Obadiah 1:10
“For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The reason for the judgment is named: Edom's violence against her brother Jacob brings lasting shame and ruin.
What Does Obadiah 1:10 Mean?
Now the crime behind the sentence is stated plainly. The word brother is the wound at the center of the book. Edom and Israel descended from the twin brothers Esau and Jacob, and Edom's sin was violence against kin. For this betrayal shame will cover her, and she will be cut off.
Sin against those nearest to us, against family and brother, carries a peculiar weight before God. The verse exposes how pride hardened into cruelty toward one's own. It calls the reader to guard the bonds of kinship and to ask whether we have looked on a struggling brother or sister with indifference, when God watches how we treat our own.
In the Original Language
'achiykha (אָחִיךָ), "thy brother" — the word of kinship that makes Edom's violence against Israel a betrayal of family.