Ezekiel 35:6

6 therefore (as) I live, saith the Lord God, for I shall give thee to blood, and blood shall pursue thee; and sith thou hatedest blood, blood shall pursue thee.

Ezekiel 35:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 35:6

Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God
The form of an oath; the Lord swears by himself, because he could swear by no greater; and which he never does but in matters of importance, and for the confirmation of them, as the following is: I will prepare thee unto blood;
prepare them for war, which will issue in slaughter and blood, such as the battle at Armageddon, ( Revelation 16:14 Revelation 16:16 ) ( Revelation 19:18 Revelation 19:19 ) : or, "I will make thee blood" ^F23; nothing else but blood; a mere "Aceldama", a field of blood; turn thee into blood, as the sea, rivers, and fountains will be, at the pouring out the second and third vials, ( Revelation 16:3 Revelation 16:4 ) : and blood shall pursue thee;
the guilt and vengeance of blood; or the avengers of the blood of the saints; the angels that shall pour out the vials of wrath on Rome; the ten kings that shall hate the whore. So the Targum;

``they that slay with the sword shall pursue thee;''

or the shedders of blood, as Ben Melech: saith thou hast not hated blood;
Jarchi reads it; "hast hated blood": which he interprets of the blood of the sacrifices; as others, mentioned by him, of the blood of circumcision; and others, of his brother, who was his flesh and blood, and hated by him; but it is a figurative phrase, by which less is expressed than is intended. The sense is, thou hast loved blood; thou hast delighted in shedding blood; hast thirsted after it, and drank plentifully of it, and even been drunk with it, as the whore of Rome is said to be, ( Revelation 17:5 ) : even blood shall pursue thee;
this is repeated for the confirmation of it; and this was measure for measure; a just retaliation; having shed blood, it was but right that blood should pursue, and be given, ( Revelation 16:5 Revelation 16:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 (Kvea Mdl) "in sanguinem redigam te", Munster; "in sanguinem faciam te", Grotius; "sanguinem faciam te", Coceeius, Starckius.

Ezekiel 35:6 In-Context

4 I shall destroy thy cities, and thou shalt be forsaken; and thou shalt know, that I am the Lord.

5 For thou were an enemy everlasting, and closedest together the sons of Israel into the hands of sword, in the time of their torment, in the time of the last wickedness; (For thou were an everlasting enemy, and hast altogether enclosed the Israelites in the hands of the sword, in the time of their torment, at the time of the last wickedness;)

6 therefore (as) I live, saith the Lord God, for I shall give thee to blood, and blood shall pursue thee; and sith thou hatedest blood, blood shall pursue thee.

7 And I shall give the hill of Seir desolate and forsaken (And I shall make the hill country of Seir a desolate wilderness), and I shall take away from it a goer and a comer-again;

8 and I shall fill the hills thereof with the carrions of their slain men. Men slain by sword shall fall down in thy little hills, and in thy valleys, and in thy strands. (and I shall fill its hills with the bodies of their slain. People killed by the sword shall fall down in thy little hills, and in thy valleys, and by thy streams.)