Old/New Testament

Prophecy Against Edom

35 The Lord spoke his word to me. He said: ² “Human being, look toward Mount Edom and prophesy against it. ³ Say to it: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am against you, Mount Edom. I will stretch out my hand against you. And I will make you an empty desert. ⁴ I will destroy your cities. And you will become empty. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁵ “‘This is because you have always been an enemy of Israel. You let them be defeated in war when they were in trouble. It was the time of their final punishment. ⁶ So the Lord God says, As surely as I live, I will let you be murdered. Murder will chase you. You did not hate murdering people, so murder will chase you. ⁷ And I will make Mount Edom an empty ruin. And I will destroy everyone who goes in or comes out of it. ⁸ I will fill its mountains with those who are killed. Those killed in war will fall on your hills. They will fall in your valleys and in all your ravines. ⁹ I will make you a ruin forever. No one will live in your cities. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “‘You said, “These two nations, Israel and Judah, and these two lands will be ours. We will take them for our own.” But the Lord was there. ¹¹ So this is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, this is true. I will treat you just as you treated them. When you were angry and jealous, you acted hatefully against them. I will punish you. And that is how I will show the Israelites who I am. ¹² Then you will know that I, the Lord God, have heard all your insults. Those insults were against the mountains of Israel. You said, “They have been ruined. They have been given to us to eat.” ¹³ You have not stopped your proud talk against me. I have heard you. ¹⁴ This is what the Lord God says: All the earth will be happy when I make you an empty ruin. ¹⁵ You were happy when the land of Israel was ruined. But I will do the same thing to you. Mount Edom and all Edom, you will become an empty ruin. Then you will know that I am the Lord God.’”

Israel to Come Home

36 “Human being, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² This is what the Lord God says: The enemy has said this against you: “Now the old places to worship false gods have become ours.”’ ³ So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the Lord God says: They have made you an empty ruin. They have crushed you from all around. You belonged to the other nations. People talked and whispered against you. ⁴ So, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. The Lord God speaks to the mountains, hills, ravines and valleys. And he speaks to the empty ruins and abandoned cities that have been robbed and laughed at by the other nations. ⁵ This is what the Lord God says: I have spoken in hot anger against the other nations. I have spoken against Edom. The Edomites took my land for themselves. They did this with joy and with hate in their hearts. They forced out the people and took their pastureland.’ ⁶ So prophesy about the land of Israel. Say to the mountains, hills, ravines and valleys: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I speak in my jealous anger. This is because you have suffered the insults of the nations. ⁷ So this is what the Lord God says: I promise that the nations around you will also have to suffer insults.

⁸ “‘But you, mountains of Israel, you will grow branches and fruit for my people. My people will soon come home. ⁹ I am concerned about you. I am for you. You will be plowed, and seed will be planted in you. ¹⁰ I will multiply the people who live on you. All the people of Israel will come. The cities will have people living in them. The ruins will be rebuilt. ¹¹ I will make the people and animals living on you increase in number. They will grow and be fruitful. You will have people living on you as you did before. I will make you better off than at the beginning. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will cause my people Israel to walk on you. Then they will take you, and you will belong to them. You will never again take their children away from them.

¹³ “‘This is what the Lord God says: People say about you: “You eat people and take children from your nation.” ¹⁴ You will not destroy people anymore. You will not make your nation stumble anymore, says the Lord God. ¹⁵ I will not make you listen to insults from the nations anymore. You will not suffer shame from them anymore, says the Lord God.’”

The Lord Acts for Himself

¹⁶ The Lord spoke his word to me again. He said: ¹⁷ “Human being, the nation of Israel was living in their own land. But they made it unclean by their ways and the things they did. Their ways were like a woman’s uncleanness in her time of monthly bleeding. ¹⁸ So I poured out my anger against them. I did it because of the murders they did in the land. And I did it because they made the land unclean with their idols. ¹⁹ I scattered them among the nations. And they were spread through all the countries. I punished them for how they lived and the things they did. ²⁰ They dishonored my holy name in the nations where they went. The nations said about them: ‘These are the people of the Lord. But they had to leave the land which he gave them.’ ²¹ But I felt bad about my holy name. The nation of Israel had dishonored it among the nations where they went.

²² “So say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Israel, I am going to act, but not for your sake. Israel, I will do something to help my holy name. You have dishonored it among the nations where you went. ²³ I will prove the holiness of my great name. It has been dishonored among the nations. You have dishonored it among these nations. But the nations will know that I am the Lord. I will prove myself holy before their eyes, says the Lord God.

²⁴ “‘I will take you from the nations. I will gather you out of all the lands. And I will bring you back into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and your idols. ²⁶ Also, I will teach you to respect me completely. I will put a new way to think inside you. I will take out the stubborn heart like stone from your bodies. And I will give you an obedient heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put my Spirit inside you. And I will help you live by my rules. You will be careful to obey my laws. ²⁸ Then you will live in the land I gave to your ancestors. So you will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ Also, I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will command the grain to come and grow. I will not allow a time of hunger to hurt you. ³⁰ I will multiply the harvest of the field. You will never again suffer shame among the nations because of hunger. ³¹ And you will remember your evil ways and the things you did that were not good. Then you will hate yourselves because of your sins and terrible acts that I hate. ³² I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, says the Lord God. Be ashamed and embarrassed about your ways, Israel.

³³ “‘This is what the Lord God says: This is what will happen on the day I cleanse you from all your sins: I will cause the cities to have people living in them again. And the destroyed places will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The empty land will be plowed. It will no longer be a ruin for everyone who passes by to see. ³⁵ They will say: “This land was ruined. Now it has become like the garden of Eden. The cities were destroyed. They were empty and ruined. But now they are protected and have people living in them.” ³⁶ Then those nations still around you will know. They will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt what was destroyed. And I have planted what was empty. I, the Lord, have spoken. And I will do it.’

³⁷ “This is what the Lord God says: I will again be asked by the people of Israel to do this thing for them. I will make their people grow to be as many as a flock of sheep. ³⁸ They will be like the flocks brought to Jerusalem during her holy feasts. Her ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Correcting False Teachings

1 From Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.

To you who have received a faith as valuable as ours. You received that faith because our God and Savior Jesus Christ is fair and does what is right.

² Grace and peace be given to you more and more. You will have grace and peace because you truly know God and Jesus our Lord.

God Has Given Us Blessings

³ Jesus has the power of God. His power has given us everything we need to live and to serve God. We have these things because we know him. Jesus called us by his glory and goodness. ⁴ Through his glory and goodness, he gave us the very great and rich gifts he promised us. With those gifts you can share in God’s nature. And so the world will not ruin you with its evil desires.

⁵ Because you have these blessings, you should try as much as you can to add these things to your lives: to your faith, add goodness; and to your goodness, add knowledge; ⁶ and to your knowledge, add self-control; and to your self-control, add the ability to hold on; and to your ability to hold on, add service for God; ⁷ and to your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ; and to this kindness, add love. ⁸ If all these things are in you and are growing, they will help you never to be useless. They will help your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ make your lives better. ⁹ But if anyone does not have these things, he cannot see clearly. He is blind. He has forgotten that he was made clean from his past sins.

¹⁰ My brothers, God called you and chose you to be his. Try hard to show that you really are God’s chosen people. If you do all these things, you will never fall. ¹¹ And you will be given a very great welcome into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That kingdom continues forever.

¹² You know these things, and you are very strong in the truth. But I will always help you to remember these things. ¹³ I think it is right for me to help you remember while I am still living here on earth. ¹⁴ I know that I must soon leave this body. Our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that. ¹⁵ I will try the best I can to help you remember these things always. I want you to be able to remember them even after I am gone.

We Saw Christ’s Glory

¹⁶ We have told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What we told you were not just smart stories that someone invented. But we saw the greatness of Jesus with our own eyes. ¹⁷ Jesus heard the voice of God, the Greatest Glory. That was when Jesus received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice said, “This is my Son, and I love him. I am very pleased with him.” ¹⁸ We heard that voice. It came from heaven while we were with Jesus on the holy mountain.

¹⁹ This makes us more sure about the message the prophets gave. And it is good for you to follow closely what they said. Their message is like a light shining in a dark place. That light shines until the day begins and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰ Most of all, you must understand this: No prophecy in the Scriptures ever comes from the prophet’s own interpretation. ²¹ No prophecy ever came from what a man wanted to say. But men led by the Holy Spirit spoke words from God.