Obadiah 1:5
New International Version
“If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night— oh, what a disaster awaits you!— would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes?

New Living Translation
“If thieves came at night and robbed you (what a disaster awaits you!), they would not take everything. Those who harvest grapes always leave a few for the poor. But your enemies will wipe you out completely!

English Standard Version
If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night— how you have been destroyed!— would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?

Berean Standard Bible
“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?

King James Bible
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?

New King James Version
“If thieves had come to you, If robbers by night— Oh, how you will be cut off!— Would they not have stolen till they had enough? If grape-gatherers had come to you, Would they not have left some gleanings?

New American Standard Bible
“If thieves came to you, If robbers by night— Oh how you will be ruined!— Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape-pickers came to you, Would they not leave some gleanings?

NASB 1995
“If thieves came to you, If robbers by night— O how you will be ruined!— Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some gleanings?

NASB 1977
“If thieves came to you, If robbers by night— O how you will be ruined!— Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some gleanings?

Legacy Standard Bible
“If thieves came to you, If robbers by night— Oh how you will be ruined!— Would they not thieve only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not allow some gleanings to remain?

Amplified Bible
“If thieves came to you, If robbers by night— How you will be ruined!— Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some grapes for gleaning?

Christian Standard Bible
If thieves came to you, if marauders by night — how ravaged you would be! — wouldn’t they steal only what they wanted? If grape harvesters came to you, wouldn’t they leave a few grapes?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
If thieves came to you, if marauders by night— how ravaged you would be!— wouldn’t they steal only what they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some grapes?

American Standard Version
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?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
If thieves came upon you or robbers in the night, how would you have been silent until they stole their sufficiency, and if grape gatherers came to you, would they not be leaving gleanings?

Brenton Septuagint Translation
If thieves came in to thee, or robbers by night, where wouldest thou have been cast away? would they not have stolen just enough for themselves? and if grape-gatherers went in to thee, would they not leave a gleaning?

Contemporary English Version
If thieves break in at night, they steal only what they want. And people who harvest grapes always leave some unpicked. But, Edom, you are doomed!

Douay-Rheims Bible
If thieves had gone in to thee, if robbers by night, how wouldst thou have held thy peace? would they not have stolen till they had enough ? if the grapegatherers had come in to thee, would they not have left thee at the least a cluster?

English Revised Version
If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not steal till they had enough? if grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"If thieves or looters come to you during the night, won't they steal only until they've had enough? You will be ruined! If people come to pick your grapes, won't they leave a few grapes behind?

Good News Translation
"When thieves come at night, they take only what they want. When people gather grapes, they always leave a few. But your enemies have wiped you out completely.

International Standard Version
"If thieves came against you, if marauding gangs by night —Oh, how you will be destroyed!— Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave some grapes to be gleaned?

JPS Tanakh 1917
If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night-- How art thou cut off!-- Would they not steal till they had enough? If grape-gatherers came to thee, Would they not leave some gleaning grapes?

Literal Standard Version
“If thieves have come in to you, | If spoilers of the night, | How have you been cut off! Do they not steal their sufficiency? If gatherers have come in to you, | Do they not leave gleanings?

Majority Standard Bible
“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?

New American Bible
If thieves came to you, robbers by night —how you have been destroyed!— would they not steal merely till they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings?

NET Bible
"If thieves came to rob you during the night, they would steal only as much as they wanted! If grape pickers came to harvest your vineyards, they would leave some behind for the poor! But you will be totally destroyed!

New Revised Standard Version
If thieves came to you, if plunderers by night —how you have been destroyed!— would they not steal only what they wanted? If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?

New Heart English Bible
"If thieves came to you, if robbers by night--oh, what disaster awaits you--wouldn't they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn't they leave some gleaning grapes?

Webster's Bible Translation
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 grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

World English Bible
“If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, what disaster awaits you—wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes?

Young's Literal Translation
If thieves have come in to thee, If spoilers of the night, How hast thou been cut off! Do they not steal their sufficiency? If gatherers have come in to thee, Do they not leave gleanings?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Destruction of Edom
4Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD. 5“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? 6But how Esau will be pillaged, his hidden treasures sought out!…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 24:21
When 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.

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.

Jeremiah 6:9
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches."

Jeremiah 49:9
If 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?

Obadiah 1:9
Then your mighty men, O Teman, will be terrified, so that everyone in the mountains of Esau will be cut down in the slaughter.


Treasury of Scripture

If thieves came to you, if robbers by night, (how are you cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some grapes?

if robbers.

Jeremiah 49:9
If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.

how.

2 Samuel 1:19
The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!

Isaiah 14:12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Jeremiah 50:23
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

if the.

Deuteronomy 24:21
When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

Isaiah 17:6
Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.

Isaiah 24:13
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

some grapes.

Jump to Previous
Attacking Awaits Cut Cutting Destroyed Disaster Enough Gatherers Gleaning Gleanings Grape Grapegatherers Grape-Gatherers Grapes Leave Night Pickers Plunderers Robbers Ruined Spoilers Steal Stolen Sufficiency Thieves Wanted Wouldn't
Jump to Next
Attacking Awaits Cut Cutting Destroyed Disaster Enough Gatherers Gleaning Gleanings Grape Grapegatherers Grape-Gatherers Grapes Leave Night Pickers Plunderers Robbers Ruined Spoilers Steal Stolen Sufficiency Thieves Wanted Wouldn't
Obadiah 1
1. The destruction of Edom,
3. for their pride,
10. and for their wrong unto Jacob.
17. The salvation and victory of Jacob.














(5-9) The completeness of the overthrow awaiting Edom. It is no mere inroad of a marauding tribe. Something would escape the robber, though he might go away quite satisfied with his plunder; and even a raid in vintage time, for the purpose of doing all the mischief possible to the country, would leave here and there a scattered bunch, gleanings for the inhabitants when the spoilers had retired, but now everything is doomed to destruction. Edom is completely robbed and ransacked. Notice how the sad, almost pathetic, conviction of this breaks out--as if rather from a friend (see Introduction) than an enemy--in the parenthetical "how art thou cut off!" in the very middle of the sentence. Every one must perceive, the prophet seems to say, a higher hand at work here.

(5) Some grapes.--Gleanings, as in margin. (Comp. Isaiah 17:6; Isaiah 24:13.)

(6) How are the things of Esau searched out!--Literally, How are they searched out Esau! Where Esau is either taken collectively = Edom as a nation, or we must supply, as in the Authorised Version, "the things of," or, as Ewald, "they of." For search, comp. Zephaniah 1:12.

His hidden things.--Heb., matspunim, from tsapan = to hide, but whether hidden treasures or hiding places cannot be determined, as the word only occurs here.

(7-9) Overtaken by this terrible calamity, and deserted by her allies, Edom will turn in vain for counsel to her senators and wise men, and for support to her heroes and mighty men, for these will not only share in the general ruin, but are marked out for an overthrow as signal as their renown.

(7) All the men of thy confederacy. . . .--This desertion by allies is doubtless put prominently forward as the due retribution on Edom for his treachery and cruelty to his natural ally, his brother Jacob. The members of the confederacy are not specified. In Jeremiah 27:3 we find Edom associated with Moab, Ainmon, Tyre, and Sidon, in the warning to submit to Nebuchadnezzar. The two former would be the natural allies of Edom, and in Ezekiel 25:8 Seir is joined with Moab as reproaching Israel. From Psalm 60:8, we may add to these Philistia (comp. also Obadiah 1:19). The expression "have brought thee to the border" is variously understood. The most natural explanation is that the fugitives from the ruin of Edom, flying into the territory of neighbouring and allied tribes for help, are basely driven back to their own frontier, and left to their fate. . . .

Verse 5, 6. - To prove the completeness of the destruction that shall befall Eden, the prophet supposes two cases of despoiling in which something would be left behind. It will be far worse than any mere raid of thieves; nothing will be spared. Verse 5. - Thieves... robbers. The former are ordinary thieves who pilfer secretly; the latter are robbers who act with violence, or members of a marauding expedition. How art thou cut off! An interposed ejaculation of the prophet, sympathizing with the Edomites for the utter desolation which he sees in vision. Septuagint, Ποῦ ἄν ἀπεῥῤίφης; "Where wouldst thou have been east away?" taking a different reading; Vulgate, Quomodo conticuisses? "How wouldst thou have been silent?" i.e. for fear. Till they had enough. Would they not have taken such plunder as they wanted, and then decamped? The grape gatherers would leave some bunches untouched, which escaped their notice. There is no reference to the charitable law in Leviticus 19:10; Deuteronomy 24:21, which would not affect, or be known unto, these grape plunderers.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“If
אִם־ (’im-)
Conjunction
Strong's 518: Lo!, whether?, if, although, Oh that!, when, not

thieves
גַּנָּבִ֤ים (gan·nā·ḇîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1590: A stealer

came
בָּאֽוּ־ (bā·’ū-)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

to you,
לְךָ֙ (lə·ḵā)
Preposition | second person masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew

if
אִם־ (’im-)
Conjunction
Strong's 518: Lo!, whether?, if, although, Oh that!, when, not

robbers
שׁ֣וֹדְדֵי (šō·wḏ·ḏê)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 7703: To deal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruin

by night—
לַ֔יְלָה (lay·lāh)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3915: A twist, night, adversity

oh, how
אֵ֣יךְ (’êḵ)
Interjection
Strong's 349: How?, how!, where

you will be ruined—
נִדְמֵ֔יתָה (niḏ·mê·ṯāh)
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 1820: To be dumb, silent, to fail, perish, trans, to destroy

would they not
הֲל֥וֹא (hă·lō·w)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

steal
יִגְנְב֖וּ (yiḡ·nə·ḇū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1589: To thieve, to deceive

[only] what they wanted?
דַּיָּ֑ם (day·yām)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 1767: Sufficiency, enough

If
אִם־ (’im-)
Conjunction
Strong's 518: Lo!, whether?, if, although, Oh that!, when, not

grape pickers
בֹּֽצְרִים֙ (bō·ṣə·rîm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 1219: To cut off, make inaccessible, enclose

came
בָּ֣אוּ (bā·’ū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

to you,
לָ֔ךְ (lāḵ)
Preposition | second person feminine singular
Strong's Hebrew

would they not
הֲל֖וֹא (hă·lō·w)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

leave
יַשְׁאִ֥ירוּ (yaš·’î·rū)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7604: To swell up, be, redundant

[some] gleanings?
עֹלֵלֽוֹת׃ (‘ō·lê·lō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 5955: Gleanings, gleaning-time


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OT Prophets: Obadiah 1:5 If thieves came to you if robbers (Obad. Oba. Ob)
Obadiah 1:4
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