Ezekiel 35 - 36, Hebrews 3, Proverbs 8

Prophecy Against Mount Seir

35Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ²“Son of man, set your face against ^aMount Seir and prophesy against it ³and say to it, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir,And I will ^astretch out My hand against youAnd make you a ^bdesolation and a desecration.

⁴“I will ^alay waste your cities,And you will become a desolation.Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

⁵“Because you have had everlasting ^aenmity and have ¹delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of the ²^,^bpunishment of the end, ⁶therefore as I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “I will ¹prepare you for ^abloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; you surely have not hated bloodshed, so bloodshed will pursue you. ⁷“I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it the one who passes through and returns. ⁸“I will ^afill its mountains with its slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain by the sword will ¹fall. ⁹“I will make you an everlasting ^adesolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

¹⁰“Because you have ^asaid, ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess ¹them,’ although ^bYahweh was there, ¹¹therefore as I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “I will deal with you ^aaccording to your anger and according to your jealousy which you dealt with them because of your hatred against them; so I will ^bmake Myself known among them when I judge you. ¹²“Then you will know ¹that I, Yahweh, have heard all your ²contempt which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are ^agiven to us for food.’ ¹³“And you have ^amagnified yourselves with your mouth against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; ^bI have heard it.” ¹⁴‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “As all the ^aearth delights, I will make you a desolation. ¹⁵“As you ^adelighted over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, ^bso I will do to you. You will be a ^cdesolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”’

Mountains of Israel Will Bear Fruit

36“Now as for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh. ²‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting ¹^,^aheights have become our possession,’ ³therefore prophesy and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “¹For good reason they have made you ^adesolate and bruised you from every side, that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations, and you have been taken up in the ²^,^bspeech of their tongue and the rumors of the people.”’” ⁴‘Therefore, O ^amountains of Israel, hear the word of Lord Yahweh. Thus says Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities which have become ^bplunder and objects of scoffing to the rest of the nations which are round about, ⁵therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Surely in the fire of My ^ajealousy I have spoken against the ^brest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted ^cgladness and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for plunder.” ⁶‘Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have ^aborne the dishonor of the nations.’ ⁷“Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘I have ¹sworn that surely the nations which are around you will themselves bear their dishonor. ⁸‘But you, O mountains of Israel, you will ^aput forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. ⁹‘For, behold, I am for you, and I will ^aturn to you, and you will be ^bcultivated and sown. ¹⁰‘I will multiply men on you, ^aall the house of Israel, all of it; and the ^bcities will be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. ¹¹‘I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will multiply and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were ^aformerly and will ¹treat you ^bbetter than at the first. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹²‘And I will cause ^amen—My people Israel—to walk on you and possess you so that you will become their ^binheritance and never again ^cbereave them of children.’

¹³“Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because they say to you, “You are a ^adevourer of men and have bereaved your ¹nation of children,” ¹⁴therefore you will no longer devour men and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ declares Lord Yahweh. ¹⁵“I will not let you hear ^adishonor from the nations anymore, nor will you bear ^breproach from the peoples any longer, nor will you cause your nation to ^cstumble any longer,” declares Lord Yahweh.’”

Yahweh’s Name Profaned Among the Nations

¹⁶Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ¹⁷“Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they ^adefiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like ^bthe uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸“Therefore I ^apoured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹“Also I ^ascattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. ^bAccording to their ways and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰“Then they came to the nations to which they came. And they ^aprofaned My holy name because it was said of them, ‘These are the ^bpeople of Yahweh; yet they have come out of His land.’ ²¹“But I ¹had concern for My ^aholy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

They Will Know That I Am Yahweh

²²“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “It is ^anot for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, to which you have come. ²³“I will ^aprove the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the ^bnations will know that I am Yahweh,” declares Lord Yahweh, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. ²⁴“And I will ^atake you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵“Then I will ¹^,^asprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your ^buncleanness and from all your ^cidols. ²⁶“Moreover, I will give you a ^anew heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the ^bheart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷“I will ^aput My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to do My judgments. ²⁸“And you will inhabit the land that I gave to your fathers; so you will be ^aMy 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 ^awill not ¹bring a famine on you. ³⁰“I will ^amultiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field so that you will not receive again the reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹“Then you will ^aremember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves to your own faces for your iniquities and your abominations. ³²“I am not doing this ^afor your sake,” declares Lord Yahweh, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and feel dishonor for your ways, O house of Israel!”

³³‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the ^acities to be inhabited, and the ^bwaste places will be rebuilt. ³⁴“The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. ³⁵“And they will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the ^agarden of Eden; and the waste, desolate, and ¹ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶“Then the nations that remain all around you will know that I, Yahweh, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, Yahweh, have spoken and ^awill do it.”

³⁷‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “This also I will let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock. ³⁸“Like the ^aflock for holy offerings, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed times, so will the waste cities be filled with ^bflocks of men. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”’”

Jesus Greater than Moses

3Therefore, ^aholy brothers, partakers of a ^bheavenly calling, consider ^cthe Apostle and ^dHigh Priest of our ^econfession—Jesus, ²who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as ^aMoses also was in all His house. ³^aFor He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, in so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. ⁴For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. ⁵Now ^aMoses was faithful in all His house as ^ba servant, ^cfor a testimony of those things ^dwhich were to be spoken later, ⁶but Christ was faithful as ^aa Son over His house—^bwhose house we are, ^cif we hold fast our ^dconfidence and the boast of our ^ehope.

⁷Therefore, just as ^athe Holy Spirit says, “^bToday if you hear His voice,

⁸^aDo not harden your hearts as ¹when they provoked Me,As in the day of trial in the wilderness,⁹^aWhere your fathers tried Me by testing Me,And saw My works for ^bforty years.¹⁰“^aTherefore I was angry with this generation,And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,And they did not know My ways’;¹¹^aAs I swore in My wrath,‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

Warning Against Unbelief

¹²^aSee to it brothers, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart ¹that falls away from ^bthe living God. ¹³But ^aencourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the ^bdeceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴For we have become partakers of Christ, ^aif we hold fast the beginning of our ^bassurance firm until the end, ¹⁵while it is said, “^aToday if you hear His voice,Do not harden your hearts, as ¹when they provoked Me.”

¹⁶For who ^aprovoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, ^bdid not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? ¹⁷And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, ^awhose corpses fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸And to whom did He swear ^athat they would not enter His rest, but to those who were ^bdisobedient? ¹⁹So we see that they were not able to enter because of ^aunbelief.

The Blessing of Wisdom

8Does not ^awisdom call,And discernment give forth her voice?²At the top of ^athe heights upon the way,Where the pathways meet, she takes her stand;³Beside the ^agates, at the opening to the city,At the entrance of the doors, she makes a shout:⁴“To you, O men, I call,And my voice is to the sons of men.⁵“O ^asimple ones, understand prudence;And, O ^bfools, understand a heart of wisdom.⁶“Listen, for I will speak ^anoble things;And the opening of my lips will reveal ^bupright things.⁷“For my ^amouth will utter truth;And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.⁸“All the words of my mouth are in righteousness;There is nothing ^atwisted or crooked in them.⁹“They are all ^astraightforward to him who understands,And right to those who ^bfind knowledge.¹⁰“Take my ^adiscipline and not silver,And knowledge rather than choicest fine gold.¹¹“For wisdom is ^abetter than pearls;And ^ball desirable things cannot compare with her.¹²“I, wisdom, ^adwell with prudence,And I find ^bknowledge and discretion.¹³“The ^afear of Yahweh is to hate evil;^bPride and arrogance and ^cthe evil wayAnd the mouth of ¹^,^dperverted words, I hate.¹⁴“^aCounsel is mine and ^bsound wisdom;I am understanding, ^cmight is mine.¹⁵“By me ^akings reign,And rulers mark out righteousness.¹⁶“By me princes rule, and nobles,All who judge rightly.¹⁷“I ^alove those who love me;And ^bthose who earnestly seek me will find me.¹⁸“^aRiches and glory are with me,Enduring ^bwealth and righteousness.¹⁹“My fruit is ^abetter than fine gold, even pure gold,And my produce better than ^bchoice silver.²⁰“I walk in the path of righteousness,In the midst of the pathways of justice,²¹To give those who love me an inheritance of wealth,That I may ^afill their treasuries.²²“Yahweh possessed me ^aat the beginning of His way,Before His deeds ¹of old.²³“From everlasting I was ¹^,^ainstalled,From the beginning, ^bfrom the earliest times of the earth.²⁴“When there were no ^adepths I was ¹brought forth,When there were no springs heavy with water.²⁵“^aBefore the mountains were settled,Before the hills I was ¹brought forth;²⁶While He had not yet made the earth and the fields outside,Nor the first dust of the world.²⁷“When He ^aestablished the heavens, I was there,When ^bHe marked out a circle on the face of the deep,²⁸When He made firm the skies above,When the springs of the deep became strong,²⁹When ^aHe set for the sea its boundarySo that the water would not pass over His ¹command,When He marked out ^bthe foundations of the earth;³⁰Then ^aI was beside Him, as a master workman;And I was a daily delight,¹Rejoicing always before Him,³¹¹Rejoicing in the world, His earth,^aMy delight is in the sons of men.³²“So now, O sons, ^alisten to me,For ^bblessed are they who keep my ways.³³“^aHear discipline and be wise,And do not neglect it.³⁴“^aHow blessed is the man who hears me,To watch daily at my doors,To keep watch at my doorposts.³⁵“For ^ahe who finds me finds lifeAnd ^bobtains favor from Yahweh.³⁶“But he who ¹sins against me ^adoes violence to his own soul;All those who ^bhate me ^clove death.”