Obadiah 1:10
in Obadiah 1Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the violence done to thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
KJV
For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
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This verse in Obadiah 1
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 10, 11.) Because of the killing and (the Vulgate adds 'because of') the wickedness against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall perish forever. On the day when you stood against him, when strangers captured his army and foreigners entered his gates, and they cast lots for Jerusalem: you were also like one of them.
This site's exposition
the violence against your brother Jacob
on Obadiah 1:10-11
The charge turns from pride to crime, "the violence against your brother Jacob", the kinship word the book presses. Foreigners "cast lots for Jerusalem", most naturally read against the Babylonian conquest. The sharpest words are "you were just like one of them", a brother no different from the enemy.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Shame shall cover you over the Jews, whose ruin you enjoyed, after they are brought back to their original power. And you shall be cut off forever. After the Jews return from Chaldea, they will subjugate you Edomites and will vex you for a long …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Against any of our own people; it is violence against thy brother, thy near relation, to whom thou shouldst be a goël--a redeemer, whom it is thy duty to right if others wronged him; how wicked is it then for thee thyself to wrong him! Thou slanderest and abusest thy own mother's son; this makes the sin exceedingly sinful, Ps. l.
Gracious promises to Israel; that they shall be restored and reformed, and shall be victorious over the Edomites, and become masters of their land and the lands of others of their neighbours (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
For thy violence against thy brother Jacob,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
For thy violence against thy brother Jacob - By this term the Israelites in general are understood; for the two brothers, - Jacob, from whom sprang the Jews, and Esau, from whom sprang the Idumeans or Edomites, - are here put for the whole people or descendants of both. We need not look for particular cases of the violence of the Edomites against the Jews. Esau, their founder, was not more inimical to his brother Jacob, who deprived him of his birthright, than the Edomites uniformly were to the Jews. See 2Ch 28:17, 2Ch 28:
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
against thy brother--This aggravates the sin of Esau, that it was against him who was his brother by birth and by circumcision. The posterity of Esau followed in the steps of their father's hatred to Jacob by violence against Jacob's seed (Ge 27:41). Jacob--not merely his own brother, but his twin brother; hence the name Jacob, not Israel, is here put emphatically.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For thy violence against thy brother Jacob - To Israel God had commanded: (Deu 23:7-8 (Deu 23:8, Deu 23:9 in the Hebrew text)), “Thou shalt not abbor an Edomite, for he is thy brother. The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation.” Edom did the contrary to all this. “Violence” includes all sorts of ill treatment, from one with whom “might is right,” “because it is in the power of their hand” Mic 2:2. to do it. This they had done to the descendants of their brother, and him, their twin brother, Jacob. They helped the Chaldaeans in his overthrow, rejoiced in his calamity, thought that, by this cooperation, they had secured themselves. What, when from those same Chaldees, those same calamities, which they had aided to inflict on their brother, came on themselves, when, as they had betrayed him, they were themselves betrayed; as they had exulted in his overthrow, so their allies exulted in their’s! The “shame” of which the prophet spoke, is not the healthful distress at the evil of sin, but at its evils and disappointments. Shame at the evil which sin is, works repentance and turns aside the anger of God. Shame at the evils which sin brings, in itself leads to further sins, and endless, fruitless, shame. Edom had laid his plans, had succeeded; the wheel, in God’s Providence, turned around and he was crushed. So Hosea said Hos 10:6, “they shall be ashamed through their own counsels;” and Jeremiah Jer 3:25, “we lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us;” and David Psa 109:29, “let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle.” As one, covered and involved in a cloak, can find no way to emerge; as one, whom the waters cover Exo 15:10, is buried under them inextricably, so, wherever they went, whatever they did, shame covered them. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Because of the violence of your brother Jacob —Because of the violence you inflicted upon Jacob.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
On the day you stood from afar —that you did not come to aid him.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵחֲמַ֛ס | mechamas | from [the] violence of | H2555 → | |
| אָחִ֥יךָ | ʾachikha | brother your | H251 → | |
| יַעֲקֹ֖ב | yaako | Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| תְּכַסְּךָ֣ | tekhasekha | it will cover you | H3680 → | |
| בוּשָׁ֑ה | vushah | shame | H955 → | |
| וְנִכְרַ֖תָּ | venikhrata | and you will be cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| לְעוֹלָֽם׃ | leolam | for ever | H5769 → |
מֵחֲמַ֛סfrom [the] violence of
mechamasH2555 →
אָחִ֥יךָbrother your
ʾachikhaH251 →
יַעֲקֹ֖בJacob
yaakoH3290 →350 times
תְּכַסְּךָ֣it will cover you
tekhasekhaH3680 →
בוּשָׁ֑הshame
vushahH955 →
וְנִכְרַ֖תָּand you will be cut off
venikhrataH3772 →288 times
לְעוֹלָֽם׃for ever
leolamH5769 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Amos 1:11This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 25:12–14
This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 20:14–21
From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to tell the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has befallen us,
- 2 Chronicles 28:17
The Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and carried away captives.
- Ezekiel 25:12–14
Through
Psalms 137:7Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
it leads to
- Obadiah 1:10–14
Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Lamentations 4:21–22
So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.
- Jeremiah 49:7–22
Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?
- Obadiah 1:10–14
Through
Genesis 27:41Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will…
it leads to
- 1 John 3:12–15
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
- 1 John 3:12–15
Through
Psalms 89:45You have cut short the days of his youth; You have covered him with shame. Selah
it leads to
- Psalms 109:29
May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.
- Psalms 109:29
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies6
About Obadiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
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; 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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.