“Though you make your home high like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh.
- KJV Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
- BSB Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
- NKJV Though you ascend as high as the eagle, And though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down,” says the Lord.
- NLT But even if you soar as high as eagles and build your nest among the stars, I will bring you crashing down,” says the Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Even if Edom soared as high as an eagle or nested among the stars, God declares he will bring her down.
Overview
Using vivid hyperbole, the Lord answers Edom's boast by asserting that no height of security can place a nation beyond his reach. The eagle and the stars picture the loftiest imaginable safety, yet all are subject to Yahweh, who alone is truly exalted. This echoes the broader biblical truth that human exaltation against God ends in being cast down, while genuine exaltation belongs to the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Hab 2:9Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
- Isa 14:12–15How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
- Amos 9:2Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.
- Job 20:6–7Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
- Jer 49:16As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill, though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh.
- Jer 51:53Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet destroyers will come to her from me,” says Yahweh.
- Job 39:27–28Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The day of the LORD against proud Edom and the promise that 'the kingdom shall be the LORD's' anticipate the final reign of Christ over every hostile power.
How Obadiah 1:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.