How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out!

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out!

  • KJV King James Version

    How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    How is Esau searched out! How are his hidden places sought out!

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Cross-references (7)

Passages linked to Obadiah 1:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Jeremiah 49:10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he will not be able to hide himself. His offspring is destroyed, with his brothers and his neighbors; and he is no more.
  • Psalms 139:1 Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
  • Isaiah 10:13-14 For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.”
  • Isaiah 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel.
  • Jeremiah 50:37 A sword is on their horses, on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the middle of her; and they will become as women. A sword is on her treasures, and they will be robbed.
  • Daniel 2:22 He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
  • Matthew 6:19-20 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (11 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He confirms the former sentence, — that the Idumeans…

He confirms the former sentence, — that the Idumeans in vain trusted that their riches would be safe, because they had hidden and deep recesses. Even when a country is plundered by enemies, the conquerors dare not to come to places of danger; when there are narrow passes, they avoid them, for they think that there is there some evil design. Hence conquerors, fearing hidden places, plunder only those which are open, and always consider well whether their advance is safe: but Idumea, as we have said, had hidden recesses, for its rocks were almost inaccessible, and there were many conveniences there for hiding and concealing its riches. But the Prophet says, that all this would be useless: and that he might more effectually rouse them, he speaks with astonishment, as of something incredible. How have been sought the things of Esau, and thoroughly searched his hidden places! Who could have thought this? for they might have concealed their treasures in rocks and caverns, and thence repelled their enemies. But in vain would be all their attempts: how could this possibly be? Here then he awakens the minds of men, that they might acknowledge the judgment of God; and at the same time he laughs to scorn the vain confidence with which the Idumeans were inflated; and besides, he strengthens the minds of the godly, that they might not doubt but that God would perform what he declares, for he can indeed penetrate even to the lowest deep.

In short, the Prophet intimates that the faithful did not act wisely, if they measured God’s vengeance, which was impending on the Idumeans, by their own understanding or by what usually happens; for the Lord would make a thorough search, so that no hiding-places would escape his sight; and then all their treasures would be exposed as a prey to their enemies. We hence learn, that as men in vain seek hiding places for themselves that they may be safe from dangers; so in vain they conceal their riches; for the hand of God can penetrate beyond the sea, land, heaven, and the lowest deep. Nothing then remains for us but ever to offer ourselves and all our things to God. If he protects us under his wings, we shall be safe in the midst of innumerable dangers; but if we think that subterfuges will be of any avail to us, we deceive ourselves. The Prophet now adds —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Oba 1:6 How are [the things] of Esau searched…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Esau; the father of this people, and here put…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain How are the things of Esau searched out!.... Or…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Esau - The father of this people, put for…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain How are the things of Esau searched out! -…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain How are the things of Esau searched out!--by hostile…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. the things of Esau] lit. how are they…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Obadiah contemplates Eden"s ruin, in retribution of her plundering…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain How are the things of Esau searched out!
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:6 Edom: The Hebrew text uses the name of…

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