Bible Strands
Obadiah 1:17
But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will reclaim their possession.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks a prophetic oracle against Edom, who has stood by gloating over Judah's fall (v.10–14). This verse marks the pivot: Edom's doom gives way to Zion's restoration.
The words — פְלֵיטָה (pĕlîṭâ, "deliverance") is a rare noun meaning a rescued remnant, not a generic salvation; it appears only a handful of times in the OT, always of a surviving group pulled from disaster. קֹדֶשׁ (qodeš) is not merely an adjective but a noun — "a holy place" — so the mountain itself becomes a set-apart reality.
The thread — The reclamation of possession echoes Isaiah 14:1 (the LORD settles Israel again in their own land) and Amos 9:11 (restoration of David's fallen tent). The holiness of the mountain and the exclusion of the unclean find their eschatological cap in Revelation 21:27.
Why it lands — The verse refuses to let judgment and restoration be separated: God's act against Edom is the same act that reclaims Zion. The reader is asked to hold both in one sentence — that the holy mountain's deliverance is corporate, territorial, and not optional.
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
But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Cross-references
- Amos 9:11 “In that day I will restore the fallen tent of David. I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,
- Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
- Isaiah 14:1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.
- Joel 3:19 Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
- Amos 9:8 Surely the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD.
- Joel 2:32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has promised, among the remnant called by the LORD.
- Isaiah 60:21 Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified.
- Joel 3:17 Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.
- Zechariah 14:20 On that day, HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the house of the LORD will be like the sprinkling bowls before the altar.
- Isaiah 46:13 I am bringing My righteousness near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion and adorn Israel with My splendor.