will punish you; he will expose your guilty acts.

The Sovereign LORD said, "The people of Edom took cruel revenge on Judah, and that revenge has brought lasting guilt on Edom.

My people Israel will take revenge on Edom for me, and they will make Edom feel my furious anger. Edom will know what it means to be the object of my revenge." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

Tell the people what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: "I am your enemy, mountains of Edom! I will make you a desolate wasteland.

"You were Israel's constant enemy and let her people be slaughtered in the time of her disaster, the time of final punishment for her sins.

I will make the hill country of Edom a wasteland and kill everyone who travels through it.

I will make you desolate forever, and no one will live in your cities again. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

So then, as surely as I, the Sovereign LORD, am the living God, I will pay you back for your anger, your jealousy, and your hate toward my people. They will know that I am punishing you for what you did to them.

I have heard the wild, boastful way you have talked against me."

just as you rejoiced at the devastation of Israel, my own possession. The mountains of Seir, yes, all the land of Edom, will be desolate. Then everyone will know that I am the LORD."

"Egypt will become a desert, and Edom a ruined waste, because they attacked the land of Judah and killed its innocent people.

The LORD says, "The people of Edom have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They hunted down their relatives, the Israelites, and showed them no mercy. Their anger had no limits, and they never let it die.

So I will send fire upon the city of Teman and burn down the fortresses of Bozrah."

and have hated Esau and his descendants. I have devastated Esau's hill country and abandoned the land to jackals."

If Esau's descendants, the Edomites, say, "Our towns have been destroyed, but we will rebuild them," then the LORD will reply, "Let them rebuild---I will tear them down again. People will call them 'The evil country' and 'The nation with whom the LORD is angry forever.' "

I said, "Edom, I have received a message from the LORD. He has sent a messenger to tell the nations to assemble their armies and to get ready to attack you.

The LORD is going to make you weak, and no one will respect you.

Do not lose courage or be afraid because of the rumors you hear. Every year a different rumor spreads---rumors of violence in the land and of one king fighting another.

You are going to hear the noise of battles close by and the news of battles far away; but do not be troubled. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come.

And don't be troubled when you hear the noise of battles close by and news of battles far away. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come.

From that land ambassadors come down the Nile in boats made of reeds. Go back home, swift messengers! Take a message back to your land divided by rivers, to your strong and powerful nation, to your tall and smooth-skinned people, who are feared all over the world.

Listen, everyone who lives on earth! Look for a signal flag to be raised on the mountaintops! Listen for the blowing of the bugle!

Although their ambassadors have already arrived at the Egyptian cities of Zoan and Hanes,

They will say, "Prepare to attack Jerusalem! Get ready! We'll attack at noon!" But then they will say, "It's too late, the day is almost over, and the evening shadows are growing long.

We'll attack by night; we'll destroy the city's fortresses."

I am going to stir up a group of strong nations in the north and make them attack Babylonia. They will line up in battle against the country and conquer it. They are skillful hunters, shooting arrows that never miss the mark.

The LORD says, "People of Babylonia, you plundered my nation. You are happy and glad, going about like a cow threshing grain or like a neighing horse,

Because of my anger no one will live in Babylon; it will be left in ruins, and all who pass by will be shocked and amazed.

Raise the war cry all around the city! Now Babylon has surrendered. Its walls have been broken through and torn down. I am taking my revenge on the Babylonians. So take your revenge on them, and treat them as they have treated others.

"Give the signal to attack! Blow the trumpet so that the nations can hear! Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia! Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack. Appoint an officer to lead the attack. Bring up the horses like a swarm of locusts.

Prepare the nations for war against Babylonia. Send for the kings of Media, their leaders and officials, and the armies of all the countries they control.

God will open the way for them and lead them out of exile. They will break out of the city gates and go free. Their king, the LORD himself, will lead them out.