As you rejoiced when the inheritance of the house of Israel became desolate, so will I do to you. You will become a desolation, O Mount Seir, and so will all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do to you: you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
- KJV As 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.
- NKJV As you rejoiced because the inheritance of the house of Israel was desolate, so I will do to you; you shall be desolate, O Mount Seir, as well as all of Edom—all of it! Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” ’
- NASB As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be a desolation, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” ’
- NLT You rejoiced at the desolation of Israel’s territory. Now I will rejoice at yours! You will be wiped out, you people of Mount Seir and all who live in Edom! Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Because Edom rejoiced over Israel's desolation, God will make Edom desolate, and they will know He is the LORD. Gloating over God's people brings the same fate back on the gloater.
Overview
The judgment is poetic justice: 'as you rejoiced... so will I do to you.' All Edom will share the desolation it celebrated in Israel. The closing refrain, 'they shall know that I am Yahweh,' frames the whole oracle. Spiritually, this assures God's people that their enemies' triumph is temporary and that God will vindicate His name and His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Isa 34:5–6When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
- Lam 4:21So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.
- Ezek 35:3–4and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Mount Seir. I will stretch out My hand against you and make you a desolate waste.
- Obad 1:15For the Day of the LORD is near for all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your recompense will return upon your own head.
- Ps 137:7Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
- Obad 1:12But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress.
- Mark 3:8Jerusalem, Idumea, the region beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him when they heard what great things He was doing.
- Ezek 35:9I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
- Ezek 39:6–7I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the LORD.
- Ezek 36:2–5This is what the Lord GOD says: Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,’
- Jer 50:11“Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph—you who plunder My inheritance—because you frolic like a heifer treading grain and neigh like stallions,
- Prov 17:5He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 35:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.