The Book of Obadiah — Audio Bible

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About the book of Obadiah

Theme. God will not let pride and cruelty go unanswered.

Why it matters. Obadiah affirms God\u2019s justice toward those who oppress the vulnerable.

Twenty-one verses of family grievance

Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament, and it spends its whole length on one subject: Edom, the nation descended from Esau. That focus is what makes it sting. This is not a general oracle against a foreign power; it is a complaint against a brother. When Babylon broke into Jerusalem — most readers place the book just after 586 BC — the Edomites did not merely watch from their highlands across the Dead Sea. Obadiah says they gloated, looted, blocked the escape roads, and handed survivors back to the invaders. The center of the book is a drumbeat of eight accusations, each opening in Hebrew with the same phrase, roughly "you should not have" — the cadence of a wounded relative listing wrongs he cannot forget.

From the eagle's nest to the dust

The oracle opens with the nations being roused against Edom, then turns to mock its geography. Edom lived in cliff country south of the Dead Sea, in strongholds carved into rock — the region later famous for Petra — and its people assumed no army could reach them. Obadiah answers with one of the prophets' great images: even a nest set among the stars will be pulled down. Pillage, betrayal by trusted allies, the failure of Edom's famed wise men — each defense collapses in turn. Then the lens widens: the day of the LORD is near for all nations, and its measure is exact, for what Edom did will be done to Edom. The book ends on Mount Zion, where escaped survivors hold their own ground again and the closing line hands the kingdom to the LORD.

Esau's long shadow, and a scholar who changed his mind

Obadiah closes an argument that begins in Genesis, where Jacob and Esau wrestle from the womb. The prophets keep returning to Edom as the near kin who chose to act like an enemy — Amos, Ezekiel, and the opening of Malachi all take up the theme — and Obadiah gives it the fullest statement: pride in high places set against a humbled remnant, with the remnant left standing at the end. Later readers heard the final verse echoed in Revelation's announcement that the kingdom has become the Lord's. Among early Christian interpreters the book's most candid reader is Jerome, who commented on all twelve minor prophets: in his Obadiah commentary he admits that as a young man he had spun the little book into allegory, and that he returned to it decades later to interpret it properly — a rare case of a church father publicly correcting his own early work.

Reading guide: Obadiah chapter by chapter

• Chapter 1: Edom's pride judged and Zion restored

How to listen to Obadiah on The Historic Faith

This guide is built for listening through the whole book of Obadiah, not just opening a single chapter. The chapter links below open the Bible reader with synchronized text, verse-by-verse audio highlighting, playback speed controls, and the same study tools available across the Audio Bible. You can begin with chapter 1, continue through all 1 chapters, or return later and pick up any chapter directly from this page.

Obadiah is available in multiple English editions and the Septuagint, with a Septuagint option for Greek Old Testament study. The reader keeps the text visible while the audio plays, so you can follow the wording, slow down difficult passages, and compare translations without losing your place. No account is required to listen, read, or use the chapter links.

For study, use the interlinear and Strong's tools from the reader page. Old Testament chapters connect to Hebrew word study, and the Septuagint links let you compare the Greek tradition alongside the English text. Each chapter also connects naturally with the church fathers commentary and the broader library, so the book can be read devotionally, studied historically, or used as a reference while listening.

Before listening, it can help to read the theme and background above, then scan the notable chapters and frequently asked questions below. Those notes summarize why Obadiah matters, how it fits into the larger biblical story, and where readers often begin when they want to understand the book as a whole.

Obadiah chapter listening guide

Use these chapter links as a quick listening plan. Each link opens a dedicated chapter page with the same translation controls, synchronized text, and study tools, so the book can be read or heard one chapter at a time.

• Obadiah 1 Listen to Obadiah chapter 1 with verse highlighting, readable chapter text, translation controls, and integrated study links.

Ways to use this Obadiah audio Bible page

Treat this page as the book hub for Obadiah. The summary, chapter guide, full chapter grid, study links, and questions are gathered here so you can decide where to begin before opening the reader. That keeps the listening page focused on the chapter itself while this page gives the book-level context that helps the chapter make sense.

• Listen Start with chapter 1 when you want to hear Obadiah straight through, or choose a later chapter when a reading plan, sermon, class, or personal study has already pointed you to a specific passage.
• Read Keep the text open while the audio plays. The reader is designed for slow, attentive reading, quick review, and comparison across available English translations without leaving the chapter.
• Study Use the interlinear, Strong's concordance, and church fathers links when a verse in Obadiah needs closer attention. Those tools are connected from the reader and from the study section below.
• Continue Return to this page as your table of contents for Obadiah. Each chapter link stays stable, so it can be bookmarked, shared, or reopened when you want to continue listening later.

For family worship, classroom use, or personal reading, the stable chapter links make it easy to assign a passage and return to the same place later. A teacher can send students directly to a chapter of Obadiah, a small group can listen before discussing the text, and an individual reader can keep the book page open as a simple table of contents.

On mobile, the book hub is meant to stay simple: choose a chapter, open the reader, listen with the text in view, and come back here when you are ready for the next chapter. On desktop, the same links work well beside notes, sermon prep, church fathers references, or the interlinear tools used for closer word study.

What each Obadiah chapter page includes

The chapter pages linked from this hub are built for more than passive playback. Each chapter keeps the biblical text, audio controls, study links, and navigation together so you can listen, read, compare, and continue through Obadiah without hunting through separate tools.

• Audio Playback controls stay with the chapter, including speed options and verse-level progress, so a short chapter can be reviewed quickly and a longer chapter can be paused and resumed without losing the passage.
• Text The chapter text remains visible beside the audio experience. This makes Obadiah useful for reading aloud, quiet listening, pronunciation practice, sermon preparation, and verse-by-verse review.
• Compare Translation controls let you compare the available English editions and the Septuagint where available while staying inside the same book and chapter flow.
• Words Word-study links connect the passage to Strong's and interlinear helps, so repeated names, theological terms, commands, promises, and historical details in Obadiah can be checked more closely.
• Context Related library and church fathers links help connect a chapter of Obadiah with historic Christian interpretation, making the page useful for devotional reading and deeper research.

Notable chapters in Obadiah

• Obadiah 1 Judgment on Edom

All 1 chapters of Obadiah

Tap any chapter number to listen with verse-by-verse highlighting. Defaults to KJV; you can switch translations on the player page.

Study Obadiah deeper

Frequently asked questions about Obadiah