Here Esau stands for the nations descended from him, and Good News Translation makes this explicit by saying Descendants of Esau. We are told three times in Genesis that Esau is the same as Edom (Gen 36.1, 8, 19). However, many Bible readers cannot be expected to know this, and even if the translator feels that saying Descendants of Esau will be enough, it may be good to include a cross reference to the Genesis passages. Other translators may want to be more explicit and say something like “People of Edom, descendants of Esau.”

In Hebrew, this verse is an exclamation about Edom in the third person, but because Edom is addressed in the second person in the rest of verses 2-7, Good News Translation puts this verse also into the second person. This avoids changes of person that are unnatural in English, and many translators will need to make a similar adjustment. Good News Translation has also changed the Hebrew exclamation into a statement in English, but it will be possible in many languages to keep this verse as an exclamation, even if Edom is addressed in the second person. The Hebrew here uses two clauses to make what is really a single statement, and Good News Translation runs them together into a single one, your treasures have been looted. Revised Standard Version says that the enemies have “sought out” Edom’s treasures. This implies that many of the treasures were hidden away, probably in the numerous caves in the rocky Edomite fortress. This point is brought out in many translations by saying something like “your hidden treasures will be searched for and found” (see Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, and the New International Version [New International Version]). The treasures probably included goods for trade as well as luxury items with the profits of the trading.

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Obadiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The structure of verse 5 in Hebrew is quite complex, as Revised Standard Version shows by following closely the order of the Hebrew clauses. Basically there are two comparisons here, one with thieves and one with grape gatherers. They are parallel to each other and reinforce each other, together making the point that destruction is not usually complete. As a unit they stand in contrast with the way the people of Edom will be treated. The point is made more simply in the second comparison: When people gather grapes, they always leave a few behind. This straightforward statement helps in the understanding of the previous one, which is complicated by two things. First, the subject is stated by naming two almost synonymous types of people (“thieves” and “plunderers” in Revised Standard Version) where really only one is intended. This is a figure of speech called hendiadys. Second, the first clause is separated from the second by an exclamation (“how you have been destroyed!” Revised Standard Version) that in sense really stands outside the sentence altogether and is related more closely with verse 6.

Clearly, this whole verse will need to be considerably restructured in order to present its information in a natural way in other languages. Unless such restructuring is done, the verse will lose much of its impact. Good News Translation here offers a good example of how such restructuring can be done in English, but of course translators in other languages will need to think out what is most effective in their own languages and not just translate Good News Translation literally.

Good News Translation has taken three steps. First, it has removed the exclamation from the middle of the first sentence and placed it at the end of the verse (your enemies have wiped you out completely). Second, Good News Translation has expressed the two conditional statements in the first comparison by a single clause with a single subject (When thieves come at night). Third, Good News Translation has put the comparisons in the form of statements rather than rhetorical questions.

All this not only simplifies the structure of the verse but makes its meaning and progression of thought much easier to understand. The two comparisons follow each other without any interruption, and the contrast between them and the situation of Edom is brought out by the word But. The meaning of the verse is: when a country undergoes some kind of defeat, the destruction is only partial in most cases; but in the case of Edom, it will be much more severe—your enemies have wiped you out completely. Just as Edom’s pride was pictured as greater than normal in verses 3 and 4, so here her destruction is pictured as more severe. Note also that in the last line, Good News Translation has turned a passive construction into an active one and made the subject explicit—your enemies.

Some translators may feel that the transition from verse 4 to verse 5 is too abrupt, and it may help to move the exclamation “how you have been destroyed!” (Revised Standard Version) to the beginning of verse 5 instead of to the end. It may then be translated as something like “Your enemies will completely destroy you!” Then, after stating in the rest of verse 5 that thieves and people who gather grapes do not usually take everything, translators can begin verse 6 with a word like “But,” to bring out the fact that Edom’s case is quite different.

Night in the first line of the verse is mentioned only because it is the usual time for thieves. It can be left out if it causes problems in a language.

They take only what they want implies that the thieves leave some things behind. It may be necessary in some languages to make this explicit, just as it is already explicit in the picture of gathering grapes that some are left behind.

When people gathering grapes always leave a few, this may happen because they do not see all of the grapes. For the people of Israel, however, it may also be that they intentionally left some grapes for the poor (Lev 19.10). Bible translators will have to find some way of talking about grapes, even if grapes are not known in their cultures, simply because they are so important in the Bible. Here, however, it would be possible to talk more generally about “gathering fruit.”

The expression wiped … out is an English idiom with the same meaning as Revised Standard Version‘s “destroyed.” The Hebrew verb here translated have wiped … out may be another prophetic perfect, as the verbs in verse 6 and the first three verbs in verse 7 may be. The change from future to past tense in verses 5-7 in the English of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is not particularly noticeable, but such a change in other languages may sound very odd and disturb the smooth flow of the whole section. Therefore translators may find that it is better in their languages to use future verbs in verses 5-7 in order to match those in verses 2-4 and 8-9.

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Obadiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

In this verse the main clause, I will pull you down, is the answer that the Lord gives to the rhetorical question in the previous verse. The Edomites may seem to be strongly defended, but they are not beyond the reach of divine justice.

The strength of the Edomites’ position is pictured by a comparison with an eagle (not in this context a vulture, as in New English Bible). In structure the comparison is a double one, speaking both of soaring (that is, flying high; see Revised Standard Version) and of building a nest in high and inaccessible places. It is not certain whether the soaring and the building are two separate comparisons that are parallel with each other, or whether the building is simply an expansion or result of the soaring. Revised Standard Version and Jerusalem Bible make them parallel, while New English Bible can be taken either way; Moffatt seems to support Good News Translation in making the second an expansion.

In the second part of the comparison there is a further figure of speech called a hyperbole, or exaggeration. This is the reference to the “nest … set among the stars” (Revised Standard Version). No one supposed that eagles actually nested among the stars, but here the stars stand for places that are too high for men to climb to. Since this hyperbole could be misunderstood, Good News Translation has tried to show that it is not to be taken literally; therefore it translates so that it seems to be among the stars. Some translators will wish to follow this example.

On the other hand, in other languages it may be quite effective to keep the hyperbole of the Hebrew. This helps to stress how great God is in comparison to man, even when man thinks he is very powerful. The Edomites believed that their high fortress made them safe. But even if the Edomites could fly like eagles or go among the stars, God would still be able to bring them down. So of course he will have no trouble defeating them in their mountain fortress.

Eagles are referred to in this passage primarily because they are able to fly so high, and because they build their nests in high places. But they are also large birds that prey on other creatures. This habit may also be part of the comparison, since Edom is condemned for preying on Israel (verse 13). In areas where eagles are not known, the translator should try to find a bird that has one or all of these characteristics, the most important of which is the ability to fly very high.

The final words “says the LORD” (Revised Standard Version) have been transferred to the beginning of the paragraph in Good News Translation and appear as “The LORD says to Edom” in verse 2. These words are meant to remind people that what Obadiah is saying is God’s own message. In English it is a bit awkward to interrupt a speech with this sort of statement, and it may be best to put it only at the beginning, as Good News Translation has done. In other languages, however, it may be quite natural to follow the Hebrew and keep these words here (note that they are repeated in verse 8, and similar words are used in verse 18). Another possibility is to make the words part of God’s own speech, and to say something like “I, the Lord, am speaking to you.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Obadiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Here Revised Standard Version reflects the Hebrew sentence structure. This is very awkward in English and would be even more awkward in many other languages. Accordingly Good News Translation has broken the verse into two sentences and made the reason-result sequence in the second one clearer by including the words and so.

Your pride has deceived you the expression “The pride of your heart” (Revised Standard Version) uses “heart” in a figurative way. In languages that also speak of the heart as the seat of the emotions, the figure can be retained, as in the Jerusalem Bible (Jerusalem Bible) “Your pride of heart,” and New English Bible “Your proud, insolent heart.”

In other languages other parts of the body are considered the place where a person feels proud, and it is of course perfectly all right to use the term that is natural in the language. In languages where a figurative use is not acceptable, translators can follow Good News Translation and simply say Your pride or the equivalent. The meaning of this sentence is that the Edomites are proud and think that they cannot be defeated (as the rest of the verse explains); but they have deceived themselves, since they are in fact about to be defeated. This could be expressed in many different ways, such as “Because you are proud, you have deceived yourself (or, yourselves),” or “You have been proud of your strength, but you were wrong to think in this way.”

Your capital is a fortress of solid rock the reason for the pride was the strong position of the Edomites’ capital, Sela. The name “Sela” is also the Hebrew word for rock, and thus there is a play on words in the Hebrew. This wordplay cannot be retained in English, but Good News Translation tries to bring out something of its meaning by referring specifically to Your capital. The city of Sela was set on a high, rocky plateau and could be approached from only one direction. Thus it was like a fortress, and it was the ease with which they could defend their city that made the Edomites so proud.

A fortress here refers to a town with very strong walls. The walls of Sela are said to be made of solid rock and are therefore so strong that no enemy can break them. The Hebrew figure used here speaks of the Edomites living in cracks or “clefts of the rock” (Revised Standard Version). Some people may feel that this would be a very uncomfortable way to live, or a place suitable only for poor people. But the meaning of the figure is that the place where they live is very well protected and very hard to attack.

The Edomites say the last sentence of this verse “in their hearts” (see Revised Standard Version), which means to say to yourself or yourselves, or just “to think.”

Their home was high in the mountains, and this was why they said to themselves, Who can ever pull me down? This question is rhetorical, and in some languages it may need to be expressed as a negative statement, “No one will ever be able to pull me down.” In some cases, too, it would be more natural to drop the direct quotation and say “You think that no one will ever pull you down.” The idea that no one can pull the Edomites down means that no one can defeat them. It is expressed in this way to continue the picture of the people living high up among the rocks, who would have to be pulled down from the rocks in order to be defeated.

Some translators may feel that the connection between verses 2 and 3 is not very clear. Verse 2 states that God is going to punish Edom. Verses 3 and 4 say this again but give more detail. They say that even though the Edomites think they are so strong that no one can defeat them, nevertheless God will defeat them easily. It may be clearer in some languages to change the order of the parts of verse 3 to make the connection with verse 2 clearer. One may say “You are very proud, and think that no one can ever pull you down, because your capital is a fortress of solid rock and your home is high in the mountains. But you are wrong; your pride has deceived you.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Obadiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The LORD says to Edom the words of the Lord himself to Edom begin here, and the Good News Translation punctuation has them continue to the end of the prophecy. Good News Translation has brought the words The LORD says from the end of verse 4 to the beginning of the paragraph to make the speaker clear at the outset. Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew form closely by putting “says the LORD” at the end of the paragraph in verse 4 and again in verse 8. Most translators will find it helpful to follow the example of Good News Translation here. Good News Translation also makes the addressees explicit by supplying to Edom from the general context, and in most other languages it will also be helpful to do this.

The translator should remember, however, that the people actually hearing these words were the people of Israel and not the people of Edom. The form of the message is a prophecy spoken directly to the Edomites, but the purpose of the message is to let the people of Israel know that God is about to punish their traditional enemies. This distinction may not be important for translators in many languages, but there will probably be some languages where it will make a difference in the wording. Edom here is addressed with a singular you, as we see from the expression “you say to yourself” in verse 3. It is actually the people of Edom who are being spoken to, of course, and in many languages it will be necessary to have a plural “you” throughout the prophecy.

The verb translated I will make in both Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version actually has a perfect tense in Hebrew, and that tense would usually carry a past meaning. However, in prophetic writing such forms are often used to refer to the future, so that the prophet writes of future events as though they had already happened. This usage is called the “prophetic perfect.” It is not always easy to know when perfect tenses are prophetic and when they really refer to past events, and this question arises several times in verses 2-7. On the whole it seems likely that the verbs affected are indeed prophetic perfects and are best translated with future tense in English and in many other languages. The reason for this decision is that verse 1 speaks of enemies about to attack Edom, and it therefore seems best to regard her defeat and destruction as about to happen but not yet accomplished. Also there are other verbs in these verses which are plain futures, and the perfects verbs fit better with them if treated as prophetic perfects. See also the comments on verses 5-7.

The word “small” (Revised Standard Version) is partly figurative and refers to strength rather than size, though of course the two are related. Good News Translation puts the meaning plainly with its weak, meaning Edom will lack military power.

“Among the nations” (Revised Standard Version) is left implicit in Good News Translation. In languages where this needs to be brought out, it may be necessary to expand slightly and say “weak in comparison with other nations” or “weaker than other nations.”

Good News Translation also changes the passive construction, “you shall be utterly despised” (Revised Standard Version), to an active one, everyone will despise you. In many other languages, translators will need to follow this example.

Despise here means to think that Edom is unimportant, of no value, and not worth thinking about; it therefore means to dislike her and to be disgusted by her. It may not be possible to find a word that means all of this, but this information should help a translator to choose the best word in his language. The word can also be emphasized, as with Revised Standard Version‘s “utterly despised.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Obadiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .