Discovery BoxObadiah 1:11
Context1:11 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 1:9
Context1:9 Your warriors will be shattered, O Teman, 7
so that 8 everyone 9 will be destroyed 10 from Esau’s mountain!
Obadiah 1:3
Context1:3 Your presumptuous heart 11 has deceived you –
you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, 12
whose home is high in the mountains. 13
You think to yourself, 14
‘No one can 15 bring me down to the ground!’ 16
Obadiah 1:7
Context1:7 All your allies 17 will force 18 you from your homeland! 19
Your treaty partners 20 will deceive you and overpower you.
Your trusted friends 21 will set an ambush 22 for 23 you
that will take you by surprise! 24
[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.”
[1:9] 7 sn Teman, like Sela, was a prominent city of Edom. The name Teman is derived from the name of a grandson of Esau (cf. Gen 36:11). Here it is a synecdoche of part for whole, standing for all of Edom.
[1:9] 8 tn The Hebrew word used here (לְמַעַן, lÿma’an) usually expresses purpose. The sense in this context, however, is more likely that of result.
[1:9] 9 tn Heb “a man,” meaning “every single person” here; cf. KJV “every one.”
[1:9] 10 tn Heb “cut off” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV, NLT “cut down”; CEV “wiped out.”
[1:3] 13 tn Heb “the presumption of your heart”; NAB, NIV “the pride of your heart”; NASB “arrogance of your heart.”
[1:3] 14 tn Heb “in the concealed places of the rock”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “in the clefts of the rock”; NCV “the hollow places of the cliff”; CEV “a mountain fortress.”
[1:3] 15 tn Heb “on high (is) his dwelling”; NASB “in the loftiness of your dwelling place”; NRSV “whose dwelling (abode NAB) is in the heights.”
[1:3] 16 tn Heb “the one who says in his heart.”
[1:3] 17 tn The Hebrew imperfect verb used here is best understood in a modal sense (“Who can bring me down?”) rather than in the sense of a simple future (“Who will bring me down?”). So also in v. 4 (“I can bring you down”). The question is not so much whether this will happen at some time in the future, but whether it even lies in the realm of possible events. In their hubris the Edomites were boasting that no one had the capability of breaching their impregnable defenses. However, their pride caused them to fail to consider the vast capabilities of Yahweh as warrior.
[1:3] 18 tn Heb “Who can bring me down?” This rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “No one!”
[1:7] 19 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] 20 tn Heb “send”; NASB “send you forth”; NAB “drive”; NIV “force.”
[1:7] 21 tn Heb “to the border” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[1:7] 22 tn Heb “the men of your peace.” This expression refers to a political/military alliance or covenant of friendship.
[1:7] 23 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] 24 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.”
