Obadiah 1:11

1:11 You stood aloof ¹  while strangers took his army ²  captive,

and foreigners advanced to his gates. ³ 

When they cast lots ⁴  over Jerusalem, ⁵ 

you behaved as though you were in league ⁶  with them.

Obadiah 1:13

1:13 You should not have entered the city ⁷  of my people when they experienced distress. ⁸ 

You should not have joined ⁹  in gloating over their misfortune when they suffered distress. ¹⁰ 

You should not have looted ¹¹  their wealth when they endured distress. ¹² 

[1:11]  ¹ tn Heb “in the day of your standing”; NAB “On the day when you stood by.”

[1:11]  ² tn Or perhaps, “wealth” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The Hebrew word is somewhat ambiguous here. This word also appears in v. 13, where it clearly refers to wealth.

[1:11]  ³ tc The present translation follows the Qere which reads the plural (“gates”) rather than the singular.

[1:11]  ⁴ sn Casting lots seems to be a way of deciding who would gain control over material possessions and enslaved peoples following a military victory.

[1:11]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “like one from them”; NASB “You too were as one of them.”

[1:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “the gate.” The term “gate” here functions as a synecdoche for the city as a whole, which the Edomites plundered.

[1:13]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “you, also you.”

[1:13]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn See the note on the phrase “suffered distress” in the previous line.