Sepharad

Sepharad is a place mentioned only once in the text — an unidentified locale to which captives from Jerusalem were carried. It appears in the closing oracle of Obadiah, which envisions a homecoming for those scattered far from the land.

A Place of Exile

The reference comes in a vision of restoration. Alongside the displaced sons of Israel who are settled "[among] the Canaanites" as far as Zarephath, the prophet pictures another company: "the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the South" (Ob 1:20). The location is not described, and no other passage names it. What the verse contributes is a geographic horizon — the captivity has reached as far as Sepharad — and a promise that those held there will return to inherit the southern cities of Judah.