Obadiah 1:1
Context1:1 The vision 1 that Obadiah 2 saw. 3
The Lord God 4 says this concerning 5 Edom: 6
We have heard a report from the Lord.
An envoy was sent among the nations, saying, 7
“Arise! Let us make war against Edom!” 8
Obadiah 1:7
Context1:7 All your allies 9 will force 10 you from your homeland! 11
Your treaty partners 12 will deceive you and overpower you.
Your trusted friends 13 will set an ambush 14 for 15 you
that will take you by surprise! 16
Obadiah 1:13
Context1:13 You should not have entered the city 17 of my people when they experienced distress. 18
You should not have joined 19 in gloating over their misfortune when they suffered distress. 20
You should not have looted 21 their wealth when they endured distress. 22


[1:1] 1 sn The date of the book of Obadiah is very difficult to determine. Since there is no direct indication of chronological setting clearly suggested by the book itself, and since the historical identity of the author is uncertain as well, a possible date for the book can be arrived at only on the basis of internal evidence. When did the hostile actions of Edom against Judah that are described in this book take place? Many nineteenth-century scholars linked the events of the book to a historical note found in 2 Kgs 8:20 (cf. 2 Chr 21:16-17): “In [Jehoram’s] days Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah and established a king over themselves.” If this is the backdrop against which Obadiah should be read, it would suggest a ninth-century
[1:1] 2 sn The name Obadiah in Hebrew means “servant of the
[1:1] 3 tn Heb “the vision of Obadiah” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “This is the prophecy of Obadiah.”
[1:1] 4 tn Heb “Lord
[1:1] 5 tn The Hebrew preposition לְ (lÿ) is better translated here “concerning” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV, NLT) or “about” (so NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV) Edom rather than “to” Edom, although much of the book does speak directly to Edom.
[1:1] 6 sn The name Edom derives from a Hebrew root that means “red.” Edom was located to the south of the Dead Sea in an area with numerous rocky crags that provided ideal military advantages for protection. Much of the sandstone of this area has a reddish color. The Edomites were descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob (Gen 25:19-26).
[1:1] 7 tn Although the word “saying” is not in the Hebrew text, it has been supplied in the translation because what follows seems to be the content of the envoy’s message. Cf. ASV, NASB, NCV, all of which supply “saying”; NIV, NLT “to say.”
[1:1] 8 tn Heb “Arise, and let us arise against her in battle!” The term “Edom” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation to specify the otherwise ambiguous referent of the term “her.”
[1:7] 9 tn Heb “All the men of your covenant”; KJV, ASV “the men of thy confederacy.” In Hebrew “they will send you unto the border” and “all the men of your covenant” appear in two separate poetic lines (cf. NAB “To the border they drive you – all your allies”). Since the second is a noun clause functioning as the subject of the first clause, the two are rendered as a single sentence in the translation.
[1:7] 10 tn Heb “send”; NASB “send you forth”; NAB “drive”; NIV “force.”
[1:7] 11 tn Heb “to the border” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[1:7] 12 tn Heb “the men of your peace.” This expression refers to a political/military alliance or covenant of friendship.
[1:7] 13 tn Heb “your bread,” which makes little sense in the context. The Hebrew word can be revocalized to read “those who eat bread with you,” i.e., “your friends.” Cf. KJV “they that eat thy bread”; NIV “those who eat your bread”; TEV “Those friends who ate with you.”
[1:7] 14 tn Heb “set a trap” (so NIV, NRSV). The meaning of the Hebrew word מָזוֹר (mazor; here translated “ambush”) is uncertain; it occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. The word probably refers to something “spread out” for purposes of entrapment, such as a net. Other possibilities include “trap,” “fetter,” or “stumbling block.”
[1:7] 15 tn Heb “beneath” (so NAB).
[1:7] 16 tn Heb “there is no understanding in him.”
[1:13] 17 tn Heb “the gate.” The term “gate” here functions as a synecdoche for the city as a whole, which the Edomites plundered.
[1:13] 18 tn Heb “in the day of their distress.” The phrase is used three times in this verse; the Hebrew word translated “distress” (אֵידָם, ’edam) is a wordplay on the name Edom. For stylistic reasons and to avoid monotony, in the present translation this phrase is rendered: “when they experienced distress,” “when they suffered distress,” and “when they endured distress.”
[1:13] 19 tn Heb “you, also you.”
[1:13] 20 tn Heb “in the day of his distress.” In this and the following phrase at the end of v. 13 the suffix is 3rd person masculine singular. As collective singulars both occurrences have been translated as plurals (“they suffered distress…endured distress” rather than “he suffered distress…endured distress”).
[1:13] 21 tc In the MT the verb is feminine plural, but the antecedent is unclear. The Hebrew phrase תִּשְׁלַחְנָה (tishlakhnah) here should probably be emended to read תִּשְׁלַח יָד (tishlakh yad), although yad (“hand”) is not absolutely essential to this idiom.
[1:13] 22 tn See the note on the phrase “suffered distress” in the previous line.