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¶“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.
Obadiah 1:15 · New American Standard Bible
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.
  • KJV 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
  • Hab 2:8Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.
  • Ezek 30:3For the day is near, even the day of Yahweh is near; it shall be a day of clouds, a time of the nations.
  • Matt 7:2For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.
  • Mic 5:15I will execute vengeance in anger, and wrath on the nations that didn’t listen.”
  • Ps 137:8Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who rewards you, as you have served us.
  • Jer 50:29“Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around. Let none of it escape. Recompense her according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel.
  • Joel 3:11–14Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh.
  • Joel 1:15Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
  • Jer 49:12For Yahweh says: “Behold, they to whom it didn’t pertain to drink of the cup shall certainly drink; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink.
  • Ezek 35:15As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do to you: you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
  • Judg 1:7Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God has done to me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
  • Joel 3:7–8Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;
  • Jer 9:25–26“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh:
  • Zech 14:14–18Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.
  • Jer 25:15–29For Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to me: “take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.
  • Lam 4:21–22Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz: The cup shall pass through to you also; you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.
  • Ps 110:5–6The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings in the day of his wrath.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Obadiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Obadiah 1:15YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ObadiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.