What Does Obadiah 1:20 Mean?
And the exiles of this host of the children of Israel will take hold of the land of the Canaanites, as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will take hold of the cities of the dry south.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind “captivity” also carries the sense “uncover,” while the people called exiles are named here as inheritors.
THE MEANING
The verse holds Israel’s scattered communities as heirs whose reach extends to Zarephath, Sepharad, and the southern cities. It names possession of territory associated with the Canaanites, so restoration here is concrete land-taking, not an inward metaphor.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that exile cancels Israel’s claim to the land is undone here: the exiles themselves are named as the ones who possess it.
THE ROOT
גָּלוּת
galut
GROWS FROM
גלה
To uncover or reveal; in another form, to carry away into exile.
“the exiles of this host of the children of Israel” in this verse is galut. The word behind “captivity” is גָּלוּת (galut), meaning exile; its root גלה (galah) also carries the senses uncover and reveal. The exiles are not erased from the verse: they are named as the people who possess territory, setting removal beside inheritance.
ALSO GROWS
galah: Uncover, reveal
גָּלָה
This branch shares the root of galut, showing that the word for exile carries an additional sense of exposure or uncovering.
higlah: Carry away or send into exile
הִגְלָה
This causative form makes the root’s exile sense explicit: people are removed from their place.
יִרְשׁוּ
yirshu
GROWS FROM
ירש
Take possession, inherit; also dispossess.
“will take hold of” in this verse is yirshu. The root ירש (yarash) can mean to inherit or to dispossess. The verse’s restoration is therefore material and contested: Israel’s becoming possessor includes taking territory associated with the Canaanites.
ALSO GROWS
yerushah: Inheritance, possession
יְרֻשָּׁה
This noun makes the inheritance sense of the verse’s verb visible.
morashah: Heritage, possession
מוֹרָשָׁה
This related noun names what is inherited or held as a possession, deepening the land claim in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly turns dispossession or low status toward inheritance, with the promise reaching beyond a person’s present place or power.
And he said to him, I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to take hold of it.For look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, that I will turn back the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land I gave to their fathers, and they shall take hold of it.Flourishing are the bowed, for they inherit the earth.THE THREAD
But upon Mount Zion there will be an escape, and it will be set apart, and the house of Jacob will take hold of their possessions.Both verses use the root ירש (yarash), “possess” or “inherit.” Verse 1:17 states that Jacob will possess its inheritance; this verse names the dispersed communities and the southern cities included in that claim.
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