Old Testament · Minor Prophets
One chapter for Edom, the brother who gloated will be brought down from the cliffs.
The shortest book in the Old Testament, twenty-one verses, and every one of them aimed at Edom. Edom descended from Esau, Jacob's brother, which makes this a family matter, and the charge is specific: when Jerusalem fell, Edom stood at the crossroads watching, gloated, and handed over the survivors trying to escape. The book is about the particular sin of standing by. Its wider claim, that the day of the LORD is near upon all nations and that what you have done will be done to you, gives the small book a reach beyond its subject. Edom disappeared from history within a few centuries; the mountain fortresses it trusted are ruins visited by tourists.
If you remember one thing
The shortest book in the Old Testament, twenty-one verses, all of it aimed at one nation that stood by and enjoyed a relative's disaster.
“For the day of the LORD is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.”
Obadiah 15
Obadiah 10
For the violence done to your brother Jacob. The whole book turns on the fact that Edom and Israel were kin, which makes it an oracle about family as much as about nations.
Named here rather than skipped. Where Christians read a passage differently, we say so instead of choosing for you.
Everyone here has a write-up, drawn from the same records that explain the names while you read the text.
The shortest book in the Old Testament, a single chapter against Edom, the descendants of Esau, for standing by and cheering as Jerusalem was plundered. The proud eagle nesting in the cliffs would be brought down.
The whole book, with the people and places explained as you read. Available in WEB and KJV. Chapters marked ✦ carry a verse the New Testament takes up.
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