Ezekiel
Chapter 35
The LORD tells Ezekiel to speak against Mount Seir, the homeland of Edom. Edom had long hated Israel and had turned against them when disaster struck, then claimed Israel's and Judah's land as its own. God says he heard every boast, and he will make Edom as empty and ruined as Edom was glad to see Israel become. This message sits beside Ezekiel's promises about Israel's mountains, which follow in the next chapter.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
1Then the LORD spoke his word to me. He said:
2Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,
2"Son of man, turn and face Mount Seir. Speak against it as my messenger.
Mount Seir is the rugged hill country south and east of the Dead Sea, where the people of Edom lived. In this chapter the name stands for the whole nation of Edom.
3And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.
3Say to it: This is what the Lord GOD says. Mount Seir, I am against you. I will reach out my hand against you and leave you a ruined waste.
4I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
4I will turn your cities into piles of rubble, and you will be left empty. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
5Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:
5You hated Israel for a very long time. When disaster came to them, and their punishment reached its last stage, you handed them over to be killed by the sword.
The KJV phrase "in the time that their iniquity had an end" does not mean Israel stopped sinning. It means the last stage of the punishment Israel was going through.
6Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.
6So, as surely as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will hand you over to bloodshed, and it will chase you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will chase you.
7Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.
7I will make Mount Seir a ruined waste. I will cut off everyone who travels through it, coming or going.
8And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword.
8I will fill its mountains with dead bodies. Men killed by the sword will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your gullies.
9I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
9I will leave you in ruins forever. No one will live in your cities again. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
10Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there:
10You said, "These two nations and these two countries will be ours. We will take them for ourselves." But the LORD was there.
11Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.
11So, as surely as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will treat you to match the anger and jealousy you showed when you hated them. When I judge you, I will make myself known among the people of Israel.
12And thou shalt know that 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 to consume.
12Then you will know that I am the LORD, and that I heard every insult you spoke against the mountains of Israel. You said, "They are ruined. They are ours to swallow up."
13Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.
13You bragged against me out loud. You piled up words against me. I heard every one of them.
14Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.
14This is what the Lord GOD says: while the whole earth is glad, I will leave you empty and ruined.
15As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
15You were glad when the land given to Israel was ruined. So I will do the same to you. Mount Seir, you will be a ruin, and so will all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
"Idumea" in the KJV is the later Greek name for Edom. It is the same nation as Mount Seir, named twice in one sentence.
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