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Obadiah 1:5

in Obadiah 1

“If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, how you will be ruined—would they not steal only what they wanted? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night (how art thou cut off!), would they not steal only till they had enough? if grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?

KJV

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?

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This verse in Obadiah 1

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Obadiah · Written before 420.

(Verse 4 onwards) If thieves entered your house, or robbers at night, how would you remain silent? Wouldn't they have stolen enough for themselves? If grape harvesters entered your vineyard, wouldn't they at least leave some grapes for you? How deeply they searched, how thoroughly they investigated his hidden places! Septuagint: If thieves entered your house, or robbers at night, where would you hide? Wouldn't they have stolen enough for themselves? And if grape harvesters came to you, would they not leave some grapes? How Esau has been searched, and his hidden things have been discovered?

This site's exposition

if the grapegatherers came to thee

on Obadiah 1:5-7

The judgment is measured against ordinary thieves and gleaners, who take only what serves them and leave the rest, so that Edom's coming ruin will be worse than any raid, how art thou cut off is the prophet's own aside mid-verse. The things of Esau searched out, his hidden things sought up, describes a nation stripped to its last hoard, and verse 7 turns from plunder to betrayal, the men of thy confederacy and the men that were at peace with thee driving Edom to the border and laying a wound under thee. Keil and Pusey both take this as Edom judged in its own coin, treachery answered with treachery, allies becoming the hand that cuts it off.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

COMMENTARY ON OBADIAH · Written before 373.

proposed

If thieves came to you, oh, how you would be silenced! Everything would be open for plunder because of the overwhelming fear, until [the plunderers] have stolen enough [riches] for themselves, for they are people of insatiable and consuming greed. If grape gatherers came to …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

How art thou fallen, and how great is thy fall! How art thou stupefied! so the Chaldee words it. How senseless art thou under these desolating judgments, as if they were but common strokes!

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

If thieves - If thieves by day had spoiled thee, they would not have thus stripped thee. Robbers - If robbers in the night had been with thee, they would have left somewhat behind them. 'Till they had enough - But here is nothing left.
If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

If thieves came to thee - The prophet describes their future punishment, by contrast with that which, as a marauding people, they well knew. Thieves and robbers spoil only for their petty end. They take what comes to hand; what they can, they carry off shortness of time, difficulty of transport, necessity of providing for a retreat, limit their plunder. When they have gorged themselves, they depart. “Their” plunder is limited. The “grape-gatherer” leaves gleanings.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

The exclamation, "How art thou cut off!" bursting in amidst the words of the image, marks strongly excited feeling. The contrast between Edom where no gleanings shall be left, and Israel where at the worst a gleaning is left (Isa 17:6;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

If thieves came to thee - That is, if thieves entered thy dwellings, they would not have taken every thing; they would have laid hold on thy wealth; and carried off as much as they could escape with conveniently; if grape-gatherers entered thy vineyards, they would not have taken every bunch; some gleanings would have been left. But the Chaldeans have stripped thee bare; they have searched out all thy hidden things, Oba 1:6, they have left thee nothing. Hour art thou cut off! Thou art totally and irretrievably ruined! The prophet speaks of this desolation as if it had already taken place.

The words behind it

19 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • גַּנָּבִ֤יםthieves

    ganavimH1590 →

  • בָּאֽוּ־they came

    bau-H935 →2568 times

  • לְךָ֙to you

    lekha

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • שׁ֣וֹדְדֵיdestroyers of

    shodeiH7703 →

  • לַ֔יְלָהnight

    laylahH3915 →

  • אֵ֣יךְhow!

    ʾeikhH349 →

  • נִדְמֵ֔יתָהyou will be destroyed

    nidmeitahH1820 →

  • הֲל֥וֹא¿ not

    halo'H3808 →5168 times

  • יִגְנְב֖וּwill they steal

    yignevuH1589 →

  • דַּיָּ֑םsufficiency their

    daiyamH1767 →

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • בֹּֽצְרִים֙grape gatherers

    botzerimH1219 →

  • בָּ֣אוּthey came

    bauH935 →2568 times

  • לָ֔ךְto you

    lakh

  • הֲל֖וֹא¿ not

    halo'H3808 →5168 times

  • יַשְׁאִ֥ירוּwill they leave

    yashiruH7604 →

  • עֹלֵלֽוֹת׃gleanings

    olelotH5955 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

14 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Jeremiah 49:9If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, would they not steal only what they wanted?5 worksDeuteronomy 24:21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not go over the vines again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.5 works2 Samuel 1:19“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!3 worksLamentations 1:1How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.3 worksIsaiah 17:6Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten—two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.3 worksZephaniah 2:15This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.2 works
The other 8 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 14:12How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.2 worksJeremiah 50:23How the hammer of the whole earth lies broken and shattered! What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!2 worksMicah 7:1Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.2 worksIsaiah 24:13So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.2 worksLeviticus 19:10You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.2 worksRevelation 18:10In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”1 worksEzekiel 26:17Then they will lament for you, saying, “How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men—she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples!1 worksJudges 6:4encamping against them as far as Gaza and destroying the produce of the land. They left Israel with no sustenance, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys.1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Lamentations 1:1

    How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 3:26

      And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.

    • Ezra 4:20

      And mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region west of the Euphrates; and tribute, duty, and toll were paid to them.

    • Revelation 18:16–17

      saying: “Woe, woe to the great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!

    • 1 Kings 4:21

      And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of…

  • Through

    2 Samuel 1:19

    “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 1:27

      How the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war have perished!”

    • 2 Samuel 1:25

      How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights.

    • Deuteronomy 4:7–8

      For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?

  • Through

    Isaiah 17:6

    Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten—two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 24:13

      So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

Where this verse is studied

About Obadiah

Obadiah: the study guide →Read Obadiah 1 →
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON OBADIAH; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Obadiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Obadiah 1 →