Óbadía 1:5

Heilögum Biblíunni

5 Ef þjófar koma að þér eða ræningjar á náttarþeli - hversu ert þú í eyði lagður -, stela þeir þá ekki, þar til er þeim nægir? Ef vínlestursmenn ráðast á þig, skilja þeir þá ekki eftir neinn eftirtíning?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

if robbers: Jeremiah 49:9

how: 2 Samuel 1:19, Isaiah 14:12, Jeremiah 50:23, Lamentations 1:1, Zephaniah 2:15, Revelation 18:10

if the: Deuteronomy 24:21, Isaiah 17:6, Isaiah 24:13, Micah 7:1

some grapes: or, gleanings

Reciprocal: Leviticus 19:10 - glean Judges 6:4 - left no Jeremiah 6:9 - They shall Jeremiah 49:4 - Who Ezekiel 26:17 - How art

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night,.... Whether the one came by day, and the other by night, or both by night, the same being meant by different words, whose intent is to plunder and steal, and carry off what they can; thy condition would not be worse, nor so bad as now it is: for

how art thou cut off! from being a nation, wholly destroyed; thy people killed, or carried captive; thy fortresses demolished, towns and cities levelled with the ground, and all thy wealth and substance carried off, and nothing left: these are either the words of God, or of the prophet, setting forth their utter ruin, as if it was already; or of the nations round about, wondering at their sudden destruction. Some render it, "how silent art thou!" q that is, under all these calamities: or, "how art thou asleep!" or "stupefied!" as the Targum and Jarchi; not to be upon thy guard against the incursions of the enemy, but careless, secure, and stupid, and now stripped of everything: had common thieves and robbers broke in upon thee,

would they not have stolen till they had enough? as much as they came for, or could carry off; they seldom strip a house into which they enter of everything in it; they come for some particular things, and, meeting with them, they go off, and leave the rest:

if the grape gatherers come to thee, would they not leave [some] grapes? that is, if men should come into thy vineyards, and gather the grapes, and carry them off by force or stealth, would they take them all a way? doubtless they would leave some behind; some would be hid under the boughs, and be left unobserved by them: or the allusion is to gatherers of grapes, who gather them for the owners, and at their direction, who were wont to leave some clusters for the poor to glean after them; but in the case of Edom it is suggested that nothing should be left, all should be clean carried off; the destruction would he complete and entire. The Targum is,

"if spoilers as grape gatherers should come unto thee, c.''

see Jeremiah 49:9.

q איך נדמיתה "quomodo redactus es in silentium?" Calvin "quomodo siles?" some in Tarnovius; so Syr.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If thieves came to thee - The prophet describes their future punishment, by contrast with that which, as a marauding people, they well knew. Thieves and robbers spoil only for their petty end. They take what comes to hand; what they can, they carry off shortness of time, difficulty of transport, necessity of providing for a retreat, limit their plunder. When they have gorged themselves, they depart. “Their” plunder is limited. The “grape-gatherer” leaves gleanings. God promises to His own people, under the same image, that they should have a remnant left Isaiah 17:6; Isaiah 24:13. “Gleaning grapes shall be left in it.” It shall be, “as gleaning grapes, when the vintage is done.” The prophet anticipates the contrast by a burst of sympathy. In the name of God, he mourns over the destruction which he fore-announces. He laments over the destruction, even of the deadly enemy of his people. “How art thou destroyed!” So the men of God are accustomed to express their amazement at the greatness of the destruction of the ungodly Psalms 73:19. “How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!” Isaiah 14:4, Isaiah 14:12. “How hath the oppressor ceased! How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” Jeremiah 50:23. “How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!” Jeremiah 51:41. “How is Sheshach taken! How is the praise of the whole earth surprised.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Obadiah 1:5. If thieves came to thee — That is, if thieves entered thy dwellings, they would not have taken every thing; they would have laid hold on thy wealth; and carried off as much as they could escape with conveniently; if grape-gatherers entered thy vineyards, they would not have taken every bunch; some gleanings would have been left. But the Chaldeans have stripped thee bare; they have searched out all thy hidden things, Obadiah 1:6, they have left thee nothing. Hour art thou cut off! Thou art totally and irretrievably ruined! The prophet speaks of this desolation as if it had already taken place.