Ezekiel35
New Living Translation
1Again a message came to me from the Lord:
2“Son of man, turn and face Mount Seir, and prophesy against its people.
3Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: “I am your enemy, O Mount Seir, and I will raise my fist against you to destroy you completely.
4I will demolish your cities and make you desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
5“Your eternal hatred for the people of Israel led you to butcher them when they were helpless, when I had already punished them for all their sins.
6As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, since you show no distaste for blood, I will give you a bloodbath of your own. Your turn has come!
7I will make Mount Seir utterly desolate, killing off all who try to escape and any who return.
8I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your hills, your valleys, and your ravines will be filled with people slaughtered by the sword.
9I will make you desolate forever. Your cities will never be rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
10“For you said, ‘The lands of Israel and Judah will be ours. We will take possession of them. What do we care that the Lord is there!’
11Therefore, as surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will pay back your angry deeds with my own. I will punish you for all your acts of anger, envy, and hatred. And I will make myself known to Israel by what I do to you.
12Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard every contemptuous word you spoke against the mountains of Israel. For you said, ‘They are desolate; they have been given to us as food to eat!’
13In saying that, you boasted proudly against me, and I have heard it all!
14“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The whole world will rejoice when I make you desolate.
15You rejoiced at the desolation of Israel’s territory. Now I will rejoice at yours! You will be wiped out, you people of Mount Seir and all who live in Edom! Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 35.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: A prophecy against Edom. (1-15).
vv1-9
All who have God against them, have the word of God against them. Those that have a constant hatred to God and his people, as the carnal mind has, can only expect to be made desolate for ever.
vv10-15
When we see the vanity of the world in the disappointments, losses, and crosses, which others meet with, instead of showing ourselves greedy of worldly things, we should sit more loose to them. In the multitude of words, not one is unknown to God; not the most idle word; and the most daring is not above his rebuke. In the destruction of the enemies of the church, God designs his own glory; and we may be sure that he will not come short of his design. And when the fulness of the Jews and Gentiles shall come into the church, all antichristian opposers shall be destroyed.
Key Words
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָדָם: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
שׂוּם: to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)
פָּנִים: the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.)
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
הַר: a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)
שֵׂעִיר: Seir, a mountain of Idumaea and its aboriginal occupants, also one in Palestine
נָבָא: to prophesy, i.e. speak (or sing) by inspiration (in prediction or simple discourse)
Cross References
Ezekiel 35Edom's active hostility during Jerusalem's final calamity, crying 'Rase it, rase it' at the downfall.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Edom's violence and gloating over their brother Jacob's disaster in the day of calamity.
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Edom coveted Israel's land, ignoring its true owner, Jehovah, whose name is 'The Lord is there.'
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Mount Seir is explicitly identified as the physical possession and home of Esau, father of Edom.
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God laid Edom's mountains and his heritage waste for the jackals of the wilderness.
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The 'time when their iniquity had an end' links to Israel's final national chastisement.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Edom pursued his brother with the sword and kept his anger and wrath perpetually.
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As Edom loved bloodshed, poetic justice decrees that blood shall pursue him.
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Edom's vow to rebuild is countered by God's decree of perpetual, unreturned desolation.
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The primary parallel judgment on Edom for taking vengeance against the house of Judah.
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The origin of the perpetual hatred: Esau hating Jacob over the stolen blessing.
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Desolation characterized by the cutting off of all travelers passing through or returning.
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Edom and confederate nations plotting to cut off Israel and take God's pastures in possession.
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God's servants will rejoice and sing for joy while His enemies are made utterly desolate.
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As Edom did to Israel, so it shall be done to him; his reward returns on him.
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