Obadiah 1:17 (LSB)

Passage

But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions.

Nearby Context

Obadiah 1:15 “For the day of Yahweh draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head.

Obadiah 1:16 Because just as you all drank on My holy mountain, All the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow, And they will be as if they never were.

Obadiah 1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions.

Obadiah 1:18 Then the house of Jacob will be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau will be as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau,” For Yahweh has spoken.

Obadiah 1:19 Then those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, And those of the Shephelah, the Philistine plain; And they will possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, And Benjamin will possess Gilead.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mount", "zion", "escape", "holy", "house", "jacob", "possess", and "possessions". 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 "Because just as you all drank on..." into verse 18's "Then the house of Jacob will 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.