Obadiah 1:5

Judgment

³ The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

⁴ Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

“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?

⁶ But how Esau will be pillaged, his hidden treasures sought out!

⁷ All the men allied with you will drive you to the border; the men at peace with you will deceive and overpower you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you without your awareness of it.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: “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?
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?
WEB: “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?
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?
DARBY: If thieves had come to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen [till] they had had enough? If grape-gatherers had come to thee, would they not have left some gleanings?
BLB: “If thieves had come to you, if plunderers by night—how you have been cut off—would they not have stolen enough for themselves? If grape-gatherers had come to you, would they not have left remaining [some] gleanings?

ÅB: Om tyver kom til deg eller røvere om natten - å, hvor du blir tilintetgjort! - mon de da ville stjele mere enn det de trengte? Om det kom til deg folk som ville høste din vin, ville de da ikke levne en etterhøst?
OTB: “Hvis tyver kom til deg,
Hvis røvere om natten—
Å, hvor du vil bli ødelagt!—
Ville de ikke stjele bare til de hadde nok?
Hvis drueplukkere kom til deg,
Ville de ikke etterlate noen etterhøst?
B1930: Om tyver kom til dig eller røvere om natten - å, hvor du blir tilintetgjort! - mon de da vilde stjele mere enn det de trengte? Om det kom til dig folk som vilde høste din vin, vilde de da ikke levne en efterhøst?

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

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?
Read in context
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.
Read in context
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.
Read in context
2 Samuel 1:19
“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!
Read in context
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.
Read in context
Micah 7:1
Woe 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.
Read in context
Zephaniah 2:15
This 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.
Read in context
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.
Read in context