Edom Made Desolate

35 The word of Adonai came to me saying: ² “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it. ³ Say to it, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir. I will stretch out My hand over you and make you utterly desolate. ⁴ I will lay your cities waste. You will be devastated. So you will know that I am Adonai.

⁵ “Because you have a long-standing hatred and have delivered Bnei-Yisrael to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of their final punishment, ⁶ therefore, as I live’—it is a declaration of Adonai—‘I will destine you for blood, and bloodshed will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you. ⁷ I will make Mount Seir an utter desolation. I will cut off from it all who come and go. ⁸ I will fill its mountains with its slain; on your hills, your valleys and all your streams those slain by the sword will fall. ⁹ I will make you everlasting desolations; your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am Adonai.

¹⁰ “Because you said: ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine! We will possess them’—though Adonai was there— ¹¹ “therefore, as I live”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“I will deal with you with the same anger and envy that you had because of your hatred against them. I will make Myself known among them, when I judge you. ¹² You will know that I, Adonai, have heard all your blasphemies that you uttered against the mountains of Israel saying: “They are laid desolate—they are given for us to devour!” ¹³ You have magnified yourselves against Me with your mouth. You multiplied your words against Me. I heard it.”

¹⁴ Thus says Adonai Elohim: “When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. ¹⁵ As you rejoiced over inheriting the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir and all Edom—all of it. Then they will know that I am Adonai.”

Comfort to the Land of Israel

36 “You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Adonai. ² Thus says Adonai Elohim: “The enemy has said against you, ‘Aha! Even the ancient high places have become our possession!’ ³ Therefore prophesy and say, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Because they ravaged and crushed you from every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and you became the talk and evil gossip of people,’ ⁴ therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of Adonai, thus says Adonai Elohim to the mountains, the hills, the streams and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the cities that are forsaken, which have become prey and derision to the rest of the surrounding nations. ⁵ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Surely in the fire of My wrath I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, that have taken My land for themselves as a possession with the joy of all their heart and contempt in their souls, in order to seize it as plunder.’ ⁶ Therefore, prophesy to the land of Israel and say to the mountains and the hills, the streams and the valleys, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I have spoken in My wrath and in My fury, because you have suffered the scorn of the nations.’ ⁷ Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘I have lifted My hand. Surely the nations that surround you will themselves suffer scorn.

⁸ “‘But you, mountains of Israel, you will shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit for My people Israel; for their return is near. ⁹ For behold, I am for you. I will turn to you. You will be tilled and sown. ¹⁰ I will settle a large population upon you—the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be inhabited. The desolate places will be built up. ¹¹ I will multiply man and beast upon you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before. I will do better for you than at your beginnings. You will know that I am Adonai. ¹² I will cause people, my people Israel, to walk upon you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance. You will no longer deprive them of children.’”

¹³ Thus says Adonai Elohim: “Because they say to you, ‘You are a devourer of men and you deprive your nation of children,’ ¹⁴ therefore you will no longer devour men and you will no longer deprive your nation of children.” It is a declaration of Adonai. ¹⁵ “I will no longer let the scorn of the nations be heard against you. You will no longer bear disgrace from the peoples. You will no longer cause your nation to stumble.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹⁶ The word of Adonai came to me saying: ¹⁷ “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their deeds. Their way before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman in her niddah. ¹⁸ So I poured out My fury on them for the blood which they had shed upon the land and because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹ I scattered them among the nations, so they were dispersed through the countries. According to their way and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰ Wherever they went among the nations, they profaned My holy Name, since it was said about them, ‘These are the people of Adonai, yet they had to leave His land.’ ²¹ But I had concern for My holy Name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘I do not do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for My holy Name, which you profaned among the nations wherever you went. ²³ I will sanctify My great Name, which has been profaned among the nations—which you have profaned among them. The nations will know that I am Adonai’”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“‘when I am sanctified in you before their eyes.’”

New Heart, New Spirit

²⁴ “‘For I will take you from the nations, gather you out of all the countries and bring you back to your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. ²⁶ Moreover I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ^{[a] 27} I will put My Ruach within you. Then I will cause you to walk in My laws, so you will keep My rulings and do them. ²⁸ Then you will live in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be My people and I will be your God.

²⁹ “So I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful. I will not bring a famine upon you. ³⁰ I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will no longer bear the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹ When you remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your iniquities and your abominations. ³² Not for your sake will I do this”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel!”

³³ Thus says Adonai Elohim: “In the day that I pronounce you clean from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being a wasteland in the sight of all that passed by. ³⁵ They will say, ‘This land that was a wasteland has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations that are left all around you will know that I, Adonai, have rebuilt the ruined places, and replanted what was desolate. I, Adonai, have spoken it. So I will do it.”

³⁷ Thus says Adonai Elohim: “I will again be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them—I will populate them with people like a flock. ³⁸ Like the holy flock, like the flock of Jerusalem during her moadim, so the waste cities will be filled with flocks of people.^[b] Then they will know that I am Adonai.”

Greetings

1 Jacob, a slave of God and of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah,

To the twelve tribes in the Diaspora:

Shalom!

Rejoice in Trials

² Consider it all joy, my brethren,^[a] when you encounter various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴ And let endurance have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ⁵ But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God,^[b] who gives to all without hesitation and without reproach; and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, without any doubting—for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord— ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹ But let the brother in humble circumstances boast in his high position— ¹⁰ and the rich person in his humble position, because like the flower of the grass he will pass away. ¹¹ For the sun arises with a scorching heat and withers the grass, and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed.^[c] So also the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

¹² Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love Him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”—for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He himself tempts no one. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is dragged away and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is full grown, it brings forth death.^[d]

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. ¹⁸ By His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.^[e]

Lift Up the Cup of Salvation

Psalm 116