Ezekiel

CHAPTER 35

Against Edom.* 1The word of the LORD came to me: 2Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it. 3Say to it: Thus says the Lord GOD: Watch out! I am against you, Mount Seir. I will stretch out my hand against you and turn you into a desolate waste.a 4Your cities I will turn into ruins, and you shall be a desolation; then you shall know that I am the LORD.b

5Because you nursed a long-standing hatred and handed the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their collapse, at the time of their final punishment,* c 6therefore, as I live—oracle of the Lord GOD—you are guilty of blood, and blood, I swear, shall pursue you. 7I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and cut off from it anyone who travels across it and back.d 8I will fill its mountains with the slain; those slain by the sword shall fall on your hills, into your valleys and all your ravines.

9I will make you a desolation forever,

your cities will not be inhabited,

and you shall know that I am the LORD.e

10Because you said: The two nations and the two lands* belong to me; let us take possession of them—although the LORD was there— 11therefore, as I live—oracle of the Lord GOD—I will deal with you according to the anger and envy you dealt out to them in your hatred, and I will make myself known to them when I execute judgment on you,f 12then you shall know that I am the LORD.

I have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying: They are desolate; they have been given to us to devour. 13You boasted against me with your mouths and used insolent words against me. I heard everything! 14Thus says the Lord GOD: Because you rejoiced that the whole land was desolate, so I will do to you. 15As you rejoiced over the devastation of the heritage of the house of Israel, the same I will do to you: you will become a ruin, Mount Seir, and the whole of Edom, all of it! Then they shall know that I am the LORD.g

* [35:115] After the fall of Jerusalem, Edom assisted the Babylonians in devastating the land and subduing the population in order to occupy part of Judah’s former territory. For this reason these oracles against Edom are found in the context of the city’s fall.

* [35:5] Final punishment: throughout this oracle the prophet echoes the threat against the mountains of Israel found in chaps. 67.

* [35:10] The two nations and the two lands: by presenting Edom’s excursion into the southern territory of Judah as its claim to both kingdoms, Ezekiel exaggerates Edom’s greed and arrogance. LORD was there: Edom’s betrayal of Judah becomes an attack on Judah’s God, the land’s sovereign. In 11:15 and 33:24, Ezekiel condemns Judahites who annex land that does not belong to them. Now the exiles in Babylon learn that even though God had left Jerusalem (chap. 11), he witnesses Edom’s insolence and pronounces judgment against it. Cf. 48:35, “The Lord is there!”

a. [35:3] cf. Ez 25:1214.

b. [35:4] Ob 13.

c. [35:5] Ob 1115.

d. [35:7] Jer 46:19.

e. [35:9] Is 34:56; Ob 10.

f. [35:11] Ob 15.

g. [35:15] Is 34:11; Ob 12.

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