Obadiah 1:5 (YLT)

Passage

If thieves have come in to thee, If spoilers of the night, How hast thou been cut off! Do they not steal their sufficiency? If gatherers have come in to thee, Do they not leave gleanings?

Nearby Context

Obadiah 1:3 The pride of thy heart hath lifted thee up, O dweller in clifts of a rock, (A high place <FI>is<Fi> his habitation, He is saying in his heart, `Who doth bring me down <FI>to<Fi> earth?')

Obadiah 1:4 If thou dost go up high as an eagle, And if between stars thou dost set thy nest, From thence I bring thee down, An affirmation of Jehovah.

Obadiah 1:5 If thieves have come in to thee, If spoilers of the night, How hast thou been cut off! Do they not steal their sufficiency? If gatherers have come in to thee, Do they not leave gleanings?

Obadiah 1:6 How hath Esau been searched out! Flowed out have his hidden things,

Obadiah 1:7 Unto the border sent thee have all thine allies, Forgotten thee, prevailed over thee, have thy friends, Thy bread they make a snare under thee, There is no understanding in him!

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thieves", "come", "thee", "spoilers", "night", "hast", "thou", and "been". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thieves" and "come", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "If thou dost go up high as..." into verse 6's "How hath Esau been searched out Flowed...", so "thieves" and "come" 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 "thieves" and "come" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.