Obadiah is the fourth book of the Minor or Twelve *Prophets; it consists of only twenty-one verses. This oracle against *Edom, the nation living southeast of *Judah, excoriates the Edomites for their glee when *Jerusalem was destroyed, predicts their ruin, and looks forward to a day when the Judean and Israelite exiles will return to reclaim lands taken away from them by Edomites and others. Oracles against other nations occur frequently in prophetic literature (see, e.g., Isa 14–23; Jer 46–51; Ezek 25–32), and oracles against Edom are especially common (Jer 49:7–22; Ezek 25:12–14; Isa 34).

Obadiah was likely written shortly after the *Babylonians destroyed the *Temple in 586 BCE. It shares with *Lamentations 4:21–22, *Psalm 137:7, and other exilic and post-exilic texts the view that the Edomites somehow abetted the Babylonians or joyfully watched Judah's discomfiture; verses 17–19 may imply that the Edomites occupied Judean territory after the Babylonian conquest. It is not clear to what extent these texts reflect genuine Edomite collusion against Judah and to what extent they are expressions of long-standing enmity between the nations. Already in the pre-exilic era Edomites had begun to settle in the Negev, to the west of their traditional territory, although much of this settlement in Judean territory may have been relatively peaceful. Obadiah verses 1–5 closely resemble *Jeremiah 49:9 and 49:14–16, probably because both of these texts use an older oracle against Edom.