November 19
The saints and feasts remembered on November 19, each with a short life, a Bible passage and a prayer.
Saint Obadiah the Prophet
Wrote the Old Testament's shortest book, warning proud Edom and promising hope
Almost nothing is known about Obadiah except the short book that carries his name. With only twenty-one verses, it is the shortest book in the Old Testament. His name means “servant of the Lord.” Most scholars think he spoke soon after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587 or 586 BC, though some date him earlier. An old Jewish tradition identified him with the Obadiah who hid a hundred prophets from Queen Jezebel, but that man lived centuries before, and few scholars accept the link.
The book is a message against Edom, Israel's neighbour and relative, whose people were said to descend from Esau, Jacob's brother. When Jerusalem fell, Edom gloated, joined in the looting and handed fleeing survivors over to the enemy. Obadiah warns that pride and cruelty toward a brother will come back on those who commit them.
Christians still read him because his small book ends in hope: the scattered will come home, and “the kingdom shall be the Lord's.”
For the Day of the LORD is near for all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your recompense will return upon your own head.
Obadiah 1:15 · BSB
A prayer
God of justice and mercy, through your servant Obadiah you warned the proud and promised a home to the scattered. Keep us from rejoicing over the troubles of others, make us faithful to our brothers and sisters when they are in need, and fix our hope on your kingdom, which will have no end. Amen.
The lives are written with AI help from public-domain histories and checked before publishing; the prayers are ours. Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), in the public domain. How we write.