Ezekiel 35

1 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

Moreover the LORD’s word 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 your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against 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.

and tell it, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you. I will make you a desolation and an astonishment.

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 lay your cities waste, and you will be desolate. Then you will 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 you have had a perpetual hostility, and have given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end,

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,” says the Lord GOD, “I will prepare you for blood, and blood will pursue you. Since you have not hated blood, therefore blood will pursue you.

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

Thus I will make Mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation. I will cut off from it him who passes through and him who returns.

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.

I will fill its mountains with its slain. The slain with the sword will fall in your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses.

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 you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

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 you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries will be mine, and we will possess it,’ although 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,” says the Lord GOD, “I will do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known amongst them when I judge you.

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].

You will know that I, the LORD, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They have been laid desolate. They have been given to us to devour.’

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

You have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me. I have heard it.”

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.

The Lord GOD says: “When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.

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 you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”