The big picture
Obadiah begins with Edom high in the rocks and certain that no one can bring it down, then steadily removes every support beneath that confidence. Hidden wealth is searched out, allies turn treacherous, wisdom fails, and mighty men cannot preserve the mountain of Esau. The charge at the center is “violence against thy brother Jacob,” and the book traces Edom’s conduct from watching Jerusalem’s calamity to rejoicing, plundering, blocking escape, and delivering up survivors. The repeated day of Judah’s distress then widens into the day of the LORD upon all nations, where conduct returns upon the doer. Zion receives deliverance and possession, scattered captives are included in restoration, and the final declaration keeps the ending from becoming merely a national reversal: “the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.”
Central truth
The Lord answers Edom's self-deceiving confidence in its heights with a promised descent that hidden treasure, trusted allies, celebrated understanding, and fighting strength will not prevent. The Lord charges Edom with violence against its brother Jacob, treating its hostile watching, rejoicing, plundering, and interception of fugitives during Jerusalem's calamity as participation in the assault rather than innocent distance from it. Obadiah widens Edom's reckoning to the day of the Lord upon all nations, announcing that deeds return upon their doers and portraying a judgment the nations must drink rather than escape. The Lord promises deliverance and holiness on Zion, restored possession for the displaced house of Jacob, and judgment upon Esau, ending with deliverers who serve a kingdom belonging to the Lord rather than to themselves.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Obadiah 1:1: “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…”
Slow down at the turning point
Obadiah 1:12: “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…”
Keep this word trail visible
Esau, shouldest, LORD, mount, possess, house
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Obadiah 1–9
Obadiah 1:1
A report from the LORD
Begin with whose word this is: "The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom". The shortest book in the Old Testament is not Obadiah's opinion of a neighbor. Explain "rumour" as a report and "heathen" as the nations: the Lord has sent an envoy among them, calling them to rise against Edom. Then say who Edom is, the descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother (Genesis 36:1, 8), living in the hills of Seir. Teach this first so that everything after it is heard as God speaking.
Obadiah 1:2-4
Brought down from the heights
Read the three verses as verdict, boast and answer. The verdict comes first in verse 2: small and despised. The boast is in verse 3, from a people living in "the clefts of the rock" who say "Who shall bring me down to the ground?" The answer is verse 4: "thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD". Draw an up and down line on the board. Compare Isaiah 14:13-15 and Proverbs 16:18. Teach this before the details because it is the heart of the unit: pride deceives, and the Lord answers.
Obadiah 1:5-6
Nothing left hidden
Read the two comparisons slowly. Thieves would only steal "till they had enough"; grape gatherers would "leave some grapes", as Leviticus 19:10 required for the poor. Edom will not be left even that. Explain "searched out" and "sought up" as ransacked and dug out: the treasure stored in the rocks, which seemed safest of all, is found. Teach it here because it shows that the heights of verse 3 hid more than people. The things Edom trusted were part of its pride.
Obadiah 1:7
Betrayed at the table
Name the three groups in verse 7: "the men of thy confederacy", "the men that were at peace with thee", and "they that eat thy bread". Explain "confederacy" as alliance and "laid a wound under thee" as setting a trap beneath. Eating bread together sealed friendship, so this is betrayal from inside the circle; compare Psalm 41:9. Point out the echo of verse 3: pride deceived Edom, and now friends deceive it. Teach this before verse 10, because Edom is about to be charged with betraying its own brother.
Obadiah 1:8-9
Wisdom and strength at their limit
"Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom". Edom was famous for its sages, and Teman was one of its chief places; Jeremiah 49:7 asks if wisdom is no more in Teman. Explain "dismayed" as shattered with fear. Counsel and courage are the last things a nation leans on, and both fail. End by reading verse 10 aloud as a preview: "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob". Teach it last because it leaves the class asking why, and the next unit answers.
Obadiah 10–14
Obadiah 1:10
Violence against a brother
Begin with the word "For". Verses 1-9 announced Edom's fall; verse 10 gives the reason: "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever". Remind the class of the twins in Genesis 25, Esau's hatred in Genesis 27:41, and Edom's refusal to let Israel pass in Numbers 20:14-21. Then read Deuteronomy 23:7, where Israel is told to treat the Edomite as a brother. Teach this first because every detail that follows is an example of this one charge.
Obadiah 1:11
Standing on the other side
Read verse 11 as a picture. Strangers carry off Jerusalem's forces, foreigners break through the gates, and the victors "cast lots upon Jerusalem", dividing the city and its people as spoil (compare Joel 3:3). Edom stands on the other side, and the verdict is "even thou wast as one of them". The verse names no king or date; the fall to Babylon (2 Kings 25; Psalm 137:7) and earlier raids (2 Chronicles 21:16-17) have both been proposed. Teach this before the details so the class sees that distance was not innocence.
Obadiah 1:12
Eyes and mouth
Verse 12 begins inside Edom: "thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother". The looking is gazing with satisfaction. Then "rejoiced over the children of Judah", and "spoken proudly", literally made the mouth large, in mockery. Read Proverbs 24:17, which forbids gladness when an enemy stumbles. Note that the King James renders these as reproaches for what was done; some translations render them as commands, do not look, do not rejoice. Either way they name what Edom did. Teach this step to show that sin started in the heart.
Obadiah 1:13
Through the gate and into the goods
Now Edom moves. It "entered into the gate of my people", looked on their affliction, and "laid hands on their substance". Explain "substance" as possessions. Count the phrase "in the day of their calamity", which comes three times in one verse, and let the repetition land. Then link back to verse 6, where Esau's own hidden things are searched out: what Edom took will be taken. Teach it here because it shows the watching of verse 12 turning into profit from a brother's ruin.
Obadiah 1:14
The crossway
Explain "crossway" as the junction where escape roads meet. Survivors who had fled the city came to it, and Edom was waiting "to cut off those of his that did escape" and to deliver up "those of his that did remain". This is the climax of the list: Edom turned from bystander to bounty hunter, handing refugees to their captors. Read it soberly and without dramatizing. Teach it last because it is the most serious act, and because it prepares the class for verse 15, where Edom's deeds return on its own head.
Obadiah 15–16
Obadiah 1:15
The day of the LORD
Read the opening clause on its own: "For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen". Explain "heathen" as the nations. After four verses about Judah's day of calamity, this is a different day, and it belongs to the Lord. The horizon widens from one nation to all of them. Bring in Amos 5:18-20, where Israel itself is warned that the day of the LORD is darkness for the guilty, and Joel 2:31. Teach this first because it sets Edom's sentence inside God's judgment of the whole world.
Obadiah 1:15
As thou hast done
Now read the principle: "as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head". Make a two column table on the board, Edom's deeds from verses 10-14 on the left and what comes back on Edom from verses 6-10 on the right. Explain "reward" as recompense, what one's deeds have earned. Compare Psalm 7:15-16 and Galatians 6:7. Then say plainly that this is the Lord's justice, announced by him, and not a rule for personal revenge; Romans 12:19 keeps vengeance in God's hand.
Obadiah 1:16
Drinking on the holy mountain
"For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain". Point out the change from "thou" to "ye" and do not hide the difficulty. One reading hears Edom and the other nations carousing on Zion after its fall; another hears Judah, who drank the cup of the Lord's anger there. Explain the cup as a common prophetic picture of God's judgment, and read Jeremiah 25:15-29 and Lamentations 4:21, where the cup passes to Edom. Teach both readings fairly, and show that each leads to the same end: all the nations will drink.
Obadiah 1:16
As though they had not been
Finish the verse: "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". Explain "swallow down" as gulping the cup to the bottom. The nations that seemed permanent vanish from history as powers. Link back to verse 3, the heart that asked who could bring it down. Do not stop here, though. Read verse 17 aloud, "But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance", and teach this step last so the class hears that judgment is not the final word in the Book of Obadiah.
Obadiah 17–21
Obadiah 1:17
But upon mount Zion
Read verse 16 and then verse 17 without a pause, so the "But" is heard. After the nations drink and vanish, "upon mount Zion shall be deliverance". Explain deliverance as escape, those who get away, and compare Joel 2:32. Then the two gifts that come with it: "there shall be holiness", the mountain made holy again after it was profaned, and "the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions". Teach this first because it is the turn of the whole book from judgment to hope.
Obadiah 1:18
Fire and stubble
Read verse 18 soberly: "the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame". Joseph stands for the northern tribes, so the whole people is pictured together again. Edom, who thought itself out of reach in verse 3, is now "for stubble", dry straw before a flame. The clause "there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau" is severe and must not be softened or enjoyed. End on the source: "for the LORD hath spoken it". This is God's announced judgment, not a call to arms.
Obadiah 1:19
Every direction restored
Put a simple outline map on the board and trace verse 19. Those called "they of the south", in the Negev, take "the mount of Esau". Those called "they of the plain", in the lowlands toward the sea, take "the Philistines". Then "the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria" in the north, and "Benjamin shall possess Gilead" across the Jordan. Explain that the list covers every direction and joins north and south. Mark only what the verse names. Teach it here so the class sees that the promise is concrete land, not a vague feeling.
Obadiah 1:20
Captives come home
Verse 20 answers verse 11, where strangers "carried away captive his forces". Now "the captivity of this host of the children of Israel" receives land as far as Zarephath, near Sidon, and "the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad" receives "the cities of the south". Explain "captivity" as the exiles. Present Sardis and Spain as the two main proposals for Sepharad, and say plainly that we do not know. Teach this step to show that no exile is too far away to be included in what the Lord promises.
Obadiah 1:21
The kingdom shall be the LORD's
"And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau". Explain saviours as deliverers like Othniel in Judges 3:9, raised up by God and serving under him. Then read the last clause slowly: "and the kingdom shall be the LORD's". Psalm 22:28 says the same, and Revelation 11:15 shows the kingdom of this world becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Teach it last because it is the book's last word: the proud kingdom on the heights is gone, and God reigns.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
Obadiah 1–9
"God is against Edom simply because they were not Israelites."
Verse 10 gives the reason: "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob". The charge is conduct and pride, not ancestry. Deuteronomy 23:7 told Israel, "Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother", and Deuteronomy 2:5 says the Lord himself gave Mount Seir to Esau. God judges Edom for what it did and for the heart that said nobody could bring it down.
"This passage means it is wrong to live somewhere safe or to have strong defenses."
Verse 3 does not condemn rocks, walls or high places. It condemns "the pride of thine heart" and the claim "Who shall bring me down to the ground?" The fault is trusting the height instead of the Lord. Proverbs 18:10-11 makes the same contrast: the name of the LORD is a strong tower, while the rich man's strong city is high only in his own imagination.
"Edom is really a code name for a nation in the news today."
Edom was a real people descended from Esau (Genesis 36:1, 8), living south and east of Judah. Later prophets sometimes use Edom to stand for proud nations opposed to God, but no verse identifies a modern state or ethnic group. Treat any such claim as speculation, and never use this book to stir up hostility toward people today.
"This is about an ancient nation, so it has nothing to do with me."
The particular charges belong to Edom, but the pattern is plain in the rest of Scripture. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6), and Jesus said that whoever exalts himself shall be abased (Luke 14:11). Let learners ask what in their own lives says "Who shall bring me down to the ground?" without forcing a confession out of anyone.
Obadiah 10–14
"Edom did not attack Jerusalem, Babylon did. Standing by is not a crime."
Verse 11 answers this directly: "even thou wast as one of them". And verses 12-14 show that Edom did not stand by for long; it gloated, entered, plundered and caught the escapees. Proverbs 24:11-12 warns that the one who holds back from rescuing the endangered cannot plead ignorance before God, and James 4:17 says knowing good and not doing it is sin. Neutrality toward a brother's destruction is not neutral.
"It is only natural to feel glad when people who hurt us get what is coming to them."
Verse 12 names that gladness as sin: "neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction". Proverbs 24:17 says the same of any enemy. The feeling may rise unbidden, but Edom fed it, spoke it aloud and acted on it. Jesus goes further and tells his followers to pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44).
"Words do not really hurt anyone. Only what you do counts."
Obadiah sets "spoken proudly in the day of distress" (verse 12) in the same list as entering the gate and seizing goods (verse 13). The mocking came first and made the plundering easier. Proverbs 18:21 says death and life are in the power of the tongue, and James 3:5-6 compares the tongue to a fire. In this passage the mouth is one of the instruments of violence.
"This passage gives us the right to hate the people who wronged our people."
Obadiah announces the Lord's judgment; it does not hand the reader a weapon. Verse 15 says "the day of the LORD is near", and Romans 12:19 leaves vengeance with God. Deuteronomy 23:7 still calls the Edomite a brother. Using these verses to justify hostility toward any people today would repeat Edom's sin, not learn from it.
Obadiah 15–16
"'As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee' means I can pay people back the way they treated me."
Verse 15 is spoken by the Lord about his own day; it describes what he will do, not what we may do. Proverbs 20:22 says not to promise to repay evil but to wait on the LORD, Romans 12:19 says vengeance belongs to God, and Jesus sets aside an eye for an eye in personal relationships (Matthew 5:38-39). The comfort of verse 15 is that God will see to justice, which frees us from taking it ourselves.
"The prophets said the day of the LORD was near thousands of years ago, so they were wrong."
Edom's own reckoning did come; by Malachi 1:3-4 its land is described as laid waste, and Edom later disappeared as a nation. The prophets speak of the day of the LORD arriving in judgments within history and in a final day still to come. 2 Peter 3:8-9 says a thousand years are as one day with the Lord and that his delay is patience. Near means certain and pressing, not scheduled.
"Only Edom is in trouble here. The other nations are not involved."
Verse 15 says "upon all the heathen", and verse 16 says "all the heathen" will drink. Edom is the example, not the exception. Amos 1-2 shows the same Lord judging the surrounding nations and then Judah and Israel too, and Romans 2:6 says God will render to every man according to his deeds. No nation, including our own, stands outside this verse.
"'As though they had not been' tells us exactly what happens to every person after death."
Verse 16 is a picture of nations, drunk on the cup of judgment and vanishing as powers. It is not written to settle questions about individual souls, and building a doctrine of the afterlife on it asks more of the verse than it gives. Teach what it plainly says, the complete end of proud nations, and take questions about life after death to passages written to answer them.
Obadiah 17–21
"Verse 18 means God's people have the right to destroy their enemies."
Verse 18 ends "for the LORD hath spoken it": this is his announced judgment on Edom, not an instruction to anyone reading. Romans 12:19 keeps vengeance with God, and Jesus told his followers to love their enemies (Matthew 5:44). No modern people is Esau, and nothing in these verses licenses violence or seizure of land today. Teach the verse as God's justice, received with fear, not as a battle plan.
"If there are saviours in verse 21, people can save themselves, or God shares his rule with them."
The saviours are deliverers like the judges whom the LORD raised up (Judges 3:9) and the deliverer he gave Israel in 2 Kings 13:5. They act for God and under him. That is why the verse does not end with them but with "the kingdom shall be the LORD's". The book's final claim is that God alone rules, and every human rescuer serves that rule.
"These promises are only about land in the Middle East, so they have nothing to do with Christians." Or the opposite: "they are only spiritual, so the places do not matter."
The text is concrete; it names Zion, Ephraim, Samaria and Gilead, and the return from exile fulfilled part of it. Christians also read its last clause through Christ, as Revelation 11:15 does, and traditions differ on how much is still to come. Present the main views fairly, keep the places on the map, and land the lesson where verse 21 does: the kingdom belongs to the Lord.
"If nobody knows where Sepharad was, how can we trust this passage?"
Not knowing where an ancient place-name pointed is a limit in our maps, not in the text. Verse 20 is clear about what matters: captives from Jerusalem, wherever they had been taken, will possess the cities of the south. Name the proposals, Sardis and Spain, admit the uncertainty, and let the clear promise stand. Honesty about what we do not know builds trust in what we do.
Learning objectives
- Identify Edom as the subject of the opening announcement.
- Explain how the heart's pride misreads a real geographical advantage.
- Trace the answer to Edom's question about being brought down.
- Explain the contrast with ordinary thieves and grape gatherers.
- Identify the unexpected source of betrayal in verse 7.
- Describe the collapse of wisdom and strength in verses 8–9.
- Explain the force of calling Jacob Edom's brother.
- Identify why Edom is counted as one of the attackers.
- Trace the repeated references to the day of calamity.
- Distinguish hostile speech from taking possessions.
- Explain the added harm at the crossway.
- Describe the conduct rejected by the repeated prohibitions.
- Identify the widened scope of the day of the Lord.
- Connect Edom's recompense with its preceding actions.
- Explain reward as repayment in this setting.
- Distinguish the two principal readings of the first drinking clause.
- Describe the force of the final ruin image.
- State what the word near does not specify.
- Explain the contrast introduced by But in verse 17.
- Connect deliverance with holiness on Zion.
- Identify the fire, flame, and stubble imagery.
- Trace the repeated language of possessing land.
- Describe the inclusion of captives in the promised restoration.
- Distinguish the human deliverers from the Lord whose kingdom they serve.
Teacher preparation
- Read Obadiah 1–9 and preview 10–14 so the announced judgment remains connected to the book's stated charges.
- Read Genesis 36:1, 8–11 to connect Esau, Edom, Seir, and Teman without supplying uncertain modern site identifications.
- Explain 'rumour' as report, 'heathen' as nations, and 'confederacy' as alliance in this setting.
- Prepare an up-and-down diagram for verses 3–4; keep the eagle and stars as images, not architectural measurements.
- Mark what each supposed protection becomes in verses 5–9: searched treasure, treacherous partners, lost understanding, and dismayed warriors.
- Read Obadiah 1–15; connect the announced fall with its stated cause and recompense.
- Review Genesis 25:24–26 and 36:1 for the brother language; do not treat it as an incidental expression of friendliness.
- Explain 'substance' as possessions and 'crossway' as a road junction or place where escape routes meet.
- Mark each named action rather than assuming every Edomite performed every act in a fixed psychological sequence.
- Prepare a non-graphic discussion of fugitives and captivity, using invented cases rather than personal experiences or reenactments.
- Read Obadiah 10–17 so the 'For' in verse 15 and 'But' in verse 17 remain audible.
- Explain 'heathen' as nations and 'reward' as recompense, not necessarily a desirable prize.
- Mark the movement from 'thou' to 'ye' and 'all the heathen'; do not conceal the pronoun difficulty.
- Read Jeremiah 25:15–29 for the wider biblical imagery of drinking divine judgment.
- Prepare both readings of verse 16's opening without presenting either as the only imaginable interpretation.
- Read Obadiah 10–21; mark reversals of plunder, displacement, pride, and hostile control.
- Explain 'saviours' in verse 21 as deliverers; compare the human agent called a saviour in 2 Kings 13:5.
- Outline Esau, the Philistines, Ephraim, Samaria, Gilead, Zarephath, and the south; mark Sepharad as uncertain.
- Distinguish Jacob, Joseph, and Esau as collective houses in verse 18, not individuals in a family quarrel.
- Prepare to name the severe judgment on Esau without reenacting it or assigning modern ethnic identities to the opposing houses.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Read Obadiah 3–4: the heart's pride deceives, and the Lord explicitly answers the boast that nobody can bring Edom down. Read Obadiah 10–11: violence is directed against a brother, and Edom is counted as one of the hostile foreigners entering Jerusalem. Read Obadiah 15: the day belongs to the Lord, reaches all nations, and brings Edom's conduct back upon its own head. Read Obadiah 17, 20–21: Zion receives deliverance and holiness, captives receive possession, and the kingdom belongs to the Lord.
Scripture-supported
Compare Obadiah 6, 8–9 with Genesis 36:1, 8–11. The names Esau, Edom, and Teman belong to a connected people and setting, not unrelated targets. Compare Obadiah 12 with Psalm 137:7. Both preserve Edom's hostile response to Jerusalem's calamity, rather than describing neutral concern from a distance. Compare Obadiah 15 with Joel 3:4, 7. Both use returned recompense to connect judgment with the harm inflicted. Compare Obadiah 21 with 2 Kings 13:5. Scripture can call a human rescuer a saviour without identifying that person as a rival deity.
Strong inference
Infer from Obadiah 5–9 that the judgment strips away several layers of security rather than only overcoming a difficult climb. Infer from Obadiah 11–14 that participation in harm extends beyond initiating the invasion: encouragement, opportunistic taking, and stopping escape also matter. Infer from Obadiah 10–15 that Edom cannot claim exemption because it joined rather than initiated another nation's violence. Infer from Obadiah 13, 17, 20 that displacement is not the final identity assigned to Jacob's people; those deprived of possessions are promised possession again.
Possible or traditional reading
Mention the traditional proposal connecting the betraying allies of Obadiah 7 with the Nabataeans, but distinguish that historical reconstruction from the verse, which names no allied nation. Present the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem in 2 Kings 25 and earlier attacks such as 2 Chronicles 21:16–17 as proposed settings for Obadiah 11; the passage names neither king nor date. Explain the alternatives in Obadiah 16: 'ye' may address Edom drinking in triumph on Zion, or Judah having drunk judgment there; both readings lead into the nations' coming judgment. Present Sardis and the traditional identification with Spain as proposed locations for Sepharad in Obadiah 20; the verse itself does not settle between them.
Limit
State that Obadiah 3–4 does not condemn living in mountains or possessing defenses; it identifies the heart's deceived claim of invulnerability. State that Obadiah 10–14 does not establish the actions of every individual Edomite or authorize hostility toward people today on the basis of supposed ancestry. State that Obadiah 15 supplies no calendar date for 'near,' and its announcement of the Lord's reckoning is not permission for private retaliation. State that Obadiah 18–21 gives neither a complete fulfillment timetable nor permission to label a modern population Esau and seize its land or attack its people.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Why does the opening call Edom small before describing its high habitation?
What a good answer contains
Because the Lord's verdict comes before Edom's boast. Verse 2 says "Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised", and only then does verse 3 describe the dwelling "in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high". The Lord speaks of the matter as already settled. A good answer sees that God, not the landscape, decides a nation's size. A weak answer treats height as greatness, which is exactly Edom's mistake.
Show teacher guidance
Compare verses 2–3. Distinguish apparent elevation from standing among the nations; height is not the same as greatness.
2. What is the heart saying that the rocks cannot prove?
What a good answer contains
The heart says "Who shall bring me down to the ground?" (verse 3). The rocks give a real advantage, but they cannot prove that nobody can reach Edom; that conclusion comes from "the pride of thine heart", which "hath deceived thee". The deceiver is inside, not on the border. A good answer says the cliffs are real and the confidence is the lie. A weak answer condemns mountains or defenses, which the verse never does.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 3's question. The terrain offers advantage, but cannot establish that nobody can bring its occupants down.
3. How does the Lord answer the imagined nest among the stars?
What a good answer contains
He grants the image at its highest and answers anyway: "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" (verse 4). Edom asked who; the Lord answers I. A good answer hears verse 4 as the direct reply to the question of verse 3. A weak answer turns it into a discussion of how high eagles fly.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 4's final clause. Keep the decisive answer in the speaker's promise, not a debate about how high an eagle flies.
4. Why would ordinary thieves or grape gatherers leave a less complete loss?
What a good answer contains
Because even plunderers stop somewhere. Thieves take "till they had enough", and grape gatherers "leave some grapes" (verse 5); the law itself told harvesters to leave gleanings for the poor (Leviticus 19:10). Edom will be stripped completely: "how are his hidden things sought up" (verse 6). A good answer sees that the comparison stresses how total the loss will be, reaching even treasure hidden in the rock. A weak answer thinks theft is being commended.
Show teacher guidance
Read verses 5–6. The comparison expects leftovers, then announces a searching exposure of hidden things; it is not praise for theft.
5. Who turns against Edom in verse 7?
What a good answer contains
Edom's own friends. "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 "they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee" (verse 7). Allies, partners in peace, guests at the table. A good answer notices that Edom is deceived twice, by its pride in verse 3 and by its friends here. A weak answer pictures only an outside enemy.
Show teacher guidance
Name allies, peaceful partners, and those eating its bread. The surprise is betrayal within relationships considered safe, not merely a new foreign attack.
6. What happens to the last resources named in verses 8–9?
What a good answer contains
They fail. The Lord will "destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau" (verse 8), and "thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed" (verse 9). Edom was known for wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7 asks whether wisdom is gone from Teman), and verse 7 has already said "there is none understanding in him". A good answer sees the last two supports, counsel and strength, removed. A weak answer treats them as escape routes.
Show teacher guidance
Identify lost wisdom and dismayed mighty men. Explain why clever counsel and strength cannot be treated as escape clauses from the announced judgment.
7. Why does 'thy brother Jacob' make the accusation more than a dispute between strangers?
What a good answer contains
Because Edom and Israel came from twin brothers, Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:24-26; 36:1). Verse 10 names the crime that way: "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee". The law had told Israel not to abhor an Edomite "for he is thy brother" (Deuteronomy 23:7). A good answer sees that kinship deepens the betrayal. A weak answer suggests that violence would be acceptable against strangers, or treats it as a family quarrel with equal blame.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 10 with Genesis 25:24–26 and 36:1. Identify betrayed kinship without claiming violence against unrelated people would be acceptable.
8. How can someone standing on the other side still be 'as one of them'?
What a good answer contains
Because standing aloof was a choice of sides. Verse 11 sets the scene, strangers carrying off his forces, foreigners entering his gates and casting lots upon Jerusalem, and then says "even thou wast as one of them". Verses 12-14 show Edom did more than watch. A good answer sees that refusing to help a brother under attack already counts as joining the attackers. A weak answer accepts the defense that Edom did not start the invasion.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 11 with verses 12–14. Keep hostile participation in view; do not accept a defense based solely on not starting the invasion.
9. What does the repeated 'day' make the reader notice?
What a good answer contains
That Edom chose its moment. The word comes again and again: "the day of thy brother", "the day of their destruction", "the day of distress", and "the day of their calamity" three times in verse 13. Edom moved when Judah was least able to resist. A strong answer notices that verse 15 then turns the same word round: "the day of the LORD is near". A weak answer treats the repetition as mere style.
Show teacher guidance
Mark distress, destruction, affliction, and calamity in verses 11–14. Edom exploits the moment when its brother is least able to resist.
10. How do words and hands contribute differently to the harm?
What a good answer contains
Words come first. Edom "rejoiced over the children of Judah" and "spoken proudly in the day of distress" (verse 12). Then hands: it "entered into the gate of my people" and "laid hands on their substance" (verse 13). The gloating prepared the way for the looting. A good answer holds both as sins, since the Lord names them side by side. A weak answer excuses the words because the plundering was worse.
Show teacher guidance
Compare speaking proudly in verse 12 with entering and taking in verse 13. Refuse to excuse either merely because another action is worse.
11. Why is the crossway a particularly grave place to stand?
What a good answer contains
Because it closed the last door. The crossway is the fork in the road where escape routes meet. Edom stood there "to cut off those of his that did escape" and "delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress" (verse 14). These were survivors who had already got out of the city. A good answer sees that Edom's final act targeted the weakest people at the moment they had nearly reached safety.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 14. People have escaped the first danger; intercepting or surrendering them closes the route away from it.
12. What pattern emerges from the repeated 'thou shouldest not'?
What a good answer contains
A steady slide from eyes to mouth to feet to hands. The eight prohibitions in verses 12-14 move from looking on and rejoicing, to speaking proudly, to entering the gate, to seizing goods, to standing in the crossway and handing over survivors. Each "thou shouldest not" names one step further. A good answer traces the escalation and sees that it began with a look. A weak answer reduces the list to a general instruction to be kind.
Show teacher guidance
Group the prohibitions in verses 12–14: gloating, boasting, entering, taking, intercepting, and handing over. Base the answer on conduct rather than a general instruction to be nicer.
13. Whose day is approaching, and upon whom?
What a good answer contains
It is the LORD's day, and it reaches every nation: "For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen" (verse 15). Verses 11-14 spoke again and again of Judah's day of calamity, the day Edom exploited. Now a different day arrives, and it belongs to God. A good answer keeps both halves, the Lord as judge and all the nations as accountable. A weak answer shrinks the verse to a feud between two neighboring peoples.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 15's opening. Retain both the Lord and all the nations; do not shrink the announcement to a private feud.
14. What actions stand behind 'as thou hast done'?
What a good answer contains
The deeds named in verses 12-14: gloating over a brother, speaking proudly, entering the gate, laying hands on substance, standing in the crossway and delivering up survivors. The verse answers them: "as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee" (verse 15). A strong answer finds the matching pairs: Edom plundered and will be searched out (verse 6), betrayed a brother and will be betrayed by allies (verse 7), cut off fugitives and will itself be "cut off for ever" (verse 10).
Show teacher guidance
Return to verses 12–14. Name taking possessions and intercepting fugitives rather than offering only a general statement about wrongdoing.
15. Why is reward not a prize in verse 15?
What a good answer contains
Because the sentence finishes "thy reward shall return upon thine own head" (verse 15). In the King James "reward" can mean what a person's deeds have earned, good or bad, and here it is the harm Edom did coming back on Edom. Psalm 7:16 uses the same picture of mischief returning on the doer's own head. A good answer reads the whole sentence. A weak answer hears reward as a prize and is confused by the verse.
Show teacher guidance
Read the complete sentence about return upon Edom's head. The context makes recompense the consequence of harmful deeds.
16. Who may be addressed by 'ye have drunk' in verse 16?
What a good answer contains
Verse 16 suddenly changes from "thou" to "ye": "For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain". It may address Edom and its allies, who drank in celebration on Zion after it fell, or Judah, who drank the cup of God's judgment there. Lamentations 4:21 tells Edom that the cup will pass to it too. A good answer presents both readings and notes that they arrive at the same place, "so shall all the heathen drink continually".
Show teacher guidance
Present Edom's triumph and Judah's suffering as the two readings; distinguish this uncertainty from the clear judgment upon the nations.
17. What does 'as though they had not been' emphasize?
What a good answer contains
Complete disappearance. The nations "shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been" (verse 16). To swallow down is to drink the cup to the dregs. Peoples who acted as if they would always be there will be gone as powers, which answers Edom's boast in verse 3. A good answer hears the totality. A weak answer turns a picture of nations into a full teaching about individual souls after death.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 16's ending. Explain devastating removal, without treating a national judgment image as a complete account of individual existence after death.
18. What can near establish without providing a date?
What a good answer contains
That the day is certain and close enough to shape how people live now. The phrase "the day of the LORD is near" (verse 15) carries urgency; it does not carry a date. Edom's own judgment did come, and Malachi 1:3-4 already speaks of its heritage laid waste. 2 Peter 3:8-9 explains that the Lord's patience is not slowness. A weak answer either builds a countdown from the word near or dismisses it because time has passed.
Show teacher guidance
Use verse 15. Preserve the announced urgency while refusing an invented countdown or a confident modern event identification.
19. What two promises follow deliverance in verse 17?
What a good answer contains
Holiness and possession: "But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions" (verse 17). The mountain where the nations drank in verse 16 becomes holy again, and the people who were plundered in verse 13 receive back what is theirs. A good answer keeps all three together. A weak answer reduces the promise to bare survival, or turns possession into taking what belongs to others.
Show teacher guidance
Identify holiness and possession. Keep restoration from becoming only a chance to acquire what another group loses.
20. How does the fire-and-stubble image reverse the earlier account of Edom's strength?
What a good answer contains
In verses 3-9 Edom sat on the heights, sure that nobody could reach it, while in verses 11-14 Judah was helpless prey. Verse 18 reverses both: "the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble". Stubble is dry straw, the easiest thing to burn. A good answer notices the closing words, "for the LORD hath spoken it". A weak answer turns the picture into a war game.
Show teacher guidance
Compare verse 18 with verses 3–9. Jacob and Joseph are no longer pictured as helpless prey; acknowledge the severe announced judgment without turning it into a battle game.
21. What does the repeated possess language restore beyond a feeling of relief?
What a good answer contains
Home. The verb returns again and again: "possess their possessions" (verse 17), "possess the mount of Esau", "possess the fields of Ephraim", "Benjamin shall possess Gilead" (verse 19), "shall possess the cities of the south" (verse 20). The plundered and exiled of verses 11-14 receive land, inheritance and settled belonging, as God promised Abraham (Genesis 17:8). A weak answer spiritualizes it into a mood, or uses it to license seizing land today.
Show teacher guidance
Read verses 17, 19–20 alongside verse 13. Identify land, settled belonging, and recovery from material dispossession.
22. Why do the named regions in verse 19 matter?
What a good answer contains
Because they name real ground in every direction: "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" (verse 19). South, west, north and east across the Jordan are all included, and Ephraim and Samaria bring the northern tribes back alongside Judah. A good answer sees a whole people restored. A weak answer invents modern borders.
Show teacher guidance
Trace Esau, the Philistines, Ephraim, Samaria, and Gilead. The promise concerns a people and places, not a floating abstraction; avoid inventing exact modern boundaries.
23. What remains clear even when Sepharad cannot be located with certainty?
What a good answer contains
That exiles far away are included. Verse 20 says that "the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south". Sepharad may be Sardis in Asia Minor or, as Jewish tradition held, Spain; either way it is far from home. Verse 20 also brings "the captivity of this host of the children of Israel" back to land as far as Zarephath. A good answer lets the promise stand while the map stays uncertain.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 20. Captives of Jerusalem are included and assigned cities of the south; uncertainty about one place does not erase the promised return to possession.
24. Why end with the Lord's kingdom after mentioning plural saviours?
What a good answer contains
Because the deliverers serve and the Lord reigns. "And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's" (verse 21). Explain saviours as deliverers, like the judges God raised up (Judges 3:9; 2 Kings 13:5). The book began with a proud kingdom on the heights; it ends with the kingdom belonging to the Lord. A weak answer makes the human rescuers the point of the verse.
Show teacher guidance
Read verse 21 with 2 Kings 13:5. Distinguish deliverers exercising a task from owners of ultimate authority; the final claim belongs to the Lord.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Ask learners to correct a fictional fortress's boast of complete immunity using the contrast between verses 3 and 4.
Relationships and community
Examine an imagined alliance built only on mutual advantage; distinguish its promises from demonstrated fidelity without condemning all friendship.
An honest security inventory
List Edom's claimed protections and the reversal attached to each; do not ask learners to disclose their own vulnerabilities.
Keep the escape route open
Discuss how a hypothetical community can avoid obstructing people seeking safety; distinguish practical protection from staging a rescue drama.
Honesty about a hard pronoun
Write one clear claim and one disputed reading from verse 16, showing that uncertainty about a detail need not erase the whole sentence.
Deliverers are not owners
Evaluate a fictional rescuer claiming unlimited authority as payment for helping; compare the deliverers' task with the kingdom's owner in verse 21.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
Obadiah 1–9
45 minutes
A word about Edom
Read verse 1 and Genesis 36:1, 8. Establish who Edom is and whose word this is.
Verdict, boast and answer
Read verses 2-4 and draw the up and down line. Take questions one, two and three, and confusion two.
Nothing left hidden
Read verses 5-6 with Leviticus 19:10. Take question four.
Betrayed at the table
Read verse 7. Take question five and show the echo of deceived from verse 3.
Wisdom and strength fail
Read verses 8-9, then verse 10 as a preview. Take question six and confusion one.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, give out the sheet, and pray for humble trust in the Lord.
90 minutes
Feeling untouchable
Ask what makes people feel that nothing can reach them: money, position, friends, cleverness. List the answers without comment.
Brothers and a word from the LORD
Read Genesis 25:23-26 and 36:1, 8, then Obadiah verse 1. Explain who Edom is and that the book opens with the Lord speaking.
Verdict, boast and answer
Read verses 2-4 with Isaiah 14:13-15 and Proverbs 16:18. Take questions one, two and three, and confusion two.
Nothing left hidden
Read verses 5-6 with Leviticus 19:10. Take question four and return to the list of things that make people feel safe.
Betrayed at the table
Read verse 7 with Psalm 41:9. Take question five, gently, since some may carry this wound.
Wisdom and strength fail
Read verses 8-9 with Jeremiah 49:7, then verse 10. Take question six and confusion one with Deuteronomy 23:7.
Edom and us
Take confusions three and four. Read James 4:6 and ask each person to name privately one thing they lean on instead of the Lord.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and pray for humble hearts.
Obadiah 10–14
45 minutes
Against thy brother
Read verse 10 and remind the class of Jacob and Esau. Take question one.
As one of them
Read verse 11. Take question two and confusion one.
Eyes and mouth
Read verse 12 and mark every day. Take question three, the words half of question four, and confusion two.
Through the gate
Read verse 13 and count in the day of their calamity. Finish question four and take confusion three.
The crossway
Read verse 14. Take questions five and six, listing the eight prohibitions, and close with confusion four.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, give out the sheet, and pray for courage to help rather than watch.
90 minutes
Three neighbors
Describe an invented fire: one neighbor watches, one jokes, one carries off things from the yard. Ask who is guilty and why. Keep the answers.
Against thy brother
Read Genesis 25:21-26, Numbers 20:14-21 and Deuteronomy 23:7, then verse 10. Take question one.
As one of them
Read verse 11 with Psalm 137:7. Take question two and confusion one with Proverbs 24:11-12.
Eyes and mouth
Read verse 12 with Proverbs 24:17. Mark every day, take question three and confusion two.
Through the gate
Read verse 13 and link it to verse 6. Take question four and confusion three.
The crossway
Read verse 14. Take question five, then list all eight prohibitions on the board for question six. Return to the three neighbors.
Bystanders today
Discuss where the group sees people watching, mocking or profiting when someone falls. Take confusion four.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and pray for those in distress whom the group knows.
Obadiah 15–16
45 minutes
Read the turn
Read verses 10-16 aloud so the move from Edom's deeds to the Lord's day is heard.
The day of the LORD
Read verse 15 again with Amos 5:18-20. Take question one and confusion three.
As thou hast done
Build the two column table of deeds and return. Take questions two and three, then confusion one.
Drinking on the holy mountain
Read verse 16 with Lamentations 4:21. Take question four and present both readings.
Near, and gone
Take questions five and six with confusions two and four, briefly.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, read verse 17 as a preview, give out the sheet and pray.
90 minutes
Does it come back?
Ask whether it is fair that what people do comes back on them, and where they have seen it happen. Keep the answers.
The day of the LORD
Read verse 15 with Joel 2:31, Amos 5:18-20 and Zephaniah 1:14. Take question one and confusion three.
As thou hast done
Build the two column table from verses 6-14 and verse 15. Take questions two and three with Psalm 7:15-16.
Not ours to repay
Take confusion one with Proverbs 20:22, Romans 12:19 and Matthew 5:38-39. Return to the opening answers.
Drinking on the holy mountain
Read verse 16 with Jeremiah 25:15-29 and Lamentations 4:21. Take question four and set out both readings.
As though they had not been
Take question five and confusion four, and link verse 16 back to verse 3.
Near
Take question six and confusion two with 2 Peter 3:8-9 and Malachi 1:2-4.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, then verse 17 as a preview, and pray.
Obadiah 17–21
45 minutes
The But
Read verses 16-17 straight through. Take question one.
Fire and stubble
Read verse 18 and compare verses 3-9. Take question two and confusion one.
Every direction
Read verses 19-20 with a simple map. Take questions three, four and five, and confusion four.
The kingdom shall be the LORD's
Read verse 21 with Judges 3:9. Take question six and confusion two.
The whole book
Take confusion three, then ask the group to sum up Obadiah in three words: pride, brother, kingdom.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, give out the sheet, and pray Psalm 22:28 as praise.
90 minutes
What we know of Edom
Ask the group to list what they have learned about Edom in verses 1-16. Keep the list visible.
But upon mount Zion
Read verses 16-17 with Joel 2:32 and 3:17. Take question one.
Fire and stubble
Read verse 18 beside verses 3-9. Take question two and confusion one.
Every direction, every exile
Trace verses 19-20 on a map. Take questions three, four and five, and confusion four.
Saviours and the King
Read verse 21 with Judges 3:9 and 2 Kings 13:5. Take question six and confusion two.
How it is fulfilled
Take confusion three with Psalm 22:28 and Revelation 11:15, presenting the main views fairly.
The whole book aloud
Read all twenty one verses of Obadiah aloud in one go. Ask where the hope begins and what it answers in the earlier verses.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and pray Psalm 22:28 as praise.
Adapting the lesson
Obadiah 1–9
Children
Draw a cliff with an eagle's nest at the very top, and explain that Edom lived high in the rocks and thought nobody could ever reach them. Read verse 3, then verse 4, and let the children say God's answer: I will bring you down. Talk about pride as thinking we do not need God. Leave out the slaughter of verse 9, and do not let the lesson turn into laughing at anyone who falls.
Youth
Ask where their friends find security: popularity, followers, grades, a group that has their back. Read verse 3 and talk about the voice that says nobody can touch me. Read verse 7 honestly; many have been let down by friends they shared everything with. Keep the application personal and do not let the class apply Edom to any nation or ethnic group today.
Adults
Give the history: Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25, Edom refusing Israel passage in Numbers 20:14-21, and the parallels in Jeremiah 49:7-16. Discuss how nations, churches and individuals trust alliances, cleverness and strength. Use the evidence levels: the traditional link of verse 7 with the Nabataeans is a reconstruction, not something the verse says. Leave time for verse 3 as a question each adult answers for themselves.
One to one
Ask where they feel safest and why. Read verse 3 and gently ask whether any of those securities has started to sound like "Who shall bring me down to the ground?" If they have been betrayed by someone who ate at their table, let verse 7 show that God sees it, without hurrying them past the hurt. Close with Proverbs 18:10 and pray together.
Obadiah 10–14
Children
Tell the children that Edom and Israel came from two brothers, and that when Israel was in trouble, Edom watched, laughed and took their things. Use a simple scene: a classmate drops a lunch tray, some laugh, one takes the dessert. Ask what a brother or sister should do. Leave out the captives and the killing at the crossroads, and close on helping someone who falls.
Youth
Talk about bystander culture: filming a fight, sharing a humiliating post, piling on in comments. Read verse 12 and ask which of these is rejoicing or speaking proudly. Read verse 14 and ask what it means to block someone's way out. Be careful with anyone who has been the one humiliated, and let them hear that God names this as wrong.
Adults
Lay out the history from Genesis 25 to Numbers 20 and the fall of Jerusalem with Psalm 137:7 and Lamentations 4:21-22. Discuss complicity: when does staying out become taking part. Note the King James reproaches and the alternative command reading. Insist on the limit that these verses never justify hostility toward a modern people, and keep Deuteronomy 23:7 in view.
One to one
Ask whether they have ever been the one in trouble while others watched or gloated. If so, let verse 12 show that God names that cruelty. If they recognize themselves as the bystander or the one who rejoiced, read 1 John 1:9 and talk about one step of repair. Pray for the person they are thinking of.
Obadiah 15–16
Children
Use a simple picture: a ball thrown at a wall bounces back to the thrower. Read verse 15 and explain that what Edom did to others came back to Edom. Then make the key point: God is the one who makes it come back, not us, so we never have to get even. Leave out the cup and the drinking of verse 16, and finish on doing kindness, since God sees that too.
Youth
Many will talk about karma. Show the difference: verse 15 is not an impersonal force but the day of the LORD, a person who sees and judges. Talk about revenge in their world, online and off, and read Proverbs 20:22. Ask what it would look like to leave someone's wrong with God. Let them wrestle honestly with the word near.
Adults
Trace the day of the LORD through Joel, Amos and Zephaniah, and discuss measure for measure justice as God's principle rather than a license for personal retaliation. Present both readings of verse 16 and the cup passages. Note what history shows of Edom's end. Ask how nations today, including their own, stand under verse 15.
One to one
If the person has been badly wronged, read verse 15 as God's promise that the wrong will not be forgotten, and talk about releasing revenge to him. If instead they fear their own deeds coming back on them, read Isaiah 53:5-6 and show that Christ bore what we had earned. Pray with them for whichever they need.
Obadiah 17–21
Children
Draw a mountain with people walking up it toward home, and put a crown at the top. Read verse 17 and say that God brings his people home and gives back what was taken. Read the last words of verse 21 and let the children say them together: the kingdom is the Lord's. Leave out the fire and stubble of verse 18, and finish by thanking God that he keeps his promises.
Youth
Ask who they think is really in charge of the world, and read verse 21. Connect it to the earlier units: pride on the heights, betrayal of a brother, the day of the LORD. Let them see that the book ends in hope for people who were robbed and scattered. Steer away from turning verse 18 into a game or a comment on current conflicts.
Adults
Discuss how verses 17-21 have been read: return from exile, the coming of Christ's kingdom, a fulfilment still ahead. Work through the geography carefully and mark Sepharad as uncertain. Relate the human deliverers to the divine King, and to Christ as the final deliverer. Hold the limit firmly: these verses do not settle any modern political dispute.
One to one
If the person has lost a home, possessions or a place to belong, read verse 17 slowly, "the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions", and let them hear that God restores. Ask what they long to have restored. Then read verse 21 and pray together that the Lord's kingdom would come in their situation.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Obadiah 1–9
The passage in brief
Obadiah opens with a message from the Lord about Edom, the nation descended from Esau. Edom lived high among the rocks and was sure nobody could bring it down. The Lord says its pride has deceived it, and that even if it nested among the stars he would bring it down. Its hidden treasure will be searched out, its allies will betray it, and its famous wisdom and strong soldiers will fail. No height is safe from the Lord, and no heart is safe that trusts itself.
A verse to keep
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?
Obadiah 1:3 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What does Edom say in its heart in verse 3?
How does the Lord answer in verse 4?
Who turns against Edom in verse 7?
This week
Name one thing you lean on instead of the Lord, and this week give him thanks each day that he is your safety.
Obadiah 10–14
The passage in brief
In Obadiah 10-14 the Lord gives the reason for Edom's fall: violence against its brother Jacob. When foreigners attacked Jerusalem, Edom stood on the other side and became like one of them. It watched Judah's disaster with pleasure, laughed, mocked, went in through the gate, took their goods, and even stood at the crossroads to catch survivors and hand them over. The Lord says each of these was wrong. Standing by, gloating and taking advantage of someone in trouble are not small things to God.
A verse to keep
For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
Obadiah 1:10 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What is Edom's crime, according to verse 10?
What did Edom do, step by step, in verses 12-14?
Why was standing at the crossway in verse 14 so serious?
This week
This week, when someone near you is in trouble, refuse to watch, laugh or take advantage, and do one thing to help them.
Obadiah 15–16
The passage in brief
In Obadiah 15-16 the view widens from Edom to the whole world. The day of the LORD is near for every nation. What Edom did will be done to Edom, and its deeds will come back on its own head. Using the picture of a cup of judgment, verse 16 says the nations will drink and drink until they are gone, as if they had never been. God sees what nations and people do, and he will set things right. That is why we leave revenge to him.
A verse to keep
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.
Obadiah 1:15 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Whose day is coming in verse 15, and who will it reach?
What did Edom do in verses 12-14 that will now be done to Edom?
Why does this passage mean we do not have to take revenge?
This week
Think of someone who has wronged you, and this week hand that wrong over to God in prayer instead of planning to repay it.
Obadiah 17–21
The passage in brief
Obadiah ends with hope. On Mount Zion there will be deliverance and holiness, and God's people will get back what was taken from them. Proud Edom will be like dry straw before a fire, because the Lord has spoken. God's scattered people will return and live in the land in every direction, even exiles who were taken far away. Deliverers will come up on Mount Zion, but the last word belongs to God alone: the kingdom will be the Lord's.
A verse to keep
But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Obadiah 1:17 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What three things are promised on Mount Zion in verse 17?
Who are brought home in verse 20?
What are the last words of the book in verse 21, and why do they matter?
This week
Each morning this week, pray the last words of Obadiah, the kingdom shall be the Lord's, over one worry you carry.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
