What Does Obadiah 1:6 Mean in the King James?
How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!
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 verse’s shock is that the search reaches even what was stored beyond sight.
THE MEANING
What is hidden is not therefore beyond reach: the search reaches even the protected stores. The verse holds exposure at full force, as concealed reserves become visible and vulnerable.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
What I conceal is beyond discovery.
THE ROOT
נֶחְפְּשׂוּ
neḥpĕśû
GROWS FROM
חפש
To search out, examine, or investigate.
“searched out” in this verse is neḥpĕśû. The root also appears in a form meaning “disguise oneself,” so searching and concealment meet within the same word family. Here the search breaks through what had been kept out of sight.
ALSO GROWS
ḥippēs: He searched.
חִפֵּשׂ
This active form makes the search itself vivid: something hidden is deliberately sought.
hitḥappēs: To disguise oneself.
הִתְחַפֵּשׂ
The same root can describe hiding oneself; in this verse, the search reaches through concealment.
מַצְפֻּנָיו
maṣpunāw
GROWS FROM
צפן
To hide, conceal, or store away.
“hidden things” in this verse is maṣpunāw. The word points to things kept in reserve and out of view. Paired with the search, it shows more than discovery: even what has been carefully stored away is exposed.
ALSO GROWS
ṣāp̄ûn: Hidden or concealed.
צָפוּן
This form describes what is kept out of sight, the very condition the search penetrates.
ṣāpan: To hide, store, or treasure up.
צָפַן
The root can carry the sense of keeping something as a reserve, giving “hidden things” the weight of protected stores.
THE PATTERN
Concealment does not guarantee preservation; what is hidden can be searched out and exposed.
He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.THE THREAD
And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images.“Searched” comes from the same Hebrew root, חפש, as “searched out” in Obadiah. In Genesis, the search fails to find what is hidden; here, the hidden reserves are reached.
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