Discovery BoxObadiah 1:10
Context1:10 “Because 1 you violently slaughtered 2 your relatives, 3 the people of Jacob, 4
shame will cover you, and you will be destroyed 5 forever.
Obadiah 1:13-14
Context1:13 You should not have entered the city 6 of my people when they experienced distress. 7
You should not have joined 8 in gloating over their misfortune when they suffered distress. 9
You should not have looted 10 their wealth when they endured distress. 11
1:14 You should not have stood at the fork in the road 12 to slaughter 13 those trying to escape. 14
You should not have captured their refugees when they suffered adversity. 15
[1:10] 1 tn Heb “from.” The preposition is used here with a causal sense.
[1:10] 2 tn Heb “because of the slaughter and because of the violence.” These two expressions form a hendiadys meaning “because of the violent slaughter.” Traditional understanding connects the first phrase “because of the slaughter” with the end of v. 9 (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). It is preferable, however, to regard it as parallel to the reference to violence at the beginning of v. 11. Both the parallel linguistic structure of the two phrases and the metrical structure of the verse favor connecting this phrase with the beginning of v. 10 (cf. NRSV, TEV).
[1:10] 3 tn Heb “the violence of your brother.” The genitive construction is to be understood as an objective genitive. The meaning is not that Jacob has perpetrated violence (= subjective genitive), but that violence has been committed against him (= objective genitive).
[1:10] 4 tn Heb “your brother Jacob” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NCV “your relatives, the Israelites.”
[1:10] 5 tn Heb “be cut off” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
[1:13] 6 tn Heb “the gate.” The term “gate” here functions as a synecdoche for the city as a whole, which the Edomites plundered.
[1:13] 7 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] 8 tn Heb “you, also you.”
[1:13] 9 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] 10 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] 11 tn See the note on the phrase “suffered distress” in the previous line.
[1:14] 12 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word פֶּרֶק (pereq; here translated “fork in the road”) is uncertain. The word is found in the Hebrew Bible only here and in Nah 3:1, where it means “plunder.” In the present context it seems to refer to a strategic intersection or fork in a road where bands of Edomites apprehended Israelites who were fleeing from the attack on Jerusalem. Cf. NAB, NIV, NLT “crossroads”; NRSV “crossings.”
[1:14] 13 tn Heb “to cut off” (so KJV, NRSV); NASB, NIV “to cut down.”
