16:9. And I washed thee with water, and cleansed away thy blood from thee: and I anointed thee with oil.
16:10. And I clothed thee with embroidery, and shod thee with violet coloured shoes: and I girded thee about with fine linen, and clothed thee with fine garments.
16:11. I decked thee also with ornaments, and put bracelets on thy hands, and a chain about thy neck.
I decked thee also with ornaments, etc… That is, with spiritual benefits, giving you a law with sacrifices, sacraments, and other holy rites.
16:12. And I put a jewel upon thy forehead and earrings in thy ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head.
16:13. And thou wast adorned with gold, and silver, and wast clothed with fine linen, and embroidered work, and many colours: thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil, and wast made exceeding beautiful: and wast advanced to be a queen.
16:14. And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty: for thou wast perfect through my beauty, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.
16:15. But trusting in thy beauty, thou playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and thou hast prostituted thyself to every passenger, to be his.
16:16. And taking of thy garments thou hast made thee high places sewed together on each side: and hast played the harlot upon them, as hath not been done before, nor shall be hereafter.
16:17. And thou tookest thy beautiful vessels, of my gold, and my silver, which I gave thee, and thou madest thee images of men, and hast committed fornication with them.
16:18. And thou tookest thy garments of divers colours, and coveredst them: and settest my oil and my sweet incense before them.
16:19. And my bread which I gave thee, the fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast set before them for a sweet odour; and it was done, saith the Lord God.
16:20. And thou hast taken thy sons, and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne to me: and hast sacrificed the same to them to be devoured. Is thy fornication small?
16:21. Thou hast sacrificed and given my children to them, consecrating them by fire.
Thou hast sacrificed, etc… As there is nothing more base and abominable than the crimes mentioned throughout this chapter; so the infidelities of the Israelites in forsaking God, and sacrificing even their children to idols, are strongly figured by these allegories.
16:22. And after all thy abominations, and fornications, thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked, and full of confusion, trodden under foot in thy own blood.
16:23. And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (woe, woe to thee, saith the Lord God)
16:24. That thou didst also build thee a common stew, and madest thee a brothel house in every street.
16:25. At every head of the way thou hast set up a sign of thy prostitution: and hast made thy beauty to be abominable: and hast prostituted thyself to every one that passed by, and hast multiplied thy fornications.
16:26. And thou hast committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, men of large bodies, and hast multiplied thy fornications to provoke me.
16:27. Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will take away thy justification: and I will deliver thee up to the will of the daughters of the Philistines that hate thee, that are ashamed of thy wicked way.
16:28. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Assyrians, because thou wast not yet satisfied: and after thou hadst played the harlot with them, even so thou wast not contented.
16:29. Thou hast also multiplied thy fornications in the land of Chanaan with the Chaldeans: and neither so wast thou satisfied.
16:30. Wherein shall I cleanse thy heart, saith Lord God: seeing thou dost all these the works of a shameless prostitute?
16:31. Because thou hast built thy brothel house at the head of every way, and thou hast made thy high place in every street: and wast not as a harlot that by disdain enhanceth her price,
16:32. But is an adulteress, that bringeth in strangers over her husband.
16:33. Gifts are given to all harlots: but thou hast given hire to all thy lovers, and thou hast given them gifts to come to thee from every side, to commit fornication with thee.
16:34. And it hath happened in thee contrary to the custom of women in thy fornications, and after thee there shall be no such fornication, for in that thou gavest rewards, and didst not take rewards, the contrary hath been done in thee.
16:35. Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord.
16:36. Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy money hath been poured out, and thy shame discovered through thy fornications with thy lovers, and with the idols of thy abominations, by the blood of thy children whom thou gavest them:
16:37. Behold, I will gather together all thy lovers with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all whom thou hast loved, with all whom thou hast hated: and I will gather them together against thee on every side, and will discover thy shame in their sight, and they shall see all thy nakedness.
16:38. And I will judge thee as adulteresses, and they that shed blood are judged: and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
16:39. And I will deliver thee into their hands, and they shall destroy thy brothel house, and throw down thy stews: and they shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take away the vessels of thy beauty: and leave thee naked, and full of disgrace.
16:40. And they shall bring upon thee a multitude, and they shall stone thee with stones, and shall slay thee with their swords.
16:41. And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and shall execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and thou shalt cease from fornication, and shalt give no hire any more.
16:42. And my indignation shall rest in thee: and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will cease and be angry no more.
16:43. Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast provoked me in all these things: wherefore I also have turned all thy ways upon thy head, saith the Lord God, and I have not done according to thy wicked deeds in all thy abominations.
16:44. Behold every one that useth a common proverb, shall use this against thee, saying: As the mother was, so also is her daughter.
16:45. Thou art thy mother's daughter, that cast off her husband, and her children: and thou art the sister of thy sisters, who cast off their husbands, and their children: your mother was a Cethite, and your father an Amorrhite.
16:46. And thy elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister that dwelleth at thy right hand is Sodom, and her daughters.
16:47. But neither hast thou walked in their ways, nor hast thou done a little less than they according to their wickednesses: thou hast done almost more wicked things than they in all thy ways.
16:48. As I live, saith the Lord God, thy sister Sodom herself, and her daughters, have not done as thou hast done, and thy daughters.
16:49. Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her, and of her daughters: and they did not put forth their hand to the needy, and the poor.
This was the iniquity of Sodom, etc… That is, these were the steps by which the Sodomites came to fall into those abominations for which they were destroyed. For pride, gluttony, and idleness are the highroad to all kinds of lust; especially when they are accompanied with a neglect of the works of mercy.
16:50. And they were lifted up, and committed abominations before me: and I took them away as thou hast seen.
16:51. And Samaria committed not half thy sins: but thou hast surpassed them with thy crimes, and hast justified thy sisters by all thy abominations which thou hast done.
16:52. Therefore do thou also bear thy confusion, thou that hast surpassed thy sisters with thy sins, doing more wickedly than they: for they are justified above thee, therefore be thou also confounded, and bear thy shame, thou that hast justified thy sisters.
16:53. And I will bring back and restore them by bringing back Sodom, with her daughters, and by bringing back Samaria, and her daughters: and I will bring those that return of thee in the midst of them.
I will bring back, etc… This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles out of all nations, and of many of the Jews, to the church of Christ.
16:54. That thou mayest bear thy shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, comforting them.
16:55. And thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall return to their ancient state: and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their ancient state: and thou and thy daughters shall return to your ancient state.
Ancient state… That is, to their former state of liberty, and their ancient possessions. In the spiritual sense, to the true liberty, and the happy inheritance of the children of God, through faith in Christ.
16:56. And Sodom thy sister was not heard of in thy mouth, in the day of thy pride,
16:57. Before thy malice was laid open: as it is at this time, making thee a reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all the daughters of Palestine round about thee, that encompass thee on all sides.
16:58. Thou hast borne thy wickedness, and thy disgrace, saith the Lord God.
16:59. For thus saith the Lord God: I will deal with thee, as thou hast despised the oath, in breaking the covenant:
16:60. And I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth: and I will establish with thee an everlasting covenant.
16:61. And thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed: when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thy elder and thy younger: and I will give them to thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.
16:62. And I will establish my covenant with thee: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord,
16:63. That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and mayest no more open thy mouth because of thy confusion, when I shall be pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.
Ezechiel Chapter 17
The parable of the two eagles and the vine. A promise of the cedar ofChrist and his church.
17:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
17:2. Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel,
17:3. And say: Thus saith the Lord God; A large eagle with great wings, long-limbed, full of feathers, and of variety, came to Libanus, and took away the marrow of the cedar.
A large eagle… Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon.-Ibid. Came to Libanus… That is, to Jerusalem.-Ibid. Took away the marrow of the cedar… King Jechonias.
17:4. He cropped off the top of the twigs thereof: and carried it away into the land of Chanaan, and he set it in a city of merchants.
Chanaan… This name, which signifies traffic, is not taken here forPalestine, but for Chaldea: and the city of merchants here mentioned isBabylon.
17:5. And he took of the seed of the land, and put it in the ground for seed, that it might take a firm root over many waters: he planted it on the surface of the earth.
Of the seed of the land, etc… Viz., Sedecias, whom he made king.
17:6. And it sprung up and grew into a spreading vine of low stature, and the branches thereof looked towards him: and the roots thereof were under him. So it became a vine, and grew into branches, and shot forth sprigs.
Towards him… Nabuchodonosor, to whom Sedecias swore allegiance.
17:7. And there was another large eagle, with great wings, and many feathers: and behold this vine, bending as it were her roots towards him, stretched forth her branches to him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.
Another large eagle… Viz., the king of Egypt.
17:8. It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large vine.
17:9. Say thou: Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper then? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and strip off its fruit, and dry up all the branches it hath shot forth, and make it wither: and this without a strong arm, or many people to pluck it up by the root?
17:10. Behold, it is planted: shall it prosper then? shall it not be dried up when the burning wind shall touch it, and shall it not wither in the furrows where it grew?
17:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
17:12. Say to the provoking house: Know you not what these things mean? Tell them: Behold the king of Babylon cometh to Jerusalem: and he shall take away the king and the princes thereof and carry them with him to Babylon.
Shall take away… Or, hath taken away, etc., for all this was now done.
17:13. And he shall take one of the king's seed, and make a covenant with him, and take an oath of him. Yea, and he shall take away the mighty men of the land,
17:14. That it may be a low kingdom and not lift itself up, but keep his covenant and observe it.
17:15. But he hath revolted from him and sent ambassadors to Egypt, that it might give him horses, and much people. And shall he that hath done thus prosper, or be saved? and shall he escape that hath broken the covenant?
17:16. As I live, saith the Lord God: In the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he hath made void, and whose covenant he broke, even in the midst of Babylon shall he die.
17:17. And not with a great army, nor with much people shall Pharao fight against him: when he shall cast up mounts, and build forts, to cut off many souls.
17:18. For he had despised the oath, breaking his covenant, and behold he hath given his hand: and having done all these things, he shall not escape.
17:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As I live, I will lay upon his head the oath he hath despised, and the covenant he hath broken.
17:20. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my net: and I will bring him into Babylon, and will judge him there for the transgression by which he hath despised me.
17:21. And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword: and the residue shall be scattered into every wind: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken.
17:22. Thus saith the Lord God: I myself will take of the marrow of the high cedar, and will set it: I will crop off a tender twig from the top of the branches thereof, and I will plant it on a mountain high and eminent.
Of the marrow of the high cedar, etc… Of the royal stock of David. Ibid. A tender twig… Viz., Jesus Christ, whom God hath planted in mount Sion, that is, the high mountain of his church, to which all nations flow.
17:23. On the high mountains of Israel will I plant it, and it shall shoot forth into branches and shall bear fruit, and it shall become a great cedar: and all birds shall dwell under it, and every fowl shall make its nest under the shadow of the branches thereof.
17:24. And all the trees of the country shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree: and have dried up the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flourish. I the Lord have spoken and have done it.
Ezechiel Chapter 18
One man shall not bear the sins of another, but every one his own; if a wicked man truly repent, he shall be saved; and if a just man leave his justice, he shall perish.
18:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What is the meaning?
18:2. That you use among you this parable as a proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.
18:3. As I live, saith the Lord God, this parable shall be no more to you a proverb in Israel.
18:4. Behold all souls are mine: as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, the same shall die.
18:5. And if a man be just, and do judgment and justice,
18:6. And hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel: and hath not defiled his neighbour's wife, nor come near to a menstruous woman:
Not eaten upon the mountains… That is, of the sacrifices there offered to idols.
18:7. And hath not wronged any man: but hath restored the pledge to the debtor, hath taken nothing away by violence: hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment:
18:8. Hath not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase: hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, and hath executed true judgment between man and man:
18:9. Hath walked in my commandments, and kept my judgments, to do truth: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.
To do truth… That is, to act according to truth; for the Hebrews called everything that was just, truth.
18:10. And if he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that hath done some one of these things:
18:11. Though he doth not all these things, but that eateth upon the mountains, and that defileth his neighbour's wife:
18:12. That grieveth the needy and the poor, that taketh away by violence, that restoreth not the pledge, and that lifteth up his eyes to idols, that comitteth abomination:
18:13. That giveth upon usury, and that taketh an increase: shall such a one live? he shall not live. Seeing he hath done all these detestable things, he shall surely die, his blood shall be upon him.
18:14. But if he beget a son, who, seeing all his father's sins, which he hath done, is afraid, and shall not do the like to them:
18:15. That hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and hath not defiled his neighbour's wife:
18:16. And hath not grieved any man, nor withholden the pledge, nor taken away with violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and covered the naked with a garment:
18:17. That hath turned away his hand from injuring the poor, hath not taken usury and increase, but hath executed my judgments, and hath walked in my commandments: this man shall not die for the iniquity of his father, but living he shall live.
18:18. As for his father, because he oppressed and offered violence to his brother, and wrought evil in the midst of his people, behold he is dead in his own iniquity.
18:19. And you say: Why hath not the son borne the iniquity of his father? Verily, because the son hath wrought judgment and justice, hath kept all my commandments, and done them, living, he shall live.
18:20. The soul that sinneth, the same shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son: the justice of the just shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
18:21. But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die.
18:22. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live.
18:23. Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?
18:24. But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? all his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die.
18:25. And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?
18:26. For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and comitteth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die.
18:27. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save his soul alive.
18:28. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die.
18:29. And the children of Israel say: The way of the Lord is not right. Are not my ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse?
18:30. Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin.
18:31. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die, O house of Israel?
18:32. For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live.
Ezechiel Chapter 19
The parable of the young lions, and of the vineyard that is wasted.
19:1. Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
19:2. And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions, and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions?
Thy mother the lioness… Jerusalem.
19:3. And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.
One of her whelps… Viz., Joachaz, alias Sellum.
19:4. And the nations heard of him, and took him, but not without receiving wounds: and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt.
19:5. But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took one of her young lions, and set him up for a lion.
One of her young lions… Joakim.
19:6. And he went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.
19:7. He learned to make widows, and to lay waste their cities: and the land became desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise of his roaring.
19:8. And the nations came together against him on every side out of the provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he was taken.
19:9. And they put him into a cage, they brought him in chains to the king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
19:10. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.
19:11. And she hath strong rods to make sceptres for them that bear rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her height in the multitude of her branches.
19:12. But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, and the burning wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are withered, and dried up: the fire hath devoured her.
19:13. And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry.
19:14. And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a sceptre of rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.
Ezechiel Chapter 20
God refuses to answer the ancients of Israel inquiring by the prophet: but by him setteth his benefits before their eyes, and their heinous sins: threatening yet greater punishments: but still mixed with mercy.
20:1. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month: there came men of the ancients of Israel to inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me.
20:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
20:3. Son of man, speak to the ancients of Israel and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, I will not answer you, saith the Lord God.
20:4. If thou judgest them, if thou judgest, O son of man, declare to them the abominations of their fathers.
If thou judgest them… Or, if thou wilt enter into the cause and plead against them.
20:5. And say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand for the race of the house of Jacob: and appeared to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted up my hand for them, saying: I am the Lord your God:
20:6. In that day I lifted up my hand for them to bring them out of the land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, which excelled amongst all lands.
20:7. And I said to them: Let every man cast away the scandals of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Scandals, etc… Offensiones. That is, the abominations or idols, to the worship of which they were allured by their eyes.
20:8. But they provoked me, and would not hearken to me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of his eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: and I said I would pour out my indignation upon them, and accomplish my wrath against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
20:9. But I did otherwise for my name's sake, that it might not be violated before the nations, in the midst of whom they were, and among whom I made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
20:10. Therefore I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the desert.
20:11. And I gave them my statutes, and I shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them.
20:12. Moreover I gave them also my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them: and that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.
20:13. But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert: they walked not in my statutes, and they cast away my judgments, which if a man do he shall live in them: and they grievously violated my sabbaths. I said therefore that I would pour out my indignation upon them in the desert, and would consume them.
20:14. But I spared them for the sake of my name, lest it should be profaned before the nations, from which I brought them out, in their sight.
20:15. So I lifted up my hand over them in the desert, not to bring them into the land which I had given them flowing with milk and honey, the best of all lands.
20:16. Because they cast off my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, and violated my sabbaths: for their heart went after idols.
20:17. Yet my eye spared them, so that I destroyed them not: neither did I consume them in the desert.
20:18. And I said to their children in the wilderness: Walk not in the statutes of your fathers, and observe not their judgments, nor be ye defiled with their idols:
20:19. I am the Lord your God: walk ye in my statutes, and observe my judgments, and do them.
20:20. And sanctify my sabbaths, that they may be a sign between me and you: and that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
20:21. But their children provoked me, they walked not in my commandments, nor observed my judgments to do them: which if a man do, he shall live in them: and they violated my sabbaths: and I threatened to pour out my indignation upon them, and to accomplish my wrath in them in the desert.
20:22. But I turned away my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it might not be violated before the nations, out of which I brought them forth in their sight.
20:23. Again I lifted up my hand upon them in the wilderness, to disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries:
20:24. Because they had not done my judgments, and had cast off my statutes, and had violated my sabbaths, and their eyes had been after the idols of their fathers.
20:25. Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments, in which they shall not live.
Statutes that were not good, etc… Viz., the laws and ordinances of their enemies; or those imposes upon them by that cruel tyrant the devil, to whose power they were delivered up for their sins.
20:26. And I polluted them in their own gifts, when they offered all that opened the womb, for their offences: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
I polluted them, etc… That is, I gave them up to such blindness in punishment of their offences, as to pollute themselves with the blood of all their firstborn, whom they offered up to their idols in compliance with their wicked devices.
20:27. Wherefore speak to the house of Israel, O son of man, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Moreover in this also your fathers blaspheme me, when they had despised and contemned me;
20:28. And I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my hand to give it them: they saw every high hill, and every shady tree, and there they sacrificed their victims: and there they presented the provocation of their offerings, and there they set their sweet odours, and poured forth their libations.
20:29. And I said to them: What meaneth the high place to which you go? and the name thereof was called High-place even to this day.
20:30. Wherefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Verily, you are defiled in the way of your fathers, and you commit fornication with their abominations.
20:31. And you defile yourselves with all your idols unto this day, in the offering of your gifts, when you make your children pass through the fire: and shall I answer you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not answer you.
20:32. Neither shall the thought of your mind come to pass, by which you say: We will be as the Gentiles, and as the families of the earth, to worship stocks and stones.
20:33. As I live, saith the Lord God, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
20:34. And I will bring you out from the people, and I will gather you out of the countries, in which you are scattered, I will reign over you with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
20:35. And I will bring you into the wilderness of people, and there will I plead with you face to face.
The wilderness of people… That is, a desert in which there are no people.
20:36. As I pleaded against your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt; even so will I judge you, saith the Lord God.
20:37. And I will make you subject to my sceptre, and will bring you into the bands of the covenant.
20:38. And I will pick out from among you the transgressors, and the wicked, and will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
20:39. And as for you, O house of Israel: thus saith the Lord God: Walk ye every one after your idols, and serve them. But if in this also you hear me not, but defile my holy name any more with your gifts, and with your idols;
Walk ye every one, etc… It is not an allowance, much less a commandment to serve idols; but a figure of speech, by which God would have them to understand that if they would walk after their idols, they must not pretend to serve him at the same time: for that he would by no means suffer such a mixture of worship.
20:40. In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them I say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there will I require your firstfruits, and the chief of your tithes with all your sanctifications.
In my holy mountain, etc… The foregoing verse, to make the sense complete, must be understood so as to condemn and reject that mixture of worship which the Jews then followed. In this verse, God promises to the true Israelites, especially to those of the Christian church, that they shall serve him in another manner, in his holy mountain, the spiritual Sion: and shall by accepted of by him.
20:41. I will accept of you for an odour of sweetness, when I shall have brought you out from the people, and shall have gathered you out of the lands into which you are scattered, and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations.
20:42. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have brought you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers.
20:43. And there you shall remember your ways, and all your wicked doings with which you have been defiled; and you shall be displeased with yourselves in your own sight, for all your wicked deeds which you committed.
20:44. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have done well by you for my own name's sake, and not according to your evil ways, nor according to your wicked deeds, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God.
20:45. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
20:46. Son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field.
Of the south… Jerusalem lay towards the south of Babylon, (where the prohet then was,) and is here called the forest of the south field, and is threatened with utter desolation.
20:47. And say to the south forest: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and will burn in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the flame of the fire shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the south even to the north.
20:48. And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched.
20:49. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God: they say of me: Doth not this man speak by parables?
Ezechiel Chapter 21
The destruction of Jerusalem by the sword is further described: the ruin also of the Ammonites is forshewn. And finally Babylon, the destroyer of others, shall be destroyed.
21:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
21:2. Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and let thy speech flow towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel:
21:3. And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked.
21:4. And forasmuch as I have cut off in thee the just and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh, from the south even to the north.
21:5. That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of its sheath not to be turned back.
21:6. And thou, son of man, mourn with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before them.
21:7. And when they shall say to thee: Why mournest thou? thou shalt say: For that which I hear: because it cometh, and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be made feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and water shall run down every knee: behold it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord God.
21:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
21:9. Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Say: The sword, the sword is sharpened, and furbished.
21:10. It is sharpened to kill victims: it is furbished that it may glitter: thou removest the sceptre of my son, thou hast cut down every tree.
Thou removest the sceptre of my son… He speaks (according to St. Jerome) to the sword of Nabuchodonosor: which was about to remove the sceptre of Israel, whom God here calls his son.
21:11. And I have given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, that it may be in the hand of the slayer.
21:12. Cry, and howl, O son of man, for this sword is upon my people, it is upon all the princes of Israel, that are fled: they are delivered up to the sword with my people, strike therefore upon thy thigh,
21:13. Because it is tried: and that when it shall overthrow the sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.
21:14. Thou therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike thy hands together, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain be tripled: this is the sword of a great slaughter, that maketh them stand amazed,
21:15. And languish in heart, and that multiplieth ruins. In all their gates I have set the dread of the sharp sword, the sword that is furbished to glitter, that is made ready for slaughter.
21:16. Be thou sharpened, go to the right hand, or to the left, which way soever thou hast a mind to set thy face.
21:17. And I will clap my hands together, and will satisfy my indignation: I the Lord have spoken.
21:18. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
21:19. And thou son of man, set thee two ways, for the sword of the king of Babylon to come: both shall come forth out of one land: and with his hand he shall draw lots, he shall consult at the head of the way of the city.
21:20. Thou shalt make a way that the sword may come to Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and to Juda unto Jerusalem the strong city.
21:21. For the king of Babylon stood in the highway, at the head of two ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows: he inquired of the idols, and consulted entrails.
21:22. On his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in slaughter, to lift up the voice in howling, to set engines against the gates, to cast up a mount, to build forts.
21:23. And he shall be in their eyes as one consulting the oracle in vain, and imitating the leisure of sabbaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity that they may be taken.
21:24. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have remembered your iniquity, and have discovered your prevarications, and your sins have appeared in all your devices: because, I say, You have remembered, you shall be taken with the hand.
21:25. But thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come that hath been appointed in the time of iniquity:
Thou profane, etc… He speaks to king Sedecias, who had broken his oath, and was otherwise a wicked prince.
21:26. Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, take off the crown: is it not this that hath exalted the low one, and brought down him that was high?
Is it not this that hath exalted the low one… The royal crown of Juda had exalted Sedecias from a private state and condition to the sovereign power, as the loss of it had brought down Jechonias, etc.
21:27. I will shew it to be iniquity, iniquity, iniquity: but this was not done till he came to whom judgment belongeth, and I will give it him.
I will shew it to be iniquity, etc… Or, I will overturn it, viz., the crown of Juda for the manifold iniquities of the kings: but it shall not be utterly removed, till Christ come whose right it is: and who shall reign in the spiritual house of Jacob, that is, in his church, for evermore.
21:28. And thou son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach, and thou shalt say: O sword, O sword, come out of the scabbard to kill, be furbished to destroy, and to glitter,
Concerning their reproach… By which they had reproached and insulted over the Jews, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.
21:29. Whilst they see vain things in thy regard, and they divine lies: to bring thee upon the necks of the wicked that are wounded, whose appointed day is come in the time of iniquity.
21:30. Return into thy sheath. I will judge thee in the place wherein thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.
Return into thy sheath, etc… The sword of Babylon, after raging against many nations, was shortly to be judged and destroyed at home by the Medes and Persians.
21:31. And I will pour out upon thee my indignation: in the fire of my rage will I blow upon thee, and will give thee into the hands of men that are brutish and contrive thy destruction.
21:32. Thou shalt be fuel for the fire, thy blood shall be in the midst of the land, thou shalt be forgotten: for I the Lord have spoken it.
Ezechiel Chapter 22
The general corruption of the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for which God will consume them as dross in his furnace.
22:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
22:2. And thou son of man, dost thou not judge, dost thou not judge the city of blood?
22:3. And thou shalt shew her all her abominations, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God: This is the city that sheddeth blood in the midst of her, that her time may come: and that hath made idols against herself, to defile herself.
22:4. Thou art become guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed: and thou art defiled in thy idols which thou hast made: and thou hast made thy days to draw near, and hast brought on the time of thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach to the Gentiles, and a mockery to all countries.
22:5. Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall triumph over thee: thou filthy one, infamous, great in destruction.
22:6. Behold the princes of Israel, every one hath employed his arm in thee to shed blood.
22:7. They have abused father and mother in thee, they have oppressed the stranger in the midst of thee, they have grieved the fatherless and widow in thee.
22:8. Thou hast despised my sanctuaries, and profaned my sabbaths.
22:9. Slanderers have been in thee to shed blood, and they have eaten upon the mountains in thee, they have committed wickedness in the midst of thee.
22:10. They have discovered the nakedness of their father in thee, they have humbled the uncleanness of the menstruous woman in thee.
22:11. And every one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife, and the father in law hath wickedly defiled his daughter in law, the brother hath oppressed his sister the daughter of his father in thee.
22:12. They have taken gifts in thee to shed blood: thou hast taken usury and increase, and hast covetously oppressed thy neighbours: and thou hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.
22:13. Behold, I have clapped my hands at thy covetousness, which thou hast exercised: and at the blood that hath been shed in the midst of thee.
22:14. Shall thy heart endure, or shall thy hands prevail in the days which I will bring upon thee: I the Lord have spoken, and will do it.
22:15. And I will disperse thee in the nations, and will scatter thee among the countries, and I will put an end to thy uncleanness in thee.
22:16. And I will possess thee in the sight of the Gentiles, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
22:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
22:18. Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all these are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace: they are become the dross of silver.
22:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you are all turned into dross, therefore behold I will gather you together in the midst of Jerusalem.
22:20. As they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace: that I may kindle a fire in it to melt it: so will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and will take my rest, and I will melt you down.
22:21. And will gather you together, and will burn you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof.
22:22. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have poured out my indignation upon you.
22:23. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
22:24. Son of man, say to her: Thou art a land that is unclean, and not rained upon in the day of wrath.
22:25. There is a conspiracy of prophets in the midst thereof: like a lion that roareth and catcheth the prey, they have devoured souls, they have taken riches and hire, they have made many widows in the midst thereof.
22:26. Her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my sanctuaries: they have put no difference between holy and profane: nor have distinguished between the polluted and the clean: and they have turned away their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the midst of them.
22:27. Her princes in the midst of her, are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood, and to destroy souls, and to run after gains through covetousness.
22:28. And her prophets have daubed them without tempering the mortar, seeing vain things, and divining lies unto them, saying: Thus saith the Lord God: when the Lord hath not spoken.
22:29. The people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery: they afflicted the needy and poor, and they oppressed the stranger by calumny without judgment.
22:30. And I sought among them for a man that might set up a hedge, and stand in the gap before me in favour of the land, that I might not destroy it: and I found none.
22:31. And I poured out my indignation upon them, in the fire of my wrath I consumed them: I have rendered their way upon their own head, saith the Lord God.
Ezechiel Chapter 23
Under the names of the two harlots, Oolla and Ooliba, are described the manifold disloyalties of Samaria and Jerusalem, with the punishment of them both.
23:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
23:2. Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.
23:3. And they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they committed fornication: there were their breasts pressed down, and the teats of their virginity were bruised.
Committed fornication… That is, idolatry.
23:4. And their names were Oolla the elder, and Ooliba her younger sister: and I took them, and they bore sons and daughters. Now for their names, Samaria is Oolla, and Jerusalem is Ooliba.
Oolla and Ooliba… God calls the kingdom of Israel Oolla, which signifies their own habitation, because they separated themselves from his temple: and the kingdom of Juda, Ooliba, which signifies his habitation in her, because of his temple among them in Jerusalem.
23:5. And Oolla committed fornication against me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that came to her,
On the Assyraians, etc… That is, the idols of the Assyrians: for all that is said in this chapter of the fornications of Israel and Juda, is to be understood in a spiritual sense, of their disloyalty to the Lord, by worshipping strange gods.
23:6. Who were clothed with blue, princes, and rulers, beautiful youths, all horsemen, mounted upon horses.
23:7. And she committed her fornications with those chosen men, all sons of the Assyrians: and she defiled herself with the uncleanness of all them on whom she doted.
23:8. Moreover also she did not forsake her fornications which she had committed in Egypt: for they also lay with her in her youth, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured out their fornication upon her.
23:9. Therefore have I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, upon whose lust she doted.
23:10. They discovered her disgrace, took away her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: and they became infamous women, and they executed judgments in her.
23:11. And when her sister Ooliba saw this, she was mad with lust more than she: and she carried her fornication beyond the fornication of her sister.
23:12. Impudently prostituting herself to the children of the Assyrians, the princes, and rulers that came to her, clothed with divers colours, to the horsemen that rode upon horses, and to young men all of great beauty.
23:13. And I saw that she was defiled, and that they both took one way.
23:14. And she increased her fornications: and when she had seen men painted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans set forth in colours,
23:15. And girded with girdles about their reins, and with dyed turbans on their heads, the resemblance of all the captains, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, and of the land of the Chaldeans wherein they were born,
23:16. She doted upon them with the lust of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them into Chaldea.
23:17. And when the sons of Babylon were come to her to the bed of love, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was glutted with them.
23:18. And she discovered her fornications, and discovered her disgrace: and my soul was alienated from her, as my soul was alienated from her sister.
23:19. For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her youth, in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
23:20. And she was mad with lust after lying with them whose flesh is as the flesh of asses: and whose issue as the issue of horses.
23:21. And thou hast renewed the wickedness of thy youth, when thy breasts were pressed in Egypt, and the paps of thy virginity broken.
23:22. Therefore, Ooliba, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will raise up against thee all thy lovers with whom thy soul hath been glutted: and I will gather them together against thee round about.
23:23. The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, and the kings, and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, beautiful young men, all the captains, and rulers, the princes of princes, and the renowned horsemen.
23:24. And they shall come upon thee well appointed with chariot and wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against thee on every side with breastplate, and buckler, and helmet: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee by their judgments.
23:25. And I will set my jealousy against thee, which they shall execute upon thee with fury: they shall cut off thy nose and thy ears: and what remains shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons, and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by fire.
23:26. And they shall strip thee of thy garments, and take away the instruments of thy glory.
23:27. And I will put an end to thy wickedness in thee, and thy fornication brought out of the land of Egypt: neither shalt thou lift up thy eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.
23:28. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hands of them whom thou hatest, into their hands with whom thy soul hath been glutted.
23:29. And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and they shall take away all thy labours, and shall let thee go naked, and full of disgrace, and the disgrace of thy fornication shall be discovered, thy wickedness, and thy fornications.
23:30. They have done these things to thee, because thou hast played the harlot with the nations among which thou wast defiled with their idols.
23:31. Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister and I will give her cup into thy hand.
23:32. Thus saith the Lord God: Thou shalt drink thy sister's cup, deep and wide: thou shalt be had in derision and scorn, which containeth very much.
23:33. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness, and sorrow: with the cup of grief and sadness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
23:34. And thou shalt drink it, and shalt drink it up even to the dregs, and thou shalt devour the fragments thereof, thou shalt rend thy breasts: because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
23:35. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten me, and hast cast me off behind thy back, bear thou also thy wickedness, and thy fornications.
23:36. And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, dost thou judge Oolla, and Ooliba, and dost thou declare to them their wicked deeds?
23:37. Because they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover also their children, whom they bore to me, they have offered to them to be devoured.
23:38. Yea, and they have done this to me. They polluted my sanctuary on the same day, and profaned my sabbaths.
23:39. And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went into my sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things even in the midst of my house.
23:40. They sent for men coming from afar, to whom they had sent a messenger: and behold they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, and didst paint thy eyes, and wast adorned with women's ornaments.
23:41. Thou sattest on a very fine bed, and a table was decked before thee: whereupon thou didst set my incense, and my ointment.
23:42. And there was in her the voice of a multitude rejoicing: and to some that were brought of the multitude of men, and that came from the desert, they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads.
23:43. And I said to her that was worn out in her adulteries: Now will this woman still continue in her fornication.
23:44. And they went in to her, as to a harlot: so went they in unto Oolla, and Ooliba, wicked women.
23:45. They therefore are just men: these shall judge them as adulteresses are judged, and as shedders of blood are judged: because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
23:46. For thus saith the Lord God: Bring a multitude upon them, and deliver them over to tumult and rapine:
23:47. And let the people stone them with stone, and let them be stabbed with their swords: they shall kill their sons and daughters, and their houses they shall burn with fire.
23:48. And I will take away wickedness out of the land: and all women shall learn, not to do according to the wickedness of them.
23:49. And they shall render your wickedness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.
Ezechiel Chapter 24
Under the parable of a boiling pot is shewn the utter destruction ofJerusalem: for which the Jews at Babylon shall not dare to mourn.
24:1. And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, saying:
24:2. Son of man, write thee the name of this day, on which the king of Babylon hath set himself against Jerusalem to day.
24:3. And thou shalt speak by a figure a parable to the provoking house, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Set on a pot, set it on, I say, and put water in it.
24:4. Heap together into it the pieces thereof, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder, choice pieces and full of bones.
24:5. Take the fattest of the flock, and lay together piles of bones under it: the seething thereof is boiling hot, and the bones thereof are thoroughly sodden in the midst of it.
24:6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust is in it, and its rust is not gone out of it: cast it out piece by piece, there hath no lot fallen upon it.
24:7. For her blood is in the midst of her, she hath shed it upon the smooth rock: she hath not shed it upon the ground, that it might be covered with dust.
24:8. And that I might bring my indignation upon her, and take my vengeance: I have shed her blood upon the smooth rock, that it should not be covered.
24:9. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, of which I will make a great bonfire.
24:10. Heap together the bones, which I will burn with fire: the flesh shall be consumed, and the whole composition shall be sodden, and the bones shall be consumed.
24:11. Then set it empty upon burning coals, that it may be hot, and the brass thereof may be melted: and let the filth of it be melted in the midst thereof, and let the rust of it be consumed.
24:12. Great pains have been taken, and the great rust thereof is not gone out, not even by fire.
24:13. Thy uncleanness is execrable: because I desired to cleanse thee, and thou art not cleansed from thy filthiness: neither shalt thou be cleansed, before I cause my indignation to rest in thee.
24:14. I the Lord have spoken: it shall come to pass, and I will do it: I will not pass by, nor spare, nor be pacified: I will judge thee according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, saith the Lord.
24:15. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
24:16. Son of man, behold I take from thee the desire of thy eyes with a stroke, and thou shall not lament, nor weep; neither shall thy tears run down.
24:17. Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead: let the tire of thy head be upon thee, and thy shoes on thy feet, and cover not thy face, nor eat the meat of mourners.
24:18. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening: and I did in the morning as he had commanded me.
24:19. And the people said to me: Why dost thou not tell us what these things mean that thou doest?
24:20. And I said to them: The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
24:21. Speak to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will profane my sanctuary, the glory of your realm, and the thing that your eyes desire, and for which your soul feareth: your sons, and your daughters, whom you have left, shall fall by the sword.
24:22. And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your faces, nor shall you eat the meat of mourners.
24:23. You shall have crowns on your heads, and shoes on your feet: you shall not lament nor weep, but you shall pine away for your iniquities, and every one shall sigh with his brother.
24:24. And Ezechiel shall be unto you for a sign of things to come: according to all that he hath done, so shall you do, when this shall come to pass: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.
24:25. And thou, O son of man, behold in the day wherein I will take away from them their strength, and the joy of their glory, and the desire of their eyes, upon which their souls rest, their sons and their daughters.
24:26. In that day when he that escapeth shall come to thee, to tell thee:
24:27. In that day, I say, shall thy mouth be opened to him that hath escaped, and thou shalt speak, and shalt be silent no more: and thou shalt be unto them for a sign of things to come, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
Ezechiel Chapter 25
A prophecy against the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines, for their malice against the Israelites.
25:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
25:2. Son of man, set thy face against the children of Ammon, and thou shalt prophesy of them.
25:3. And thou shalt say to the children of Ammon: Hear ye the word of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast said: Ha, ha, upon my sanctuary, because it was profaned: and upon the land of Israel, because it was laid waste: and upon the house of Juda, because they are led into captivity:
25:4. Therefore will I deliver thee to the men of the east for an inheritance, and they shall place their sheepcotes in thee, and shall set up their tents in thee: they shall eat thy fruits: and they shall drink thy milk.
25:5. And I will make Rabbath a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a couching place for flocks: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
Rabbath… The capital city of the Ammonites: it was afterwards calledPhiladelphia.
25:6. For thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast clapped thy hands and stamped with thy foot, and hast rejoiced with all thy heart against the land of Israel:
25:7. Therefore behold I will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and will deliver thee to be the spoil of nations, and will cut thee off from among the people, and destroy thee out of the lands, and break thee in pieces: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
25:8. Thus saith the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir have said: Behold the house of Juda is like all other nations:
25:9. Therefore behold I will open the shoulder of Moab from the cities, from his cities, I say, and his borders, the noble cities of the land of Bethiesimoth, and Beelmeon, and Cariathaim,
25:10. To the people of the east with the children of Ammon, and I will give it them for an inheritance: that there may be no more any remembrance of the children of Ammon among the nations.
25:11. And I will execute judgments in Moab: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
25:12. Thus saith the Lord God: Because Edom hath taken vengeance to revenge herself of the children of Juda, and hath greatly offended, and hath sought revenge of them:
25:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I will stretch forth my hand upon Edom, and will take away out of it man and beast, and will make it desolate from the south: and they that are in Dedan shall fall by the sword.
25:14. And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to my wrath, and my fury: and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.
25:15. Thus saith the Lord God: Because the Philistines have taken vengeance, and have revenged themselves with all their mind, destroying and satisfying old enmities:
25:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will stretch forth my hand upon the Philistines, and will kill the killers, and will destroy the remnant of the sea coast.