Israel’s future—which was securely grounded in YHWH’s immutable commitments—rested with the exiles, not with the people back home. YHWH would bring them back, transform them from the inside out, and reconstitute them as his covenant community.54 Meanwhile he had written off the people in the land. If we assume Obadiah prophesied in Jerusalem, this was the audience he faced. Inasmuch as vv. 16–21 offer hope to his hearers, either this prophet’s perception of the population of Jerusalem and environs