Ezekiel 35

1 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

2 “You human, turn toward Edom and prophesy what will happen to its people. Say that this is what Yahweh says to them:

Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy concerning it, and say to it:

3 ‘You who live near Seir Mountain [in Edom], I am opposed to you, and I will use my power [MTY] to strike you and cause your country to become a wasteland.

Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, mount Seir, and I will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and I will make thee desolate and waste.

4 I will cause your country to be ruined and desolate. When that happens, people will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].

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

5 You have always been enemies of the Israeli people. You [rejoiced] when they experienced a great disaster: [their enemies attacked them with] swords, when I punished them [for the sins that they had committed].

Because thou hast been an everlasting enemy, and hast shut up the children of Israel in the hands of the sword in the time of their affliction, in the time of their last iniquity.

6 Therefore, I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that as surely as I am alive, I will allow [your enemies] to slaughter [MTY] you and continue to slaughter you. You were happy when [LIT] others were slaughtered;

Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will deliver thee up to blood, and blood shall pursue thee: and whereas thou hast hated blood, blood shall pursue thee.

7 so I will cause Seir Mountain to be abandoned/deserted, and I will get rid of anyone who enters it or leaves it.

And I will make mount Seir waste and desolate: and I will take away from it him that goeth and him that returneth.

8 I will cause your mountains to be filled with [the corpses of] those who have been killed. The corpses of those who have been killed by [your enemies’] swords will lie on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines.

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

9 I will cause your land to be deserted forever. No one will live in your towns again. When that happens, you will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].

I will make thee everlasting desolations, and thy cities shall not be inhabited: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord God.

10 You people said, “Israel and Judah will become ours. We will take over their territory!” You said that even though I, Yahweh, was still there [and protecting them].

Because thou hast said: The two nations, and the two lands shall be mine, and I will possess them by inheritance: whereas the Lord was there.

11 Therefore, I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that as surely as I am alive, I will punish [MTY] you for being angry with my people, envying them, and hating them.

Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will do according to thy wrath, and according to thy envy, which thou hast exercised in hatred to them: and I will be made known by them, when I shall have judged thee.

12 Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have heard all the disgusting things that you have said about the mountains in Israel. You said that they have been ruined/devastated, and that they have been given to you to occupy [MET].

And thou shalt know that I the Lord have heard all thy reproaches, that thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying: They are desolate, they are given to us to consume.

13 When you insulted me, I heard all that you said about me.

And you rose up against me with your mouth, and have derogated from me by your words: I have heard them.

14 So this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: You people who live on Seir Mountain and in all the other places in Edom, when I cause your land to become desolate, everyone in the entire world will rejoice.

Thus saith the Lord God: When the whole earth shall rejoice, I will make thee a wilderness.

15 You were happy when the land [MTY] of the Israeli people became desolate, so I will cause your land to become desolate. When that happens, people will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].’”

As thou best rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was laid waste, so will I do to thee: thou shalt be laid waste, O mount Seir, and all Idumea: and they shall know that I am the Lord.