Bible Strands
Obadiah 1:11
On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses Edom regarding Jerusalem’s destruction, placing the rebuke during the enemy’s invasion. The declaration follows a pronouncement of shame for violence against Jacob and precedes direct commands against gloating or boasting.
The words — עֲמָֽדְ/ךָ֣ ('a.ma.de./Kha) translates as "you stood," and מִ/נֶּ֔גֶד (mi./Ne.ged) means "from before" or "aloof." The text describes Edom’s physical position as detached while foreigners seized wealth and cast lots for the city.
The thread — The passage recalls foreign participation in Jerusalem’s fall, matching Psalms 137:7 where Edom is remembered for urging the city’s destruction. Joel 3:3 and Nahum 3:10 also record the practice of casting lots for captives or people.
Why it lands — The verse treats passive alignment with invaders as active complicity, demanding accountability for neutrality during a brother’s crisis. It requires readers to reject opportunism and recognize that standing aside in injustice equals joining the perpetrators.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
Cross-references
- Psalms 137:7 Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
- Joel 3:3 They cast lots for My people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.
- Nahum 3:10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.
- Psalms 50:18 When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.
- 2 Kings 25:11 Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the population.
- Jeremiah 52:28 These are the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
- 2 Kings 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.