A prophecy about the destruction of Edom

1Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

2“You human, turn toward Edom and prophesy what will happen to its people. Say that this is what Yahweh says to them:

3‘You who live near Seir Mountain in Edom, I am opposed to you, and I will use my power [MTY] to strike you and cause your country to become a wasteland.

4I will cause your country to be ruined and desolate. When that happens, people will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.

5You have always been enemies of the Israeli people. You rejoiced when they experienced a great disaster: their enemies attacked them with swords, when I punished them for the sins that they had committed.

6Therefore, I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that as surely as I am alive, I will allow your enemies to slaughter [MTY] you and continue to slaughter you. You were happy when [LIT] others were slaughtered;

7so I will cause Seir Mountain to be abandoned/deserted, and I will get rid of anyone who enters it or leaves it.

8I will cause your mountains to be filled with the corpses of those who have been killed. The corpses of those who have been killed by your enemies’ swords will lie on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines.

9I will cause your land to be deserted forever. No one will live in your towns again. When that happens, you will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.

10You people said, “Israel and Judah will become ours. We will take over their territory!” You said that even though I, Yahweh, was still there and protecting them.

11Therefore, I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that as surely as I am alive, I will punish [MTY] you for being angry with my people, envying them, and hating them.

12Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have heard all the disgusting things that you have said about the mountains in Israel. You said that they have been ruined/devastated, and that they have been given to you to occupy [MET].

13When you insulted me, I heard all that you said about me.

14So this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: You people who live on Seir Mountain and in all the other places in Edom, when I cause your land to become desolate, everyone in the entire world will rejoice.

15You were happy when the land [MTY] of the Israeli people became desolate, so I will cause your land to become desolate. When that happens, people will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.’ ”