Bible Strands
Obadiah 1:4
Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses the dwellers in the clefts of the rocks who boast that their high habitation is unassailable. He declares that their elevated position offers no protection from His coming judgment.
The words — תַּגְבִּ֣יהַּ (tagbiyah) means "you will make high," paired with שִׂ֣ים (sim) for "set" and כַּנֶּ֔שֶר (ka-nešer) for "like an eagle." These terms describe the deliberate act of elevating one's dwelling to an unreachable height.
The thread — The motif of inescapable divine judgment from the highest places runs through Amos 9:2, Habakkuk 2:9, and Job 20:6. Each text contrasts human attempts to secure safety in elevated or hidden places with God's sovereign reach.
Why it lands — The text states that geographical advantage and engineered security cannot thwart divine judgment. It requires readers to abandon reliance on perceived safety and submit to God's authority.
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
Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.
Cross-references
- Amos 9:2 Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.
- Habakkuk 2:9 Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
- Job 20:6 Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds,
- Isaiah 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.
- Jeremiah 49:16 The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 51:53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, the destroyers I send will come against her,” declares the LORD.
- Job 39:27 Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high?