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Old Testament · Prophecy

Ezekiel 35

Against Mount Seir

Edom rejoiced at Israel's ruin. Because you harbored ancient hostility, God will make you a desolation. Joy over another's destruction returns to its source.

King James Version BSB KJV
Read the commentary What this chapter means, the background behind it, and why it still matters

1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,

3And 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.

4I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

5Because 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:

6Therefore, 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.

7Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.

8And 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.

9I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

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

11Therefore, 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.

12And 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.

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

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

15As 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.

Commentary

Ezekiel 35, explained

What Ezekiel 35 is saying

Ezekiel prophesies against Mount Seir (Edom) for its perpetual hatred of Israel, its violence during Jerusalem's fall, and its presumptuous claim over Israel's and Judah's territory. God will make Edom a permanent desolation as recompense for its bloodshed.

The background behind it

Edom (descended from Esau) had a long, bitter rivalry with Israel (descended from Jacob). Edom's opportunistic attacks during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem are condemned across multiple prophetic books (cf. Obadiah, Psalm 137:7, Lamentations 4:21-22).

Themes running underneath

Persistent, generational hatred incurs divine judgment. Edom's claim over the two nations' territory while 'the LORD was there' represents a direct affront to God's sovereignty and His continued claim over the land even during Israel's exile.

Why it still matters

Nursing ancient grudges and exploiting others' vulnerability destroys the one who harbors hatred. This chapter warns that the cycle of vengeance ultimately consumes those who perpetuate it.

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Ezekiel 34

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Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.

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