The big picture
Ezekiel 35 addresses Mount Seir at the point where Israel's land is about to become the subject of restoration. Edom's "perpetual hatred" has not remained an attitude. It became bloodshed at the moment of Israel's calamity, an attempt to turn a neighbor's judgment into an opportunity for violence and possession. The oracle answers that conduct in matching terms. Because Edom did not hate blood, blood becomes its pursuer. Because its hostility endured, desolation is described with enduring force. Most revealing is Edom's claim that the two countries will become its own. The LORD interrupts the assumption with the fact of his continuing presence and ownership. Israel's defeat did not create abandoned property. Edom's rejoicing over ruined inheritance is heard, remembered, and answered before the next chapter turns directly to Israel's mountains.
Central truth
The Lord condemns Mount Seir for exploiting Israel’s calamity, claiming its land, and celebrating its ruin, declaring that he has heard the boasts against him.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Ezekiel 35:1: “Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,”
Slow down at the turning point
Ezekiel 35:6: “Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall…”
Keep this word trail visible
LORD, desolate, blood, know, mount, Seir
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Ezekiel 35:1-4
Set thy face against mount Seir
Begin with the place. Mount Seir is the hill country of Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea, the home of Esau's descendants (Genesis 36:8). Edom and Israel were brother peoples with a long, bitter history (Numbers 20:14-21). Read 35:2-4 and point out the familiar pattern of "I am against thee" and "thou shalt know that I am the LORD." Note that Edom was already addressed briefly in 25:12-14. Teach this first and say clearly that the oracle concerns an ancient people and place, not any people living today.
Ezekiel 35:5-9
Perpetual hatred and blood
Read 35:5 slowly and write its three parts on the board: perpetual hatred, the sword, the time of calamity. Then read 35:6 and explain "sith" as since. The repeated word blood carries the sense of a justice that returns on the one who shed it. Read 35:7-9 briefly; it describes desolation without detail. Teach this step to show what God holds against Seir: not merely feelings, but violence against people when they were most helpless. Use Obadiah 10-14 to fill in the picture for adults.
Ezekiel 35:10-11
Whereas the LORD was there
Read 35:10 and underline its last clause. Explain that Edom thought the land of Israel and Judah was free for the taking once its people were exiled. The words "whereas the LORD was there" say the land still had an owner. Read 35:11 and explain that God's judgment will match Edom's anger and envy, and that by it "I will make myself known among them". Teach this step at the centre of the lesson because it shows the deepest charge: Seir's grab for land was a challenge to God himself.
Ezekiel 35:12-13
I have heard
Read 35:12-13 and ask the class what Seir said. Write the boast on the board: they are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. Then write God's answer: I have heard them. Explain "blasphemies" here as insulting words that reach God because they mock what is his. Teach this here because it reaches every learner. People say things in victory, privately or in groups, that they assume no one important hears. The passage says that God does.
Ezekiel 35:14-15 and 36:1-12
Desolate Seir, fruitful Israel
Read 35:14-15 and explain "Idumea" as the Greek and Latin name for Edom. The judgment matches the gloating. Then go straight on to 36:1-12. God tells the mountains of Israel that the enemy said "Aha" (36:2), but that they will bear fruit again, be tilled and sown, and be filled with people. Teach these together, as the chapters intend, so the lesson does not end on ruin. God's judgment on Seir and his blessing on Israel's mountains are two sides of his faithfulness to his word.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"This passage tells us who God's enemies are today."
The oracle is addressed to "mount Seir" and "all Idumea" (35:2, 35:15), the ancient land of Edom. Edom as a people disappears from history centuries later. The Book of Ezekiel does not give these names as codes for any modern nation or ethnic group, and using them that way can feed hatred of real people. What the passage condemns is a pattern, old hatred, violence against the helpless, and grabbing what belongs to God, which can appear anywhere, including in our own hearts.
"Since God judged Edom, it is fine for us to pay back those who hurt us."
In 35:3-4 God says "I am against thee" and "I will lay thy cities waste". The judgment is his, not Israel's. Scripture forbids private vengeance: "Vengeance is mine" (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19). The symmetry in 35:15 is God's justice, not a model for retaliation. Teach learners to leave judgment with God, and handle this gently with those who have been badly wronged; their pain is real, and God has heard it.
"Words spoken against others are harmless if nobody important hears them."
Seir boasted that Israel's mountains were "given us to consume" (35:12), and God says, "Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them" (35:13). Words about God's people reach God. Jesus says the same about idle words (Matthew 12:36). Use this to talk about speech, online and in person, that celebrates someone else's downfall. Keep the examples fictional so no one in the room is singled out.
Learning objectives
- Identify Mount Seir and Idumea as the chapter’s address to Edom.
- Trace the connection between longstanding hatred and opportunistic violence.
- Explain why the claim to Israel’s land challenges the Lord.
- Identify the repeated emphasis on what the Lord has heard.
- Compare Edom’s rejoicing with the judgment pronounced against it.
- Distinguish learning from this indictment from claiming authority to take revenge.
Teacher preparation
- Read Ezekiel 25:12–14 and Genesis 36:8; locate Seir and Edom without attaching the names to a modern population.
- Clarify “sith” in 35:6 as “since” and identify “Idumea” in 35:15 as Edom.
- Mark hatred in 35:5, possession in verse 10, and rejoicing in verse 15; prepare to connect these charges.
- Read the mountain address in 36:1–12 in advance; the neighboring chapters give contrasting futures to Seir and Israel.
- Prepare an invented case of a rival celebrating another group’s loss; avoid inviting learners to nominate contemporary enemies.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Locate perpetual hatred and bloodshed in 35:5, the proposed seizure of two countries in verse 10, and rejoicing over Israel’s desolation in verse 15.
Scripture-supported
Read Obadiah 11–14 alongside Ezekiel 35:5 and 15; both condemn taking advantage of a related people’s disaster.
Strong inference
Infer that the territorial boast is also a challenge to God: 35:10 adds that the Lord was there, and 35:13 calls the words boasts against him.
Possible or traditional reading
Identify the “two nations” of 35:10 as commonly understood to be Israel and Judah; compare their explicit identification as two kingdoms in 37:16–22.
Limit
Do not identify a present ethnic community as the target of this oracle or authorize private retaliation; 35:3–4 announces what the Lord will do to Seir.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What makes Seir’s conduct worse than merely having a hostile opinion?
What a good answer contains
It turned into bloodshed at the worst possible moment. "Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end" (35:5). The hatred was old, and it acted when Israel was already falling under Babylon. A good answer joins the attitude and the act, and notices the timing: Seir struck the wounded. Compare Obadiah 13-14. A weak answer treats the charge as dislike or rivalry, which the verse goes well beyond.
Show teacher guidance
Read 35:5 for bloodshed during Israel’s calamity; connect the enduring hatred to actions taken when others were vulnerable.
2. What does Seir expect to gain from the ruin of the two nations?
What a good answer contains
Land. "Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it" (35:10). In 35:12 Seir says of Israel's mountains, "They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume." Edom saw an empty country and moved to take it. A good answer names the material gain behind the words: territory, spoil, advantage. The two nations are most likely Israel and Judah, the two kingdoms later joined in 37:22. A weak answer misses that the hatred had a profit motive.
Show teacher guidance
Use 35:10 and 12: possession of the countries and consumption of the desolate mountains; name the material advantage behind the words.
3. Why does “whereas the LORD was there” interrupt the land claim?
What a good answer contains
Because the land was not empty. Seir claimed the two countries "whereas the LORD was there" (35:10). The land was God's; he had given it to Israel. So Seir's grab was not just against a defeated neighbour; it was against the LORD. Verse 11 says God will repay "according to thine anger, and according to thine envy", and verse 12 calls their words "blasphemies". A good answer sees that those five words turn a border dispute into an offence against God. A weak answer reads the phrase as a passing remark.
Show teacher guidance
Stay with 35:10–13: Seir treats the land as available spoil while the passage insists that its claim confronts the Lord.
4. What has the Lord heard that Seir may have treated as harmless boasting?
What a good answer contains
Every boast. "I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume" (35:12). Then, "Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them" (35:13). What Seir said about Israel, it said against God. A good answer sees that words spoken in triumph over others are heard in heaven. A weak answer speculates about Edom's private thoughts, when the passage speaks of what was said aloud.
Show teacher guidance
Collect the statements in 35:12–13 about Israel’s mountains and against God; distinguish overheard words from speculation about private motives.
5. How does the announced outcome answer Edom’s celebration?
What a good answer contains
With the same thing they celebrated. "As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it" (35:15). Seir rejoiced at desolation; desolation comes to Seir. Verse 14 adds, "When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate." A good answer names the matching judgment as God's justice. A weak answer turns the symmetry into permission for Israel, or for us, to gloat in return.
Show teacher guidance
Compare 35:14–15: rejoicing at Israel’s desolation is answered with Seir’s desolation; do not recast the symmetry as permission to gloat.
6. Why read the opening of chapter 36 immediately after this oracle?
What a good answer contains
Because the two chapters are a pair. Seir's mountains become "most desolate" (35:7), filled with the slain (35:8), "perpetual desolations" (35:9). Then God speaks to the mountains of Israel, which the enemy had claimed (36:2): "ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come" (36:8). The cities "shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded" (36:10). A good answer reads the contrast in the land itself: one mountain range emptied, the other filled. A weak answer reads chapter 35 as a stand-alone curse.
Show teacher guidance
Contrast Seir’s ruined mountains in 35:7–9 with Israel’s branches, fruit, and returning people in 36:8–12; let the geography carry the contrast.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Give the class an invented sentence that celebrates a rival’s failure; rewrite it without concealing wrongdoing or enjoying another person’s devastation.
Relationships and community
Ask groups to distinguish assisting a damaged community from exploiting its weakness for cheap property, status, or influence; anchor the contrast in 35:10–12.
Speech that has a hearer
Invite a third-person explanation of how “I have heard them” in 35:13 changes the apparent privacy of contemptuous boasting.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
Mount Seir
Locate Seir and Edom on a map. Read 35:1-4 and say clearly that this is an ancient people. Use confusion one.
Hatred and blood
Read 35:5-9 and take question one.
Whereas the LORD was there
Read 35:10-11 and take questions two and three.
I have heard
Read 35:12-15 and take questions four and five. Use confusion three.
The other mountains
Read 36:1-12 and take question six.
Handout
Read the key verse together and give out the sheet.
90 minutes
When a rival falls
Ask the group how people behave when a rival or old enemy hits trouble. Keep the answers.
Brothers and enemies
Read Genesis 36:8, Numbers 20:14-21 and Ezekiel 35:1-4. Take confusion one.
The time of calamity
Read 35:5-9 with Obadiah 10-14. Take question one.
The land claim
Read 35:10-11. Take questions two and three, and compare 37:16-22 for the two nations.
Overheard boasts
Read 35:12-13. Take question four and confusion three.
Matching judgment
Read 35:14-15 and take question five and confusion two.
Fruitful mountains
Read 36:1-12 and take question six. Return to the opening answers and use the application on helping rather than exploiting a damaged community.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together and pray for any who have been wronged and long for justice.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Tell children that the people of Edom were neighbours and relatives of Israel, but when Israel was hurt, Edom was glad and tried to take their land. God heard everything they said. Ask how we should act when someone we do not like is in trouble. Leave out the blood and slaughter. End with 36:8: God promised Israel's hills would grow fruit again.
Youth
Start with gloating: comments, laughter or posts when a rival team or person fails. Read 35:12-13 and talk about God hearing. Read 35:10 and discuss taking advantage of someone's weakness. Be very clear that this oracle is about ancient Edom, not anyone today. Use confusion two to talk about revenge.
Adults
Give time to the Edom tradition across Scripture: Genesis, Numbers, Psalm 137:7, Obadiah and Ezekiel 25 and 35. Discuss the charges of hatred, violence and land seizure, and the phrase "whereas the LORD was there". Talk about how communities can exploit others' disasters. Avoid any link to modern peoples, and give time to the contrast with chapter 36.
One to one
Ask the person whether they have ever felt glad at someone else's trouble, or been tempted to take advantage of it. Read 35:13 and talk about God hearing our words. If they have been badly wronged, read 35:3 and 36:8, and assure them that God sees and will judge rightly. Pray together.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Ezekiel 35:1–15
The passage in brief
God spoke against Mount Seir, the land of Edom, Israel's old neighbour and relative. Edom had hated Israel for a long time, and when Israel was falling it attacked them and rejoiced at their ruin. Edom said Israel's land would now be theirs, but God was there and the land was his. God heard every boast. He said that Edom would become desolate, while the mountains of Israel would bear fruit and be filled with people again.
A verse to keep
Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.
Ezekiel 35:13 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What did Seir do "in the time of their calamity" (35:5)?
What does "whereas the LORD was there" (35:10) add to Seir's claim?
What does God say he has heard in 35:12-13?
This week
When you hear someone being mocked in their trouble this week, refuse to join in, and pray for them.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
