3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh.
5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, what disaster awaits you—wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes?
6 How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out!
7 All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him.”
8 “Won’t I in that day”, says Yahweh, “destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau?
9 Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.
10 For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever.
11 In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them.
12 But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak proudly in the day of distress.
13 Don’t enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity.
14 Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don’t deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress.
15 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.
16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been.
17 But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions.
18 The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau.” Indeed, Yahweh has spoken.
19 Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 The captives of this army of the children of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev.
21 Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh’s.
6 passages from writers of 2 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
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Oldest first.
Augustine of Hippo354–430Early church, WestThe City of God · on Obadiah 1:17–21Now if, by that form of speech in which a part is put for the whole, we take Idumea as put for the nations, we may understand of Christ what he says among other things, "But upon Mount Sion shall be safety, and there shall be a Holy One." And a little after, at the end of the same prophecy, he says, "And those who are saved again shall come up out of Mount Sion, that they may defend Mount Esau, and it shall be a kingdom to the Lord." It is quite evident this was fulfilled when those saved again out of Mount Sion--that is, the believers in Christ from Judea, of whom the apostles are chiefly to be acknowledged--went up to defend Mount Esau. … For Mount Sion signifies Judea, where it is predicted there shall be safety, and a Holy One, that is, Christ Jesus. But Mount Esau is Idumea, which signifies the Church of the Gentiles, which, as I have expounded, those saved again out of Sion have defended that it should be a kingdom to the Lord.
Now if, by that form of speech in which a part is put for the whole, we take Idumea as put for the nations, we may understand of Christ what he says among other things, "But upon Mount Sion shall be safety, and there shall be a Holy One." And a little after, at the end of the same prophecy, he says, "And those who are saved again shall come up out of Mount Sion, that they may defend Mount Esau, and it shall be a kingdom to the Lord." It is quite evident this was fulfilled when those saved again out of Mount Sion--that is, the believers in Christ from Judea, of whom the apostles are chiefly to be acknowledged--went up to defend Mount Esau. … For Mount Sion signifies Judea, where it is predicted there shall be safety, and a Holy One, that is, Christ Jesus. But Mount Esau is Idumea, which signifies the Church of the Gentiles, which, as I have expounded, those saved again out of Sion have defended that it should be a kingdom to the Lord.
Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, City of God 18.31; translated by Marcus Dods, as revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 2 (New York, 1887); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, the most widely read of the Western church’s Fathers. His Expositions on the Psalms are mostly sermons to his people, hearing Christ and the Church in every psalm.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Obadiah 1:21Here the Prophet says, that there are in God's hand ministers, the labor of whom he employs to preserve his own people. He alludes here, I have no doubt, to the history of the judges. We indeed know that the people of Israel were often so distressed, that their deliverance was almost incredible; and that yet they were also delivered in such a way as to have made it evident that the hand of God had appeared from heaven. … God then shall send preservers, even as he did send them formerly to your fathers. … It hence certainly appears that Christ is to be distinguished from all others, and that others are saviors under his authority; and such were the apostles, and such are all at this day, the labor and ministry of whom God employs to defend and support his Church. … Now God is not called a King by way of an empty distinction: but then only is he regarded a King in reality, when all submit themselves to him, when they are ruled by his word
Here the Prophet says, that there are in God's hand ministers, the labor of whom he employs to preserve his own people. He alludes here, I have no doubt, to the history of the judges. We indeed know that the people of Israel were often so distressed, that their deliverance was almost incredible; and that yet they were also delivered in such a way as to have made it evident that the hand of God had appeared from heaven. … God then shall send preservers, even as he did send them formerly to your fathers. … It hence certainly appears that Christ is to be distinguished from all others, and that others are saviors under his authority; and such were the apostles, and such are all at this day, the labor and ministry of whom God employs to defend and support his Church. … Now God is not called a King by way of an empty distinction: but then only is he regarded a King in reality, when all submit themselves to him, when they are ruled by his word
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 1:21; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Obadiah 1:11–13Note, In reflecting upon ourselves it is good to compare what we have done with what we should have done, our practice with the rule, that we may discover wherein we have done amiss, have done those things which we ought not to have done. … the Edomites, their neighbours and brethren, should have pitied them and helped them, condoled with them and comforted them … Those have a great deal to answer for that are idle spectators of the troubles and afflictions of their neighbours, when they are capable of being their active helpers. … Note, We must take heed with what eye we look upon the afflictions of our brethren; and, if we cannot look upon them with a gracious eye of sympathy and tenderness, it is better not to look upon them at all
Note, In reflecting upon ourselves it is good to compare what we have done with what we should have done, our practice with the rule, that we may discover wherein we have done amiss, have done those things which we ought not to have done. … the Edomites, their neighbours and brethren, should have pitied them and helped them, condoled with them and comforted them … Those have a great deal to answer for that are idle spectators of the troubles and afflictions of their neighbours, when they are capable of being their active helpers. … Note, We must take heed with what eye we look upon the afflictions of our brethren; and, if we cannot look upon them with a gracious eye of sympathy and tenderness, it is better not to look upon them at all
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 1:10–16; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Obadiah 1:12Thou shouldest not have looked - It shows a malevolent heart to rejoice in the miseries of those who have acted unkindly or wickedly towards us. … If a man have acted cruelly towards us, and God punish him for this cruelty, and we rejoice in it, we make his crime our own; and then, as we have done, so shall it be done unto us; see Oba 1:15.
Thou shouldest not have looked - It shows a malevolent heart to rejoice in the miseries of those who have acted unkindly or wickedly towards us. … If a man have acted cruelly towards us, and God punish him for this cruelty, and we rejoice in it, we make his crime our own; and then, as we have done, so shall it be done unto us; see Oba 1:15.
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 1:12–13; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.
Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Obadiah 1:21And saviours shall come up - Certain persons whom God may choose to be deliverers of his people; such as Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Maccabees. Some think these saviours, … mean the apostles of our Lord. … And as the Asmonean princes joined the priesthood to the state, it might be what the prophet means when he says, "the kingdom shall be the Lord's," the high priest having both the civil and ecclesiastical power in his own hands.
And saviours shall come up - Certain persons whom God may choose to be deliverers of his people; such as Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Maccabees. Some think these saviours, … mean the apostles of our Lord. … And as the Asmonean princes joined the priesthood to the state, it might be what the prophet means when he says, "the kingdom shall be the Lord's," the high priest having both the civil and ecclesiastical power in his own hands.
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 1:21; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.
Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Obadiah 1:3They also abound in clefts, with both natural and artificial caves; and hence its earliest inhabitants were Horites, i.e., dwellers in caves; and even the Edomites dwelt in caves, at least to some extent. … The capital, Sela (Petra), in the Wady Musa, of whose glory at one time there are proofs still to be found in innumerable remains of tombs, temples, and other buildings, was shut in both upon the east and west by rocky walls, which present an endless variety of bright lively colours, from the deepest crimson to the softest pale red, and sometimes passing into orange and yellow; whilst on the north and south it was so encircled by hills and heights, that it could only be reached by climbing through very difficult mountain passes and defiles
They also abound in clefts, with both natural and artificial caves; and hence its earliest inhabitants were Horites, i.e., dwellers in caves; and even the Edomites dwelt in caves, at least to some extent. … The capital, Sela (Petra), in the Wady Musa, of whose glory at one time there are proofs still to be found in innumerable remains of tombs, temples, and other buildings, was shut in both upon the east and west by rocky walls, which present an endless variety of bright lively colours, from the deepest crimson to the softest pale red, and sometimes passing into orange and yellow; whilst on the north and south it was so encircled by hills and heights, that it could only be reached by climbing through very difficult mountain passes and defiles
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 1:2–4; translated by James Martin and others (Edinburgh, 1866–1891); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, two German Lutheran scholars of Hebrew whose commentary on the Old Testament is still read for its learning.
Obadiah 1
Obadiah 1:3–21, World English Bible
Obadiah 1 in the Bible · Told in the Story: Chapter 27, The Fall of Jerusalem
What others have written
6 passages from writers of 2 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Oldest first.
Augustine of Hippo354–430Early church, WestThe City of God · on Obadiah 1:17–21Now if, by that form of speech in which a part is put for the whole, we take Idumea as put for the nations, we may understand of Christ what he says among other things, "But upon Mount Sion shall be safety, and there shall be a Holy One." And a little after, at the end of the same prophecy, he says, "And those who are saved again shall come up out of Mount Sion, that they may defend Mount Esau, and it shall be a kingdom to the Lord." It is quite evident this was fulfilled when those saved again out of Mount Sion--that is, the believers in Christ from Judea, of whom the apostles are chiefly to be acknowledged--went up to defend Mount Esau. … For Mount Sion signifies Judea, where it is predicted there shall be safety, and a Holy One, that is, Christ Jesus. But Mount Esau is Idumea, which signifies the Church of the Gentiles, which, as I have expounded, those saved again out of Sion have defended that it should be a kingdom to the Lord.
Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, City of God 18.31; translated by Marcus Dods, as revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 2 (New York, 1887); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, the most widely read of the Western church’s Fathers. His Expositions on the Psalms are mostly sermons to his people, hearing Christ and the Church in every psalm.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Obadiah 1:21Here the Prophet says, that there are in God's hand ministers, the labor of whom he employs to preserve his own people. He alludes here, I have no doubt, to the history of the judges. We indeed know that the people of Israel were often so distressed, that their deliverance was almost incredible; and that yet they were also delivered in such a way as to have made it evident that the hand of God had appeared from heaven. … God then shall send preservers, even as he did send them formerly to your fathers. … It hence certainly appears that Christ is to be distinguished from all others, and that others are saviors under his authority; and such were the apostles, and such are all at this day, the labor and ministry of whom God employs to defend and support his Church. … Now God is not called a King by way of an empty distinction: but then only is he regarded a King in reality, when all submit themselves to him, when they are ruled by his word
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 1:21; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Obadiah 1:11–13Note, In reflecting upon ourselves it is good to compare what we have done with what we should have done, our practice with the rule, that we may discover wherein we have done amiss, have done those things which we ought not to have done. … the Edomites, their neighbours and brethren, should have pitied them and helped them, condoled with them and comforted them … Those have a great deal to answer for that are idle spectators of the troubles and afflictions of their neighbours, when they are capable of being their active helpers. … Note, We must take heed with what eye we look upon the afflictions of our brethren; and, if we cannot look upon them with a gracious eye of sympathy and tenderness, it is better not to look upon them at all
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 1:10–16; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Obadiah 1:12Thou shouldest not have looked - It shows a malevolent heart to rejoice in the miseries of those who have acted unkindly or wickedly towards us. … If a man have acted cruelly towards us, and God punish him for this cruelty, and we rejoice in it, we make his crime our own; and then, as we have done, so shall it be done unto us; see Oba 1:15.
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 1:12–13; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.
Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Obadiah 1:21And saviours shall come up - Certain persons whom God may choose to be deliverers of his people; such as Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Maccabees. Some think these saviours, … mean the apostles of our Lord. … And as the Asmonean princes joined the priesthood to the state, it might be what the prophet means when he says, "the kingdom shall be the Lord's," the high priest having both the civil and ecclesiastical power in his own hands.
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 1:21; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.
Keil and Delitzsch1807–1888 and 1813–1890LutheranBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament · on Obadiah 1:3They also abound in clefts, with both natural and artificial caves; and hence its earliest inhabitants were Horites, i.e., dwellers in caves; and even the Edomites dwelt in caves, at least to some extent. … The capital, Sela (Petra), in the Wady Musa, of whose glory at one time there are proofs still to be found in innumerable remains of tombs, temples, and other buildings, was shut in both upon the east and west by rocky walls, which present an endless variety of bright lively colours, from the deepest crimson to the softest pale red, and sometimes passing into orange and yellow; whilst on the north and south it was so encircled by hills and heights, that it could only be reached by climbing through very difficult mountain passes and defiles
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 1:2–4; translated by James Martin and others (Edinburgh, 1866–1891); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, two German Lutheran scholars of Hebrew whose commentary on the Old Testament is still read for its learning.