Ezekiel 25

The word of the LORD came to me again. He said:

1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2"Son of man, turn and face the land of the Ammonites, and speak my message against them.

2Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;

Note"Son of man" is how God addresses Ezekiel throughout the book; in Hebrew it simply means "human being" or "mortal," marking the distance between the speaker and the man spoken to. "Turn and face" describes a literal prophetic gesture: the prophet physically turned toward a nation and spoke, the way a person squares up to an opponent. The Ammonites lived east of the Jordan River, in what is now central Jordan, and were long-standing neighbors and rivals of Israel.

3Say to the Ammonites: Listen to the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says: You said, 'Aha!' when my holy house was treated as common ground, when the land of Israel was left in ruins, and when the people of Judah were carried off as prisoners.

3And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;

NoteThe "holy house" is the temple in Jerusalem; it was looted and burned by the Babylonians in 586 BC. To treat it "as common ground" translates a word meaning to strip something of its set-apart status and handle it like any ordinary place. "Carried off as prisoners" refers to the deportations in which Babylon marched the population of Judah into exile, Ezekiel himself was among them, and was writing from Babylonia.

4So I am going to hand you over to the people from the east as their property. They will set up their camps among you and pitch their tents there. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.

4Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.

Note"The people from the east" are the nomadic desert tribes living beyond the settled farmland of Ammon. The picture is of herders moving their tents onto cultivated land and living off crops and livestock they did not raise.

5I will turn the city of Rabbah into a pasture for camels, and the land of Ammon into a resting place for flocks. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

5And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

NoteRabbah was the capital of Ammon, on the site of modern Amman. Turning a capital city into grazing ground for camels and sheep is an image of total collapse: the walls and buildings gone, only herders passing through.

6This is what the Lord GOD says: You clapped your hands and stamped your feet, and you were glad in your heart, full of scorn for the land of Israel.

6For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;

NoteClapping the hands and stamping the feet were public gestures of derision, the physical equivalent of jeering at someone's downfall, not applause in the modern sense.

7So I am going to reach out my hand against you and hand you over to the other nations as loot. I will cut you off from the peoples and wipe you out from the lands. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

7Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

Note"Reach out my hand against" is a stock Hebrew phrase for taking direct action to strike someone; it recurs throughout this chapter.

8This is what the Lord GOD says: Moab and Seir said, 'Look, the people of Judah are just like every other nation.'

8Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen;

NoteMoab lay east of the Dead Sea, south of Ammon. Seir is the mountainous region south-east of the Dead Sea, and is used here as another name for Edom. The taunt is that Judah has turned out to be no different from any other small nation, its God no more able to protect it than theirs.

9So I will leave Moab's side open and undefended, beginning with the cities on its border, the pride of that land: Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim.

9Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim,

Note"Leave Moab's side open" uses the language of a body or a walled town exposed at the flank, where an attacker breaks through. Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim were towns on Moab's northern frontier, the region's most valuable territory.

10I will give that land, along with the Ammonites, to the people from the east as their property, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations any more.

10Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations.

11I will carry out my judgments on Moab, and they will know that I am the LORD.

11And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

12This is what the Lord GOD says: Edom took revenge on the people of Judah, and in doing so brought great guilt on itself by paying them back.

12Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;

NoteEdom, south-east of Judah, was traditionally reckoned as descended from Esau, the brother of Israel's ancestor Jacob, so hostility between the two was understood as a family quarrel. Other biblical writers accuse Edom of helping itself when Jerusalem fell to Babylon, seizing territory and handing over refugees.

13So this is what the Lord GOD says: I will also reach out my hand against Edom and cut off both people and animals from it. I will make it an empty ruin, starting from Teman, and the people of Dedan will die by the sword.

13Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.

NoteTeman and Dedan were at opposite ends of Edomite territory, north and south; naming both is a way of saying "the whole country, end to end."

14I will take my revenge on Edom through my people Israel. They will deal with Edom the way my anger and my fury direct, and Edom will know what my vengeance is, says the Lord GOD.

14And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

15This is what the Lord GOD says: The Philistines acted out of revenge. They took revenge with hate in their hearts, trying to destroy Judah because of an old hatred.

15Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred;

NoteThe Philistines occupied the coastal plain along the Mediterranean, south-west of Judah, in and around Gaza. The "old hatred" points back to centuries of border warfare between them and Israel, going back to the era of Samson, Samuel, Saul, and David.

16So this is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to reach out my hand against the Philistines. I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the people who are left along the seacoast.

16Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.

NoteThe Cherethites were a group closely associated with the Philistines, and the name is generally taken to indicate an origin in Crete or the wider Aegean, from which the Philistines are thought to have migrated. There is a wordplay in the Hebrew that English cannot carry: the verb "cut off" and the name "Cherethites" sound alike.

17I will take great revenge on them and punish them with furious rebukes. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I bring my vengeance on them.

17And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.