Obadiah 16-21
The Kurukh (or Kurux) language is spoken across India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
In India, Kurukh communities live in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal. In Nepal, they live in Koshi and Janakpur, where they call the language Dhangar.
The details concerning Bangladesh are less complete.
In total, just shy of 2million people speak Kurukh. About 1.75million speakers live in India, with fewer than 30,000 in Nepal and the rest in Bangladesh. However, this data was very old at the time that I wrote this.
Despite this high speaker count, the language itself is at threat of death. Only in areas where Oraons form the great majority are younger speakers likely to speak it with among themselves. Elsewhere, they speak it only to their parents and grandparents, otherwise they use the prevailing local language.
Kurukh belongs to the Dravidian language family. Alongside Malto and Brahui, linguists are not entirely sure exactly where it fits into this family.
New Jerusalem Version:
16. Just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all nations drink continually, they will drink, will drink greedily, but they will be as though they had never been.
17. But on Mount Zion will be those who have escaped – it will be a sanctuary – and the House of Jacob will recover what is rightfully theirs.
18. Then the House of Jacob will be a fire, the House of Joseph a flame, and the House of Esau like stubble. They will set it alight and burn it up, and no one of the House of Esau will survive. Yahweh has spoken.
19. People from the Negeb will occupy the Mount of Esau, people from the lowlands the country of the Philistines; they will occupy Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will occupy Gilead.
20. The exiles of this army, the sons of Israel, will have the Canaanites’ land as far as Zarephath, while the exiles from Jerusalem now in Sepharad will have the cities of the Negeb.
21. Victorious, they will climb Mount Zion to rule over Mount Esau, and sovereignty will be Yahweh’s!
Kurukh:
16. Eŋghay nemha parta nū onkādar aõge, horma jātgotar uddka onō darā onō darā xappō darā manō mal maɲɖkā raɂō aõge.
17. Bhurʈā Mathnī nū phuʈ ara phuʈā ra’ō – Eɽpāpallī Guɽxis taŋghay xekkhan karaj’ō.
18. Eɽpāpallī Guɽxis cicc dara Eɽpāpallī Pard’as ãc dara Eɽpāpallī Kōs’as uŋkk ra’ō, ara hidk’or dara kōs’or ara iŋgris Eɽpāpallintī Kōs’asintī mal ra’os – Manmānos lablabr’ā ra’das.
19. Dakhne ār gahi bilē Kōs’as Mathnī ra’ō, arā tewā ār gahi bilē Gurmilar darā xall Lahaŋgas darā xall Xāpad ra’ō, arā Maɳɖas gahi bilē Ʈunakhrad ra’ō.
20. Kaidir xapūr, xaddar Gaŋg’alas gahi bile Saɳɖad Kuʈʈhīgūʈī ra’ō – Sōp’arad nū ra’ā kaidir Neō Gaɖigaɖid gahi bile sahar Dakhne ra’ō.
21. Bhurʈā Mathnī nū argnar ki Kōs’as Mathnīn ʈhan’ar - Manmānos gahi belxā ra’ō.
King James Version:
16. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.
17. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
18. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.
19. And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
20. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.
21. And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.
Sources:
Kobayashi, Masato & Tirkey, Bablu, The Kurux Language (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill 2017)
Sepharad | The amazing name Sepharad: meaning and etymology (abarim-publications.com)