Obadiah — Hebrew and Greek compared
Choose a chapter to explore the source readings and their notes. Original references, source labels, and review records are retained.
Source guide and review record
SAINTS TRANSLATION
Obadiah
V1 • Working translation draft • Sep 8, 2026
Final manuscript review: all twenty-one Hebrew and twenty-one Greek verses, their independent English renderings, alignment and comparison notes were checked against the complete publisher BHS and Rahlfs–Hanhart main texts. Rashi on 1:1 and Augustine, City of God XVIII.31, were verified in the registered presentations. Critical apparatus collation, exhaustive reception and independent specialist review remain outstanding. Review date: Sep 11, 2026.
1 chapter • 21 translation rows
Reader’s guide
Read across each row to compare independent literal-smooth English renderings of the declared Hebrew and Greek texts. Rabbinic Priority and Saints Priority identify interpretive traditions, not alternate sources of biblical wording. Actual source references remain visible.
Navigation follows the declared BHS and Rahlfs–Hanhart chapter and verse numbering. Each source verse appears once in its own numbered row. In 1:9–10, Hebrew places “by slaughter” at the end of 1:9; Greek begins 1:10 with “because of the slaughter.” Both verse boundaries are retained, and the Greek sentence continues across those two rows.
Source basis and review scope
Hebrew: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, fifth corrected edition (1997). Greek: Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta, second revised edition (2006). Complete running texts were directly checked; the registered reception passages were consulted selectively.
Same: corresponding meaning. Similar: modest expression or emphasis difference. Different: meaningful specific detail. Divergent: addition, omission, or rearrangement. Disparate: major difference in meaning or consequence. Each row uses one governing category under the updated project reference.
Sources, Method & Decisions
Source register
[BHS1] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Obadiah 1, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[LXX1] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Obadiah 1, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[RASHI-OBA] Rashi, Commentary on Obadiah 1:1; Chabad.org bilingual presentation. Scope: Commentary on 1:1. Access: Direct reading of commentary in English and displayed Hebrew; biblical translation not used as a base. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[AUG-OBA] Augustine of Hippo, City of God XVIII.31; Marcus Dods translation in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 2 (1887), New Advent transcription. Scope: XVIII.31, interpretation of Obadiah 17 and 21. Access: Direct English translation of patristic reception; Latin not collated. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
Contextual term record
אדום / Ἰδουμαία → Edom / Idumea. Corresponding regional names retained in the sources’ recognizable English forms, 1:1,8.
מזור → trap. Provisional contextual sense in 1:7; the bread clause and singular final pronoun are difficult.
שריד / πυροφόρος → survivor / bearer of fire. 1:18; preserve the Greek image; possible idiomatic equivalence remains open.
מושיעים / ἄνδρες σεσῳσμένοι → deliverers / men who have been saved. 1:21; active deliverance and received salvation are not harmonized.
ספרד / Εφραθα → Sepharad / Ephrathah. 1:20; preserve substantive geography; no identification of Sepharad is imposed.
Material decisions
Created independent paired English translations from the complete directly accessed BHS and Rahlfs–Hanhart main texts on Sep 8, 2026. No textual departures adopted.
Retained the source verse boundary across 1:9–10 and recorded the changed attachment of the slaughter clause.
Retained prohibitions in 1:12–14 rather than converting them categorically to English past counterfactuals.
Made the elliptical Hebrew possession syntax readable in 1:20; retained the Greek sequence of verbless statements.
Classifications compare these two main texts only; no claims about variant origin or manuscript agreement are made. Final review: 1:1 capitalizes divine He; 1:13 is Different because its plural wording does not by itself prove a broader legal scope; 1:17 and 1:21 distinguish Augustine’s reception from the selected Greek wording.
Source chapter and verse references remain visible throughout.
Open questions
Obadiah 1:1: review the exact force of Greek periochē (rendered dispatch) with a specialist lexicon.
Obadiah 1:7: review Hebrew māzôr, the bread phrase, and the singular final pronoun.
Obadiah 1:18: determine whether pyrophoros functions idiomatically for a last survivor here.
Obadiah 1:20: the syntax of Hebrew hāḥēl and Greek archē, and the historical identification of Sepharad, require specialist review.
Classification totals
Different: 11 • Disparate: 4 • Divergent: 2 • Same: 3 • Similar: 1. Counting unit: one aligned verse row. These are affected rows, not unique textual variants.
Disparate index
1:17, 1:19, 1:20, 1:21