Obadiah 1 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 1:17, 1:19, 1:20, 1:21
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 1
Edom brought low; violence answered; Zion restored
Verse 1:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord YHWH concerning Edom: We have heard a report from YHWH, and an envoy has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God to Idumea: I heard a report from the Lord, and He sent a dispatch to the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew šāmaʿnû is “we heard,” Greek ēkousa “I heard”; Hebrew ṣîr is an envoy, Greek periochē here a dispatch, whose precise sense remains uncertain. Edom/Idumea names the corresponding land. Rabbinic: Rashi on Obadiah 1:1 transmits the tradition that Obadiah was an Edomite convert whose conduct contrasted with Esau's; this is attributed interpretation, not a biographical statement in the verse [RASHI-OBA].
Verse 1:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:2 Look, I have made you small among the nations; you are greatly despised.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:2 Look, I have made you insignificant among the nations; you are greatly dishonored.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both announce Edom's diminished standing and contempt among the nations.
Verse 1:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:3 The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in clefts of rock, whose dwelling is high, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:3 The pride of your heart has lifted you up, you who camp in holes in the rocks, raising your dwelling high and saying in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew hiššîʾeḵā describes deception; Greek epēren describes being lifted up. The boast and rocky refuge correspond; English resolves the sources' shifts between direct address and description.
Verse 1:4 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:4 Though you rise high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:4 If you soar like an eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both deny that even the greatest imagined height can prevent divine abasement.
Verse 1:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:5 If thieves came to you, if night robbers came—how you have been destroyed!—would they not steal only their fill? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:5 If thieves came in to you, or robbers by night, where would you have been cast away? Would they not have stolen enough for themselves? And if grape gatherers came in to you, would they not have left a gleaning?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew's exclamation “how you have been destroyed” differs from Greek's question “where would you have been cast away?” The limited takings of thieves and harvesters contrast with the coming devastation in both.
Verse 1:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:6 How Esau has been searched out! His hidden treasures have been sought out!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:6 How Esau has been searched out, and his hidden things seized!
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew nibʿû concerns searching out hidden stores; Greek katelēmphthē states their seizure.
Verse 1:7 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:7 All your covenant partners have driven you to the border; your allies have deceived you and prevailed over you. Those who eat your bread set a trap beneath you. There is no understanding in him.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:7 All the men of your covenant sent you out as far as your borders; the men at peace with you opposed you and prevailed over you. They set an ambush beneath you. There is no understanding in them.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek lacks the Hebrew bread clause, has “opposed” for Hebrew “deceived,” and ends with plural “them” rather than singular “him.” Hebrew laḥmeḵā is elliptical; “those who eat your bread” is a contextual reading. The sense of māzôr, here “trap,” is uncertain.
Verse 1:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:8 Will I not, on that day, declares YHWH, destroy the wise from Edom and understanding from Mount Esau?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:8 On that day, says the Lord, I will destroy the wise from Idumea and understanding from Mount Esau.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew uses a rhetorical question; Greek gives a direct declaration of the same judgment.
Verse 1:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:9 Your warriors will be shattered, Teman, so that every man may be cut off from Mount Esau by slaughter.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:9 Your warriors from Teman will be terrified, so that a person may be removed from Mount Esau,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: The slaughter phrase attached here in Hebrew begins Greek 1:10 and is preserved there. Both announce the warriors' collapse and removal from Esau's mountain; this is a clause-boundary shift, not lost Greek content.
Verse 1:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:10 Because of violence against your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:10 because of the slaughter and the impiety toward your brother Jacob; and shame will cover you, and you will be removed forever.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek makes the slaughter of its opening clause and impiety toward Jacob reasons for removal. Hebrew names ḥămās, violence against one's brother. The preceding Greek sentence continues into this verse.
Verse 1:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:11 On the day you stood aside, on the day strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots over Jerusalem, you too were like one of them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:11 From the day you stood opposed, on the day foreigners took his strength captive and strangers entered his gates and cast lots over Jerusalem, you too were like one of them.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew's standing “opposite/aside” is sharpened by Greek antestēs, “stood opposed.” Hebrew ḥayil can mean resources, force or wealth; Greek dynamis likewise leaves the captured strength's exact composition open.
Verse 1:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:12 Do not look on your brother's day, the day of his calamity; do not rejoice over the sons of Judah on the day of their destruction; do not boast on the day of distress.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:12 Do not look on your brother's day, on the day of strangers; do not rejoice over the sons of Judah on the day of their destruction; do not speak boastfully on the day of affliction.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew's difficult noḵrô refers here to calamity or estrangement; Greek explicitly has “strangers.” The prohibitions against gloating and boasting correspond. The prohibitive form is retained without deciding whether the rebuke retrospectively describes a past act.
Verse 1:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:13 Do not enter My people's gate on the day of their disaster. Do not you too look on his misery on the day of his disaster, and do not reach out for his wealth on the day of his disaster.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:13 Do not enter the gates of peoples on the day of their suffering. Do not you too look on their assembly on the day of their destruction, and do not join in attacking their strength on the day of their destruction.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew “My people” becomes Greek “peoples,” and Hebrew “his misery” becomes Greek “their assembly” (synagōgē). Hebrew reaching for wealth differs from Greek joining an attack on strength. These change the description, but Jacob and Judah remain the context in 1:10–12; the plural alone does not establish a broader legal scope.
Verse 1:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:14 Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives, and do not hand over his survivors on the day of distress.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:14 Do not stand at their escape routes to destroy those of them who are being saved, and do not shut in those fleeing from them on the day of affliction.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew has a crossroads and handing over survivors; Greek has their exits and enclosing fugitives. Both forbid obstructing escape, but specify different acts.
Verse 1:15 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:15 For the day of YHWH is near against all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deed will return upon your own head.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:15 For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations. Just as you acted, so it will be for you; your recompense will be repaid upon your own head.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both announce a universal day of judgment and reciprocal repayment of Edom's conduct.
Verse 1:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:16 For just as you drank on My holy mountain, all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and swallow, and they will be as though they had never been.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:16 For just as you drank on My holy mountain, all the nations will drink wine; they will drink and go down, and they will be as though they did not exist.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew addresses “you” plurally, says “continually” and “swallow”; Greek addresses one “you,” specifies “wine” and says “go down.” The shared final disappearance remains the governing outcome.
Verse 1:17 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be escape, and it will be holy; the house of Jacob will possess its possessions.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be salvation, and it will be holy; the house of Jacob will possess those who possessed them.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew môrāšêhem names possessions; Greek makes their former possessors the object of Jacob's possession. This changes what or whom is conquered. The holiness clause does not itself name a messianic person. Saints: Augustine, City of God XVIII.31, interprets the Holy One in his quotation as Christ. This is Christian reception; the selected Greek has a neuter holiness expression, retained here as “it will be holy” [AUG-OBA].
Verse 1:18 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:18 The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble. They will burn among them and consume them, and there will be no survivor for the house of Esau, for YHWH has spoken.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:18 The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble. They will blaze against them and consume them, and there will be no bearer of fire in the house of Esau, because the Lord has spoken.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek pyrophoros, “bearer of fire,” differs from Hebrew śārîd, “survivor.” Its possible idiomatic force as a last survivor is left open; the concrete image is preserved, without claiming that Greek permits other survivors.
Verse 1:19 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:19 Those of the Negeb will possess Mount Esau, and those of the lowland the Philistines. They will possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:19 Those in the Negeb will possess the mountain of Esau, and those in the Shephelah the foreigners. They will possess the mountain of Ephraim, the plain of Samaria, Benjamin and the land of Gilead.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew makes Benjamin the subject possessing Gilead; Greek includes Benjamin and Gilead among the objects possessed. The territorial allocation therefore changes. Hebrew “territory” differs from Greek's mountain/plain distinction.
Verse 1:20 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:20 The exiles of this host of the sons of Israel will possess what belongs to the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negeb.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:20 And this is the beginning of the deportation: for the sons of Israel, the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath; and the deportation of Jerusalem as far as Ephrathah. They will inherit the cities of the Negeb.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: The difficult Hebrew “exiles of this host” becomes Greek “beginning of the deportation.” Hebrew locates Jerusalem's exiles in Sepharad; Greek gives Ephrathah as an extent of deportation. These readings alter geography and the description of the displaced groups. The Hebrew possession verb is supplied in the first clause from the verse's closing verb; Greek's verbless clauses remain visible.
Verse 1:21 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
1:21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to judge Mount Esau, and the kingship will belong to YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
1:21 Men who have been saved will go up from Mount Zion to exact judgment on Mount Esau, and the kingship will belong to the Lord.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew môšîʿîm names deliverers who ascend on Zion; Greek andres sesōsmenoi names saved men proceeding from Zion. The participants' role and movement differ, while divine kingship agrees. Saints: Augustine, City of God 18.31, reads those saved from Zion as Judean believers, especially apostles, whose preaching brings Gentiles into God's kingdom. This is Christian typology. The accessed English presentation quotes “defend” and connects the mission with Colossians 1:13; neither that wording nor its “Holy One” at 1:17 replaces the selected Greek [AUG-OBA].