“Thus says Yahweh God!
‘Edom acted revengefully
Against the house of Judah.
They have grievously offended
In taking vengeance
Upon them.’”
Edom was south of the Dead Sea, south of Moab and south of Judah. Its biblical origin was the place where Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, went to live in Genesis, chapter 36. This section is similar to Jeremiah, chapter 49, and Isaiah, chapter 34, on Edom. Apparently, when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem, the Edomites from south of Judah helped the Babylonians in their plundering of Jerusalem and Judah.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 