Obadiah Chapter 1 verse 5 Holy Bible

ASV Obadiah 1:5

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?
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BBE Obadiah 1:5

If thieves came, attacking you by night, (how are you cut off!) would they not go on taking till they had enough? if men came cutting your grapes would they take them all?
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DARBY Obadiah 1:5

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?
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KJV Obadiah 1:5

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?
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WBT Obadiah 1:5


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WEB Obadiah 1:5

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?
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YLT Obadiah 1:5

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?
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 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.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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. . . .