Bible Strands
Obadiah 1:18
Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble—Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet delivers a divine pronouncement against the house of Esau immediately after declaring deliverance and holiness on Mount Zion. The message follows the restoration of Jacob's possession and precedes the territorial redistribution among Judah, Ephraim, and Benjamin.
The words — אֵשׁ ('esh) translates literally as a fire, and לֶהָבָה (le.ha.Vah) as a flame, describing the irreversible destructive power assigned to Jacob and Joseph.
The thread — The fire motif recurs in Isaiah 10:17, where the Light of Israel becomes a flame to devour Assyria, and Zechariah 12:6, where Judah becomes a firepot among wood. The house of Joseph also appears in Ezekiel 37:19 as a unified stick joined with Judah's.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that Jacob's restoration and Esau's complete eradication are guaranteed by God's spoken word. It requires the reader to accept the finality of divine judgment without seeking exceptions or mitigations.
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
And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.
Cross-references
- Zechariah 12:6 On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among the sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and on the left, while the people of Jerusalem remain secure there.
- Isaiah 10:17 And the Light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame. In a single day it will burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and thistles.
- Ezekiel 37:19 you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them into a single stick, and they will become one in My hand.’
- Micah 5:8 Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue them.
- Isaiah 5:24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
- 2 Samuel 19:20 For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”
- Psalms 83:6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,
- Isaiah 31:9 Their rock will pass away for fear, and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 47:14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
- Ezekiel 37:16 “And you, son of man, take a single stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Joseph—the stick of Ephraim—and to all the house of Israel associated with him.’