What Does Obadiah 1:1 Mean in the King James?
The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew gives rumour and heard the same root, so this vision becomes a report carried outward until nations rise for battle.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now as a chain of disclosure and force: a vision concerning Edom becomes a report heard from the LORD, an envoy sent among the nations, and a collective call to rise against her in battle. The message arrives as both revelation and mobilization; its endpoint is violence.
THE ROOT
שְׁמוּעָה
shemuʿah
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, attend.
“rumour / heard” in this verse is shemuʿah. The KJV’s rumour and heard are not unrelated ideas: shemuʿah is a report, while shamaʿnu is the act of hearing, and both grow from שמע. The report is already bound to hearing before it travels among the nations.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen.
שָׁמַע
This is the verb behind heard, echoing the report’s root within the same clause.
shemaʿ: Report, fame, tidings.
שֵׁמַע
This related noun shows how hearing becomes news carried beyond the person who first receives it.
שֻׁלָּח
shullach
GROWS FROM
שלח
sh-l-ḥ
Send forth, release, let go.
The envoy’s being sent belongs to שלח, a root that carries both dispatch and release. The same root names Shiloach, the sent waters associated with restored sight; here its movement carries a summons toward battle, and that violence remains in view.
ALSO GROWS
shalach: Send, send forth, release, let go.
שָׁלַח
This is the root verb behind the envoy being sent among the nations.
Shiloach: Shiloach, meaning sent forth; the name associated with the waters of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
The same send-forth root can name waters associated with restored sight, while this verse directs the envoy toward a battle summons.
עֹבַדְיָה
ʿOvadyah
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
Serve, work.
The opening names the bearer of the vision Obadiah, meaning servant of YHWH. The name places service inside the voice that carries this severe message without softening what the verse announces.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavad: Serve, work.
עָבַד
This verb supplies the service-root inside Obadiah’s name.
ʿeved: Servant.
עֶבֶד
This noun gives the name its nature: one who serves YHWH.
THE PATTERN
A summons carried among nations can turn hearing into coordinated battle against a named target.
The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.THE THREAD
I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.Jeremiah repeats the same sequence: a report heard from the LORD, an envoy sent among the nations, and a call to rise for battle. The shared roots of report, hearing, and sending make Obadiah’s opening part of a recurring verbal pattern, while keeping its violent summons in full view.
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