And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
Thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. Maurer translates, 'on account of the slaughter'-namely, that inflicted on Judea by Edom (cf. Obadiah 1:14). The Septuagint, the Syriac, and Vulgate connect these words with Obadiah 1:10, "for the slaughter, for the violence (of which thou art guilty) against thy brother Jacob," etc. The English version, "cut off by slaughter" (i:e., an utter cutting off), answers well to "cut off forever" (Obadiah 1:10). However, the arrangement of the Septuagint gives a better parallelism, in Obadiah 1:10, of the four clauses, the first answering to the fourth, and the second to the third [Dia teen sfageen, kai teen asebeian adelfou sou Iakoob kalupsei se aischunee kai exartheesee eis ton aioona.] "For the slaughter" (Obadiah 1:9)
(1) being balanced in just retribution by "thou shalt be cut off forever"
(4) as "For thy violence (not so bad as slaughter) against thy brother Jacob"
(2) is balanced by "shame (not so bad as being cut off) shall cover thee"
(3) Shame and extinction shall repay violence and slaughter (Matthew 26:52; Revelation 13:10). Compare as to Edom's violence, Psalms 137:7; Ezekiel 25:12; Amos 1:11.