The judgment of mount Seir for their hatred of Israel, and insulting over their distress.
1MOREOVER the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, 1set thy face against 2mount Seir, and prophesy against it,
1 See Ezek. 6 on verse 2.
2 The mountainous land of the Edomites, the posterity of Esau. See Ezek. 25:8, 12, etc.
3And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I 3am against thee, and I will stretch out mine 4hand against thee, and I will make thee 5most desolate.
3 As Ezek. 13:8.
4 See Ezek. 14 on verse 9.
5 Or, unto utter desolation, or astonishment, or desolation and desolation, as verse 7; Ezek. 33:28.
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 6perpetual hatred,a and hast 7shed the blood of the children of Israel by 8the force of the sword in the time of their 9calamity, in the time that their 10iniquity had an end:
6 Hebr. enmity of eternity, namely, against My people. Compare Ezek. 25:12, etc.; Amos 1:11.
a Ezek. 25:15.
7 Or, hast caused to flow away, that is, poured out their blood like water by murdering, and caused it to flow away. Compare Psalm 63:10; Jer. 18:21, with the annotations.
8 Hebr. the hands of the sword. See Job 5 on verse 20.
9 Or, ruin, by the Chaldeans, whom the Edomites helped or stirred up to destroy Jerusalem to the very foundation. See Psalm 137:7.
10 Hebr. iniquity of the end, or of the uttermost. See Ezek. 21 on verse 25.
6Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto 11blood, and 12blood shall pursue thee: sithb thou hast not hated 13blood, even blood shall pursue thee.
11 That is, to be killed or murdered. See Gen. 4 on verse 10; Ezek. 16:36; 21:32. Or, I will make thee to be blood, that is, I will so order thee that the land shall be full of thine own blood, and shall (to speak as such) be nothing but mere blood.
12 That is, slaughter and murder, and consequently the murderers. Or, blood shall follow thee, as being shed and flowing everywhere.
b since
13 That is, hast with delight, yea, helped forward the murder and slaughter of My people.
7Thus will I make mount Seir 14most desolate, and cut off from it him 15that passeth out and him that returneth.
14 Or, mere desolation, as verse 3, though the Hebrew words (being of one root) do differ a little.
15 I will make it so desolate, that no man shall inhabit there, neither go in or out.
8And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: 16in 17thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they 18fall that are slain with the sword.
16 Or, upon, by.
17 O Edom.
18 As Ezek. 6:7.
9I will make thee 19perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not 20return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
19 Hebr. desolations of eternity.
20 Or, be inhabited. Other, return. The meaning is, that they shall not be built again to be inhabited.
10Because thou hast said, These 21two nations and these two countries shall be mine, andc22we will possess it; 23whereas the LORD was there:
21 Judah and the ten tribes.
c Psalm 83:12.
22 See Ezek. 36:5.
23 Or, though the LORD hath been there, that is, hath dwelt there. The sense is: In spite of God, in spite of everything else, (as wicked enemies use to speak) they shall be for us, we are now the next, none shall be able to take them away from us. Other, where the Lord hath been, understanding this of Judah, where the temple of the Lord had been. Compare Ezek. 36:2 with the annotation.
11Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy 24which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among 25them, when I have 26judged thee.
24 Or, as thou hast dealt with or against them.
25 Among My people, who shall experience that I am their Friend, when I shall cut off their deadly enemies.
26 That is, punished.
12And thou shalt know 27that 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 28to consume.
27 Or, that I the LORD have heard all thy blasphemies, etc.
28 See Deut. 31 on verse 17.
13Thus with your mouth ye have 29boasted against me, and have 30multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.
29 That is, spoken stoutly and proudly against Me, as defying Me with boasting and bragging language. See about this manner of speech Psalm 35 on verse 26.
30 That is, ye have used much ranting against Me. The Hebrew word athar or gnathar signifies multitude or abundance of words or things, for the most part in a good sense, when it is taken for much entreating, and earnest or fervent praying (wherein a multitude of words is used), or abundance of all manner of blessings. See Gen. 25:21; Exod. 8:8, etc.; Jer. 33:6; but here of the proud Edomites it is taken in a bad sense, for much prattling and prating, likewise as when they say there is more cry than wool. It is also used in Ezek. 8:11 for the abundance of idolatrous incense.
14Thus saith the Lord GOD; 31When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.
31 As the whole land of the Edomites rejoiced at the desolation of Israel, so will I also for it make their whole land desolate again. See the next verse. Other, When the whole earth rejoiceth, then will I, etc. That is, when there shall be everywhere joy and gladness for the mercies that I will bestow on My people, principally by the Messiah, then shalt thou be plagued and be made desolate.
1532As thou didst rejoice at the 33inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and 34all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
32 Hebr. According to thy joy. Compare verse 11, and elsewhere often.
33 At the desolation of the land of Canaan, which I gave unto Israel (and not unto thee) for an inheritance.
34 As the entire land of Edom shouted at Israel’s calamity, as is said in the previous verse.