Obadiah's vision.
[The vision concerns Edom. The Edomites were descended from Esau, son of Isaac and Rebekah, and older twin brother of Jacob, see ; . Esau's brother Jacob is known as Israel, and Esau is called Edom, which means "red". Perhaps he was red-haired? Jacob/the Israelites settled in the land of Canaan with the mountain of Jerusalem as their central location, while Esau/the Edomites settled south of the Dead Sea with Mount Seir as their central mountain, see and . The capital was called Sela, which means stone in Hebrew. In Greek, the name is petra. It is possible that the capital of the Edomites was located where the Nabataean rock city of Petra now stands. It is interesting to note that the mountains and cliffs in Petra are red. The enmity between the Israelites and the Edomites began with the twin brothers Jacob and Esau and has continued ever since. On their way from Egypt, the Edomites did not allow the Israelites to pass through their land, see . Since the Israelites settled in the land of Canaan, many battles have been fought between the peoples, see ; ; ; ; ; ; . Even in Jesus' time, these tensions remained. Herod the Great, who killed Jewish boys in Bethlehem (, ; ) was an Edomite. His son (Herod Antipas) killed John the Baptist (, ) and his grandson (Herod Agrippa I) beheaded James, John's brother ().]
This is what the Lord God (Adonai Yahweh) says to Edom [the Edomites]:
We have heard the message from the Lord (Yahweh)
and a messenger (ambassador) has been sent to the nations:
"Arise, and let us go up against her in battle."
