Obadiah

This is the vision Obadiah saw. This is what the Lord GOD says about Edom: We have heard a message from the LORD. A messenger has been sent out among the nations with this word: "Get up! Let us go to war against her!"

1The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

NoteEdom was a small kingdom southeast of Judah, in the rugged highlands south of the Dead Sea (in modern Jordan). Its people traced their descent from Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, from whom Israel traced its descent, so the prophets speak of Edom and Israel as brother nations. Obadiah's name means "servant of the LORD"; nothing else about him is known, and this is the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible. Where the King James prints LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew has God's personal name; "Lord GOD" renders a doubled title, "my Lord" plus that name. "Heathen" in the King James simply means the nations, i.e. everybody who is not Israel; it carries no sneer. The "her" of the last line is Edom, spoken of as a woman, as nations and cities usually are in Hebrew.

2"Look, I will make you a small nation. Other nations will look down on you and hold you in contempt.

2Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

3Your proud heart has fooled you. You live in the cracks of the cliffs and make your home up high. You say to yourself, 'Who could ever bring me down to the ground?'

3The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

NoteEdom's towns were built on high sandstone ridges and in gorges reachable only by narrow passes, the later city of Petra lies in this region. The Hebrew word for "rock" here is *sela*, which was also the name of an Edomite stronghold, so the line can be heard both as "the clefts of the rock" and as a jab at the town of Sela.

4Even if you fly high like an eagle, and even if you build your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there," says the LORD.

4Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

5"If thieves came to you, or robbers came at night, would they not steal only as much as they wanted? Oh, how completely you will be ruined! If people came to pick your grapes, would they not leave a few behind?

5If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

NoteThe point of the comparison is that even a disaster usually leaves something behind. Thieves take only what they can carry; grape-pickers always miss some fruit, and Israelite law in fact required harvesters to leave the gleanings for the poor. Edom's ruin will be more thorough than either.

6But how thoroughly Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures will be hunted out! (Esau was the ancestor of Edom.)

6How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

NoteEsau was Jacob's twin brother in Genesis, the older of the two, who sold his birthright and lost his father's blessing. Edom traced its ancestry to him, so "Esau" is used throughout this book as another name for the nation of Edom.

7All the nations you made agreements with will drive you out to the border. The people who were at peace with you will trick you and defeat you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap under you, and you will not see it coming.

7All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.

NoteTo eat someone's bread was to be their guest or treaty partner; agreements between nations were sealed with a shared meal, so "those who eat your bread" means Edom's own sworn allies. The Hebrew of the last part of this verse is damaged or obscure; "set a trap under you" and "you will not see it coming" are the best guesses among several, and older translations render it quite differently.

8"On that day," says the LORD, "will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, and wipe out all understanding from the mountains of Esau?

8Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

NoteEdom had a reputation across the ancient Near East for wise men and shrewd counselors, Job's friend Eliphaz is called a Temanite, from Edom. Stripping away its wisdom is therefore taking away the thing Edom was known for.

9Then your soldiers will lose their nerve, Teman, so that everyone in the mountains of Esau will be killed in the slaughter." (Teman was a region of Edom.)

9And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

NoteTeman was a district, or a town, in Edom; poets often used the name for the whole country, the way "Fleet Street" can stand for the British press.

10Because of the violence you did to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever. (The people of Israel came from Jacob, who was Esau's brother.)

10For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

NoteIsrael and Edom were counted as descendants of two brothers, Jacob and Esau, so an attack by Edom on Judah was treated as violence within a family, which made it worse than ordinary warfare.

11On the day you stood off to the side, while strangers carried away his wealth and foreigners came in through his gates and threw dice to divide up Jerusalem, you were no better than one of them.

11In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

NoteThis points to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. Casting lots, throwing marked stones or sticks to decide by chance, was the standard way victorious armies divided up plunder and prisoners among themselves.

12You should not have gloated over your brother on the day trouble came to him. You should not have been glad about the people of Judah on the day they were destroyed. You should not have boasted on the day of their distress.

12But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

Note"Looked on" in the King James does not mean simply watched; the Hebrew means to stare with satisfaction at another's ruin. Standing by and enjoying it is the charge here, alongside the looting described next.

13You should not have marched through the gate of my people on the day disaster struck them. You should not have stared at their suffering on the day disaster struck them. You should not have grabbed their goods on the day disaster struck them.

13Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

14You should not have waited where the roads meet, to cut down those of them who were running away. You should not have handed over those of them who were left alive on the day of their distress.

14Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

NoteFugitives escaping a captured city funnelled into a few mountain passes and road junctions. Edomites are accused of waiting at those points to kill the escapers or hand survivors back to the Babylonians for reward.

15For the day of the LORD is near for all the nations. What you have done will be done to you. What you have handed out will come back on your own head.

15For 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.

Note"The day of the LORD" was a fixed phrase among the prophets for a coming day when God settles accounts with the nations. "Reward" in the King James means what is due to you, good or bad, here it is punishment, not a prize.

16Just as you drank on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink and keep on drinking. They will drink and gulp it down, and they will be as if they had never existed.

16For 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.

NoteThe image is a cup of wine that a condemned nation is forced to drink until it staggers and falls; the prophets use it often for God's judgment. The first line is ambiguous in the Hebrew and readers have long taken it two ways: either the Edomites drank in triumph on the temple hill of Jerusalem when it fell, or the people of Judah drank the cup of punishment there first, and now the nations must drink it in turn.

17But on Mount Zion there will be rescue, and it will be a holy place, and the house of Jacob will take back what belongs to them.

17But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

NoteMount Zion is the ridge in Jerusalem where the temple stood; "holy" here means set apart for God and so kept clear of invaders. The Hebrew of the last phrase can mean either "will possess their own possessions" or "will dispossess those who dispossessed them"; the wording allows both.

18The house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau will be dry straw. They will set it burning and eat it up. No one from the house of Esau will be left alive. The LORD has said it.

18And 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.

NoteThe house of Jacob means Judah in the south; the house of Joseph means the northern tribes, descended from Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh, together, all Israel. Stubble is the dry stalks left standing after a harvest, which farmers burned off in a fast, complete blaze.

19People from the southern desert will take over the mountains of Esau, and people from the western foothills will take over the land of the Philistines. They will take over the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin will take over Gilead.

19And 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.

NoteThis is a sweep round the compass, listing land Israel had lost. The southern desert is the Negev, the dry country below Judah; the western foothills are the Shephelah, the low hills between the hill country and the Philistine coast. The Philistines held the coastal plain. Ephraim and Samaria were the heartland of the old northern kingdom, and Gilead the highlands east of the Jordan.

20The exiles from this army of Israelites will take over the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath. The exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will take over the towns of the southern desert.

20And 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.

NoteZarephath was a Phoenician coastal town between Tyre and Sidon, marking the far northern limit of the territory. Where Sepharad was is unknown; guesses have included Sardis in western Asia Minor and a place in Media, and in later Jewish usage the name came to mean Spain, which is why Jews of that tradition are called Sephardi.

21Rescuers will go up on Mount Zion to rule over the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will belong to the LORD.

21And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.

Note"Saviours" or "rescuers" translates the same word used for the leaders in the book of Judges, military deliverers who freed the people from an occupying power. It does not refer here to a single figure.