Prophecy against Mount Seir

35 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, set your face against ^(A)Mount Seir, and prophesy against it ³ and say to it, ‘This is what the Lord ^[a]God says:

⁵ Since you have had everlasting ^(E)hostility and have turned over the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of the ^[b](F)punishment of the end, ⁶ therefore as I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will certainly ^[c]doom you to ^(G)bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you. ⁷ I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation and I will eliminate from it one who passes through and returns. ⁸ I will ^(H)fill its mountains with its slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines. ⁹ I will make you a permanent ^(I)desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “Since you have ^(J)said, ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess ^[d]them,’ although the ^(K)Lord was there, ¹¹ therefore as I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will deal with you ^(L)according to your anger and according to your envy which you displayed because of your hatred for them; so I will ^(M)make Myself known among them when I judge you. ¹² Then you will know ^[e]that I, the Lord, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are desolate; they have been ^(N)given to us as food.’ ¹³ And you have ^[f](O)spoken arrogantly against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; ^(P)I Myself have heard it.” ¹⁴ This is what the Lord God says: “As all the ^(Q)earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation. ¹⁵ As you ^(R)rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, ^(S)so I will do to you. You will be a ^(T)desolation, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’

The Mountains of Israel to Be Blessed

36 “Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² This is what the Lord ^[g]God says: “Since the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting ^[h](U)heights have become our possession,’ ³ therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “^[i]For good reason they have made you ^(V)desolate and harassed you from every side, so that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations; and you have been taken up in the ^[j](W)talk and the rumor of the people.”’” ⁴ Therefore, you ^(X)mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate ruins and to the abandoned cities which have become ^(Y)plunder and an object of ridicule to the rest of the nations which are all around— ⁵ therefore the Lord God says this: “Certainly in the fire of My ^(Z)jealousy I have spoken against the ^(AA)rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who ^[k]appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted ^(AB)joy and with contempt of soul, in order to make its pastureland plunder.” ⁶ Therefore prophesy in regard to the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “This is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have ^(AC)endured the insults of the nations.’ ⁷ Therefore the Lord God says this: ‘I have ^[l]sworn that the nations that are around you will certainly endure their insults themselves. ⁸ But as for you, mountains of Israel, you will ^[m](AD)grow your branches and bear fruit for My people Israel; for they are about to come. ⁹ For, behold, I am for you, and I will ^(AE)turn to you, and you will be ^(AF)cultivated and sown. ¹⁰ And I will multiply people on you, ^(AG)all the house of Israel, all of it; and the ^(AH)cities will be inhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt. ¹¹ I will multiply on you people and animals, and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will populate you as you were ^(AI)previously, and treat you ^(AJ)better than at the beginning. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² Yes, I will have ^(AK)people—My people Israel—walk on you and possess you, so that you will become their ^(AL)inheritance and never again ^(AM)bereave them of children.’

¹³ “The Lord God says this: ‘Since they say to you, “You are a ^(AN)devourer of people and have bereaved your nation of children,” ¹⁴ for that reason you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ declares the Lord God. ¹⁵ I will not let you hear ^(AO)insults from the nations anymore, nor will you suffer ^(AP)disgrace from the peoples any longer, nor will you make your nation ^(AQ)stumble any longer,” declares the Lord God.’”

¹⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they ^(AR)defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like ^(AS)the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore I ^(AT)poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹ I also ^(AU)scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. ^(AV)According to their ways and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰ When they came to the nations where they went, they ^(AW)profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the ^(AX)people of the Lord, yet they have left His land.’ ²¹ But I had ^[n]concern for My ^(AY)holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

Israel to Be Renewed for His Name’s Sake

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “It is ^(AZ)not for your sake, house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³ And I will ^(BA)vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the ^(BB)nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I show Myself holy among you in their sight. ²⁴ For I will ^(BC)take you from the nations, and gather you from all the lands; and I will bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will ^(BD)sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your ^(BE)filthiness and from all your ^(BF)idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a ^(BG)new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the ^(BH)heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will ^(BI)put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and ^[o]follow My ordinances. ²⁸ And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be ^(BJ)My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I ^(BK)will not ^[p]bring a famine on you. ³⁰ Instead, I will ^(BL)multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you will ^(BM)remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your wrongdoings and your abominations. ³² I am not doing this ^(BN)for your sake,” declares the Lord God; “let that be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your ways, house of Israel!”

³³ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your wrongdoings, I will populate the ^(BO)cities, and the ^(BP)places of ruins will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The desolated land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. ³⁵ And they will say, ‘This desolated land has become like the ^(BQ)Garden of Eden; and the waste, desolated and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations around you that are left will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolated; I, the Lord, have spoken, and I ^(BR)will do it.”

³⁷ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “This too I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their people like a flock. ³⁸ Like the ^(BS)flock ^[q]for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with ^(BT)flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’”

Growth in Christian Virtue

1 ^[a]Simon Peter, a ^(A)bond-servant and ^(B)apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have received ^(C)a faith of the same ^[b]kind as ours, ^[c]by ^(D)the righteousness of ^(E)our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: ^2 (F)Grace and peace be multiplied to you in ^(G)the knowledge of God and of Jesus ^[d]our Lord, ³ for His ^(H)divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true ^(I)knowledge of Him who ^(J)called us ^[e]by His own glory and ^[f]excellence. ⁴ Through ^[g]these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent ^(K)promises, so that by them you may become ^(L)partakers of the divine nature, having ^(M)escaped the ^(N)corruption that is in ^(O)the world on account of lust. ⁵ Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith ^(P)supply ^(Q)moral ^[h]excellence, and in your moral excellence, ^(R)knowledge, ⁶ and in your knowledge, ^(S)self-control, and in your self-control, ^(T)perseverance, and in your perseverance, ^(U)godliness, ⁷ and in your godliness, ^(V)brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they do not make you useless nor ^(W)unproductive in the true ^(X)knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For the one who lacks these qualities is ^(Y)blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his ^(Z)purification from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about His ^(AA)calling and ^(AB)choice of you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never ^(AC)stumble; ¹¹ for in this way the entrance into ^(AD)the eternal kingdom of our ^(AE)Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be ^(AF)abundantly ^(AG)supplied to you.

¹² Therefore, ^(AH)I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in ^(AI)the truth which is present with you. ¹³ I consider it ^(AJ)right, as long as I am in ^(AK)this earthly ^[i]dwelling, to ^(AL)stir you up by way of reminder, ¹⁴ knowing that ^(AM)the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, ^(AN)as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ¹⁵ And I will also be diligent that at any time after my ^(AO)departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

Eyewitnesses

¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised ^(AP)tales when we made known to you the ^(AQ)power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were ^(AR)eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷ For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such a ^(AS)[j]declaration as this was made to Him by the ^(AT)Majestic Glory: “This is ^[k]My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”— ¹⁸ and we ourselves heard this ^[l]declaration made from heaven when we were with Him on the ^(AU)holy mountain.

¹⁹ And so we have ^(AV)the prophetic word made more ^(AW)sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to ^(AX)a lamp shining in a dark place, until the ^(AY)day dawns and the ^(AZ)morning star arises ^(BA)in your hearts. ²⁰ But ^(BB)know this first of all, that ^(BC)no prophecy of Scripture ^[m]becomes a matter of ^[n]someone’s own interpretation, ²¹ for ^(BD)no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men ^(BE)moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.