1 Kings 17:9

17:9 “Get up, go to Zarephath in Sidonian territory, and live there. I have already told ¹  a widow who lives there to provide for you.”

Ezekiel 28:21-26

28:21 “Son of man, turn toward ²  Sidon ³  and prophesy against it. 28:22 Say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against you, ⁴  Sidon,

and I will magnify myself in your midst.

Then they will know that I am the Lord

when I execute judgments on her

and reveal my sovereign power ⁵  in her.

28:23 I will send a plague into the city ⁶  and bloodshed into its streets;

the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ⁷  from every side.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.

28:24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers ⁸  or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. ⁹  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

28:25 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power ¹⁰  over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 28:26 They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely ¹¹  when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”

Obadiah 1:20

1:20 The exiles of this fortress ¹²  of the people of Israel

will take possession ¹³  of what belongs to

the people of Canaan, as far as Zarephath, ¹⁴ 

and the exiles of Jerusalem ¹⁵  who are in Sepharad ¹⁶ 

will take possession of the towns of the Negev.

[17:9]  ¹ tn Heb “Look, I have commanded.”

[28:21]  ² tn Heb “set your face against.”

[28:21]  ³ sn Sidon was located 25 miles north of Tyre.

[28:22]  ⁴ tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

[28:22]  ⁵ tn Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.

[28:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “by a sword against it.”

[28:24]  ⁸ sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55; Josh 23:13.

[28:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”

[28:25]  ¹⁰ tn Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.

[28:26]  ¹¹ sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.

[1:20]  ¹² tn Or “army” (TEV); KJV, NAB, NASB “host”; NIV “company.” Some text critics suggest revocalizing MT הַחֵל (hakhel, “the fortress”) to the place- name הָלָה (halah, “Halah”; so NRSV), the location to which many of the Israelite exiles were sent in the 8th century (2 Kgs 7:6; 18:11; 1 Chr 5:26). The MT form is from הַיִל (hayil, “strength”), which is used elsewhere to refer to an army (Exod 14:17; 1 Sam 17:20; 2 Sam 8:9), military fortress (2 Sam 20:15; 22:33), leaders (Exod 18:21) and even wealth or possessions (Obad 1:11, 13).

[1:20]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text has no verb here. The words “will possess” have been supplied from the context.

[1:20]  ¹⁴ sn Zarephath was a Phoenician coastal city located some ten miles south of Sidon.

[1:20]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:20]  ¹⁶ sn The exact location of Sepharad is uncertain. Suggestions include a location in Spain, or perhaps Sparta in Greece, or perhaps Sardis in Asia Minor. For inscriptional evidence that bears on this question see E. Lipinski, “Obadiah 20,” VT 23 (1973): 368-70. The reason for mentioning this location in v. 20 seems to be that even though it was far removed from Jerusalem, the Lord will nonetheless enable the Jewish exiles there to return and participate in the restoration of Israel that Obadiah describes.