Obadiah 1:17 (ASV)

Passage

But in mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

Nearby Context

Obadiah 1:15 For the day of Jehovah is near upon all the nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy dealing shall return upon thine own head.

Obadiah 1:16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and swallow down, and shall be as though they had not been.

Obadiah 1:17 But in mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

Obadiah 1:18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall burn among them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining to the house of Esau; for Jehovah hath spoken it.

Obadiah 1:19 And they of the South shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the lowland the Philistines; and they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin [shall possess] Gilead.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mount", "zion", "shall", "escape", "holy", "house", and "jacob". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mount" and "zion", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "For as ye have drunk upon my..." into verse 18's "And the house of Jacob shall be...", so "mount" and "zion" belong inside that flow. In Obadiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mount" and "zion" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.