Prophecy Against Mount Seir
35 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn toward[a] Mount Seir,[b] and prophesy against it. 3 Say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Look, I am against you, Mount Seir;
I will stretch out my hand against you
and turn you into a desolate ruin.
4 I will lay waste your cities,
and you will become desolate.
Then you will know that I am the Lord!
5 “‘You have shown unrelenting hostility and poured the people of Israel onto the blades of a sword[c] at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment. 6 Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will subject you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. 7 I will turn Mount Seir into a desolate ruin;[d] I will cut off[e] from it the one who passes through or returns. 8 I will fill its mountains with its dead; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines, those killed by the sword will fall. 9 I will turn you into a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
10 “‘You said, “These two nations, these two lands[f] will be mine, and we will possess them,”[g] (although the Lord was there); 11 therefore, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will deal with you according to your anger and your envy, by which you acted spitefully against them. I will reveal myself to them when I judge you. 12 Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are desolate; they have been given to us for food.” 13 You exalted yourselves against me with your speech[h] and hurled many insults against me[i]—I have heard them all! 14 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will turn you into a desolation. 15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I deal with you—you will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom—all of it! Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 35:2 tn Heb “set your face against.”
- Ezekiel 35:2 sn Mount Seir is to be identified with Edom (Ezek 35:15), home of Esau’s descendants (Gen 25:21-30).
- Ezekiel 35:5 tn Or “gave over…to the power of the sword.” This phrase also occurs in Jer 18:21 and Ps 63:10.
- Ezekiel 35:7 tc The translation reads with some manuscripts לְשִׁמְמָה וּמְשַׁמָּה (leshimemah umeshammah, “desolate ruin”) as in verse 3 and often in Ezekiel. The majority reading reverses the first mem (מ) with the shin (שׁ), resulting in the repetition of the word desolate: לְשִׁמְמָה וּשְׁמָמָה (leshimemah ushemamah).
- Ezekiel 35:7 tn Or “kill.”
- Ezekiel 35:10 sn The reference is to Israel and Judah.
- Ezekiel 35:10 tn Heb “it.”
- Ezekiel 35:13 tn Heb “your mouth.”
- Ezekiel 35:13 tn Heb “and you multiplied against me your words.” The Hebrew verb occurs only here and in Prov 27:6, where it refers to the “excessive” kisses of an enemy. The basic idea of the verb appears to be “to be abundant.” Here it occurs in the causative (Hiphil) stem.