Ezekiel 25:12 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 25:12
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
GOD
יְהוִ֔הYah.weh
H3069
YHWH · proper noun, a title
Edom
אֱד֛וֹם'e.Dom
H123
Edom · proper noun, a man's name
dealt
עֲשׂ֥וֹתa.Sot
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal infinitive construct
house
לְבֵ֣יתle.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Judah
יְהוּדָ֑הye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
taking
בִּנְקֹ֥םbin.Kom
H5358
to grudge · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
vengeance
נָקָ֖םna.Kam
H5359
revenge · noun, common masculine singular absolute
greatly
וַיֶּאְשְׁמ֥וּvai.ye'.she.Mu
H816
to be guilty · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
offended
אָשׁ֖וֹם'a.Shom
H816
to be guilty · verb, qal infinitive absolute
revenged
וְנִקְּמ֥וּve.ni.ke.Mu
H5358
to grudge · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 49:7-22 Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
Psalms 137:7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
Ezekiel 25:8 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen;
Amos 1:11-12 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his…
Obadiah 1:10-16 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
Genesis 27:41-42 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my fathe…
2 Chronicles 28:17-18 For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives.
Ezekiel 35:1-15 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 25:8–end
Three more of Israel's ill-natured neighbours are here arraigned, convicted, and condemned to destruction, for contributing to and triumphing in Jerusalem's fall.
I. The Moabites. Seir, which was the seat of the Edomites, is joined with them (Eze 25:8), because they said the same as the Moabites; but they were afterwards reckoned with by themselves, Eze 25:12. Now observe,
1. What was the sin of the Moabites; they said, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen. They triumphed, (1.) In the apostasies of Israel, were please to see them forsake their God and worship idols, and hoped that in a while their religion would be quite lost and forgotten and the house of Judah would be l…
taking vengeance--literally, "revenging with revengement," that is, the most unrelenting vengeance. It was not simple hatred, but deep-brooding, implacable revenge. The grudge of Edom or Esau was originally for Jacob's robbing him of Isaac's blessing (Gen 25:23; Gen 27:27-41). This purpose of revenge yielded to the extraordinary kindness of Jacob, through the blessing of Him with whom Jacob wrestled in prayer; but it was revived as an hereditary grudge in the posterity of Esau when they saw the younger branch rising to the pre-eminence which they thought of right belonged to themselves. More recently, for David's subjugation of Edom to Israel (Sa2 8:14). They therefore gave vent to their spi…
Because that Edom hath dealt - The Edomites were the most inveterate enemies of the Jews from the very earliest times, and ever did all that they could to annoy them.
John Gill on Ezekiel 25:12
Thus saith the Lord God,.... Concerning Seir or the Edomites, the prophecy concerning the Moabites being finished:
because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance: or, "revenging a revenge" (w); the Edomites bore an old grudge against the Jews, not only because their father Jacob had got the birthright and blessing from their father Esau; but because they were made tributaries to them in David's time, and afterwards severely chastised by Amaziah; these things they laid up in their minds, and vowed revenge whenever they had an opportunity; and now one offered at the destruction of Jerusalem, which they took:
and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon th…
The Church Fathers
(Vers. 12, 13, et seqq.) Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom has acted vengefully against the children of Judah and has incurred guilt by taking vengeance upon them, therefore thus says the Lord God: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it man and beast. I will make it a desolation from Teman, and Dedan shall fall by the sword. I will execute my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath, and they shall know my vengeance, declares the Lord God. LXX: Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom acted revengefully against the house of Judah and took vengeance upon them with utmost hatred, therefore thus says the Lord God, I will stretch out my hand against Edom, and cut off from it man and beast, and I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword. And I will execute vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath, and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord God. Above, the two proposed, for what they said about Moab and Seir, and later in silence about Seir, spoke only against Moab: now it refutes the problem that Seir, that is, Edom, has done. That Esau and Seir, and Edom, and Idumea, and Duma, are called one nation, no one should doubt who has knowledge of the Scriptures. And not to mention the other prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, who prophesied against Idumea, Duma, and Edom: Obadiah directed his entire prophecy against this nation, which we have discussed before as best we could. Therefore Seir is accused, who because he was hairy, received the name 'hairy', and Edom the bloodthirsty, who lost the birthright due to the cooking of a red lentil, and obtained the name from the dish. Also, Esau's actions are interpreted. And it should be known that in Hebrew, Idumaea is never written, but always Edom, which the Greek translation expressed as Idumaea. Therefore, it is not Idumaea (Edom), as Moab spoke, but he took revenge on the sons of Judah: he sinned, or retained the memory of the previous pain, in order to take revenge on them, from whom he was supplanted in the womb. Therefore not through angels, nor through any other: but the Lord himself, stretching out his hand over Idumea, took away from it man and beast, and reduced the cities thereof into…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Edomites, The · Character of: Vindictive — Character of: Vindictive
Malice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Revenge · .By the Edomites — .By the Edomites
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Against the Edomites
Eze 25:12. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because Edom acteth revengefully towards the house of Judah, and hath been very guilty in avenging itself upon them, Eze 25:13. Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will stretch out my hand over Edom, and cut off man and beast from it, and make it a desert from Teman, and unto Dedan they shall fall by the sword. Eze 25:14. And I will inflict my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, that they may do to Edom according to my anger and my wrath; and they shall experience my vengeance, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - Whilst the Ammonites and the Moabites are charged with nothing more than malicious pleasure at t…
Ammon and Moab gloated at Judah’s downfall, but Edom actively participated in it (see 35:5; Obad 1). • avenging: The people of Edom cut down fugitives and handed over survivors in aid of the Babylonians (Obad 1:11-14). They were opportunists, settling old scores that dated back to the ancient conflict between Jacob and Esau (Gen 27:41); they gained what they could for themselves out of Judah’s difficulties. In return, the Lord would desolate their land.
Rashi on Ezekiel 25:10
To the children of the East I will expose them so that they should come upon the children of Ammon through the land of Moab.
