As the LORD your God lives: See the comments on 1 Kgs 1.29. These words function here to affirm the truth of what Obadiah is saying.

There is no nation or kingdom whither my lord has not sent to seek you: The words nation and kingdom are near synonyms here. The first noun is often used to refer to pagan peoples in distinction from the Israelite people. Here it refers to the whole population of a single territory. The second noun, kingdom, places more focus on an area understood as a united political territory. Some languages may find it necessary to translate these two nouns with one term (so Good News Translation with the word “country”). Obadiah’s words are, of course, to be understood as a hyperbole, that is, as an overstatement, in order to declare that Ahab has searched far and wide to find Elijah.

In verse 7 (and 13) Obadiah called Elijah “my lord,” but here in verse 10 the words my lord refer to King Ahab. Good News Translation says simply “the king” instead of my lord, but such a translation hides the fact that Obadiah still shows a loyalty to Ahab. A better translation is “my master the king” or “the king whom I serve.”

When they would say, ‘He is not here’: The embedded quotation contained in this part of the verse may be easily made into indirect speech in those languages where different levels of quotation are problematic (so Good News Translation). Translators may prefer to say something like “when they denied that you were there” or “whenever they said that you were not in their land.”

The subject of the verb would say is not stated in Hebrew, but Good News Translation expresses the intended meaning with “the ruler of a country.”

He would take an oath of the kingdom …: This means King Ahab would make any ruler swear before God that he was telling the truth if that ruler denied knowing where Elijah was.

New Century Version presents the meaning of the last half of the verse in short sentences as follows: “If the ruler said you were not there, that was not enough. Ahab then forced the ruler to swear you could not be found in his country.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .