For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the day of Yahweh is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.
- BSB For the Day of the LORD is near for all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your recompense will return upon your own head.
- NKJV “Forthe day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.
- NASB ¶“For the day of the Lord is near for all the nations. Just as you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head.
- NLT “The day is near when I, the Lord, will judge all godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The day of Yahweh is near for all nations, and Edom's own deeds will return upon her own head.
Overview
The oracle widens from Edom to 'all the nations,' announcing the day of the Lord, his decisive intervention to judge the world. The principle of just recompense is stated plainly: 'As you have done, it will be done to you.' This day looks ahead to the final judgment in which Christ will render to all according to their deeds.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Jas 2:13For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
- Hab 2:8Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
- Ezek 30:3For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.
- Matt 7:2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
- Mic 5:15And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
- Ps 137:8O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
- Jer 50:29Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
- Joel 3:11–14Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
- Joel 1:15Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
- Jer 49:12For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
- Ezek 35:15As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
- Judg 1:7And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
- Joel 3:7–8Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
- Jer 9:25–26Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
- Zech 14:14–18And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
- Jer 25:15–29For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
- Lam 4:21–22Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
- Ps 110:5–6The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The day of the LORD against proud Edom and the promise that 'the kingdom shall be the LORD's' anticipate the final reign of Christ over every hostile power.
How Obadiah 1:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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