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Edom Will Be a Wasteland

35 (A) The Lord said:

Ezekiel, son of man, condemn the people of Edom[a] and say to them:

I, the Lord God,
    am now your enemy!
And I will turn your nation
into an empty wasteland,
    leaving your towns in ruins.
Your land will be a desert,
and then you will know
    that I am the Lord.

People of Edom, not only have you been Israel's longtime enemy, you simply watched when disaster wiped out its people as punishment for their sins. And so, as surely as I am the living Lord God, you are guilty of murder and must be put to death. I will destroy your nation and kill anyone who travels through it. Dead bodies will cover your mountains and fill up your valleys, and your land will lie in ruins forever. No one will live in your towns ever again. You will know that I am the Lord.

10 You thought the nations of Judah and Israel belonged to you, and that you could take over their territory. But I am their God, 11 and as surely as I live, I will punish you for treating my people with anger and hatred. Then they will know that I, the Lord, am punishing you! 12 And you will finally realize that I heard you laugh at their destruction and say their land was yours to take. 13 You even insulted me, but I heard it all.

14 Everyone on earth will celebrate when I destroy you, 15 just as you celebrated when Israel was destroyed. Your nation of Edom will be nothing but a wasteland. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. 35.2 Edom: The Hebrew text has “Mount Seir,” another name for Edom.

A Prophecy Against Edom

35 The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir;(A) prophesy against it and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand(B) against you and make you a desolate waste.(C) I will turn your towns into ruins(D) and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.(E)

“‘Because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword(F) at the time of their calamity,(G) the time their punishment reached its climax,(H) therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will give you over to bloodshed(I) and it will pursue you.(J) Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste(K) and cut off from it all who come and go.(L) I will fill your mountains with the slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines.(M) I will make you desolate forever;(N) your towns will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.(O)

10 “‘Because you have said, “These two nations and countries will be ours and we will take possession(P) of them,” even though I the Lord was there, 11 therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will treat you in accordance with the anger(Q) and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them and I will make myself known among them when I judge you.(R) 12 Then you will know that I the Lord have heard all the contemptible things you have said against the mountains of Israel. You said, “They have been laid waste and have been given over to us to devour.(S) 13 You boasted(T) against me and spoke against me without restraint, and I heard it.(U) 14 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.(V) 15 Because you rejoiced(W) when the inheritance of Israel became desolate, that is how I will treat you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir,(X) you and all of Edom.(Y) Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

35 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,

And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.

I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:

Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.

And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword.

I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

10 Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the Lord was there:

11 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.

12 And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.

13 Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.

14 Thus saith the Lord God; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.

15 As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the Lord.