Obadiah 1:12 (DBY)

Passage

But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; nor have opened wide thy mouth in the day of distress.

Nearby Context

Obadiah 1:10 Because of violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

Obadiah 1:11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away captive his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

Obadiah 1:12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; nor have opened wide thy mouth in the day of distress.

Obadiah 1:13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity, nor have looked, even thou, on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither shouldest thou have laid [hands] on their substance in the day of their calamity;

Obadiah 1:14 and thou shouldest not have stood on the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape, nor have delivered up those remaining of him in the day of distress.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "shouldest", "looked", "brother", "disaster", and "neither". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "shouldest", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "In the day that thou stoodest on..." into verse 13's "Thou shouldest not have entered into the...", so "thou" and "shouldest" 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 "thou" and "shouldest" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.