BOOK 31 OF 66 · MINOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Obadiah 1

Obadiah book home•Chapter 1 of 1•21 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

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Obadiah 1 Overview

Obadiah announces the LORD’s judgment on Edom for pride, violence, looting, and rejoicing over Judah’s disaster. Edom’s mountain security will fail, the Day of the LORD will bring measured recompense, and the book ends with deliverance in Zion and the declaration, “the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.”

ObadiahBook

1Chapter

21Verses

Minor ProphetsDivision

Before you read Obadiah 1

Coming from

Amos ended with the LORD restoring David’s fallen tabernacle and planting Israel securely. Obadiah turns to Edom, a neighboring nation descended from Esau, and explains why its pride and treatment of Jacob bring judgment.

In this chapter

The LORD exposes Edom’s false confidence in geography and alliances, condemns the nation for standing against Judah in its calamity, and expands the judgment into the Day of the LORD before promising Zion’s deliverance.

Leads into

Jonah follows with another prophecy concerning a foreign nation. But instead of Edom’s downfall, Jonah will confront the prophet himself with the LORD’s willingness to show mercy to repentant Nineveh.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Edom occupied rugged territory south and southeast of Judah, associated with Mount Seir and descendants of Esau. Its elevated strongholds help explain the boast, “Who shall bring me down to the ground?”

The exact historical disaster behind verses 10–14 is debated, though the language fits Edom exploiting Judah’s calamity. The chapter’s moral point is clear even where the precise date remains disputed: Edom turned a brother nation’s disaster into an opportunity for pride, violence, looting, and capture of fugitives.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Pride can mistake temporary security for invulnerability

Edom’s high dwellings and strong position cannot protect it from the LORD.

God judges gloating over another people’s calamity

Edom is condemned not only for direct violence but also for rejoicing, boasting, looting, and blocking escape.

The Day of the LORD brings fitting recompense

Obadiah states that what Edom has done will return upon its own head.

The LORD’s kingdom is the final reality

The book ends beyond Edom’s fall with Zion delivered and the kingdom belonging to the LORD.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Genesis 25:19–34

Jacob and Esau provide the family background behind the later relationship between Israel/Judah and Edom.

Numbers 20:14–21

Edom’s refusal to let Israel pass through its territory shows earlier tension between the brother peoples.

Psalm 137:7

The psalm remembers Edom encouraging Jerusalem’s destruction, closely matching Obadiah’s charge that Edom rejoiced in Judah’s calamity.

Romans 12:19

The New Testament forbids private vengeance and leaves recompense to God, which fits Obadiah’s presentation of the LORD Himself as Judge.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not turn Obadiah into permission for ethnic hatred

The prophecy condemns Edom’s pride and violence; it does not authorize hostility toward modern peoples.

Do not claim certainty about the prophecy’s exact historical date where the text does not provide it

The Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem is a common proposal, but the moral and prophetic message does not depend on overclaiming.

Do not make Zion’s deliverance a works-salvation message

The chapter concerns national judgment, possession, and the LORD’s kingdom, not how an individual receives eternal life.

Read Obadiah 1 watching for…

Every form of false security Edom trusts.

The repeated words describing Edom’s response to Judah’s calamity.

The progression from pride to violence to looting and capture.

The principle of measured recompense in the Day of the LORD.

The final movement from Edom’s judgment to Zion’s deliverance and the LORD’s kingdom.

Chapter outline3 sections

1-9Edom’s pride is brought low as allies fail and wisdom and strength are cut off 10-16Edom is condemned for violence against Jacob and warned that the day of the LORD will repay the nations 17-21Deliverance comes upon Zion, Jacob possesses its inheritance, and the kingdom becomes the LORD’s

The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.

Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.

And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.