Ezekiel 25:14

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

I will lay my vengeance on 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 Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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נִקְמָתִ֜י

nᵉqâmâh

H5360

“vengeance · my”

Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular

Appears 27× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Numbers 31:2

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H5359

TWOT: 1413b

vengeance - vengeance (by God, by Israel, by enemies of Israel)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

17: words
14: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

נִקְמָתִ֜י vengeance H5360 occurs in 22 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
12 nouns
2 particles

Verb forms

וְנָתַתִּ֨י Qal · Sequential Perfect
וְעָשׂ֣וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect
וְיָֽדְעוּ֙ Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

נִקְמָתִ֜י vengeance H5360 ×2
בֶּאֱד֗וֹם Edom H123 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 39 words from the Hebrew and 39 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 17 Hebrew tokens and 33 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 25:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 27:29 Let peoples serve you, Nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, Blessed be everyone who blesses you."
Isaiah 11:14 They shall fly down on the shoulder of the Philistines on the west; together shall they despoil the children of the east: they shall put forth their hand on Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
Deuteronomy 32:35–36 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, At the time when their foot shall slide: For the day of their calamity is at hand, The things that are to come on them shall make haste.
Psalms 58:10–11 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
Isaiah 63:1–6 Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
Jeremiah 49:2 Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon; and it shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel possess those who did possess him, says Yahweh.
Ezekiel 35:11 therefore, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I shall judge you.
Nahum 1:2–4 Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.

Hebrews 10:30–31 For we know him who said, "Vengeance belongs to me," says the Lord, "I will repay." Again, "The Lord will judge his people."
Revelation 6:16–17 They told the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 25:14 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְנָתַתִּ֨י אֶת נִקְמָתִ֜י בֶּאֱד֗וֹם בְּיַד֙ עַמִּ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְעָשׂ֣וּ בֶאֱד֔וֹם כְּאַפִּ֖י וְכַחֲמָתִ֑י וְיָֽדְעוּ֙ אֶת נִקְמָתִ֔י נְאֻ֖ם אֲדֹנָ֥י יְהוִֽה

I will lay my vengeance on 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 Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 25:14 Septuagint · lemma form

καί δίδωμι ἐκδίκησις ἐγώ ἐπί ὁ ιδουμαία ἐν χείρ λαός ἐγώ ἰσραήλ καί ποιέω ἐν ὁ ιδουμαία κατά ὁ ὀργή ἐγώ καί κατά ὁ θυμός ἐγώ καί ἐπιγιγνώσκω ὁ ἐκδίκησις ἐγώ λέγω κύριος

And I will execute my vengeance on Idumea by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall deal in Idumea according to my anger and according to my wrath, and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וְאֶתֵּן יַת פּוּרְעֲנוּתִי בֶּאֱדוֹם בְּיַד עַמִי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִתְמַסְרוּן וְיִתְפְּרָעוּן מִן אֱדוֹם כְּרוּגְזִי וּכְחֵימְתִי וְיֵדְעוּן יַת פּוּרְעֲנוּתִי אֲמַר יְיָ אֱלֹהִים:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 25:14 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 25:14 And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 14. I will lay my vengeance upon Edom.] Edam ultionem in Edom. See Eze 25:13.

By the hand of my people Israel.] In the time of the Macchabees likely this was done. Or, By the hand wherewith I shall smite my people; that is, by the Babylonians: so Piscator.

According to my fury.] And not as the commanders will. Titus would have saved the temple at Jerusalem from being burned, but the soldiers would not. {a}

{a} Josephus.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

by . . . my people Israel--namely, by Judas Maccabeus. The Idumeans were finally, by compulsory circumcision, incorporated with the Jewish state by John Hyrcanus (see Isa 34:5; Isa 63:1, &c.; 1 Maccabees 5:3). So complete was the amalgamation in Christ's time, that the Herods of Idumean origin, as Jews, ruled over the two races as one people. Thus the ancient prophecy was fulfilled (Gen 25:23), "The elder shall serve the younger."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 14. I will lay my vengeance upon Edom] God will not allow men to insult those whom he has cast down. His judgment is sufficient; to add more is an insult to God.

By the hand of my people Israel] This was fulfilled by the Maccabees, who not only defeated them and brought them under complete subjection, but obliged them to receive circumcision, Joseph. Antiq. l. xiii., c. 17; 1Macc 5:65; 2Macc 10:16.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) By the hand of my people Israel.—This points distinctly to the fact that the Divine vengeance on Edom should be accomplished by the hand of the Israelites, a prophecy which was fulfilled when they were conquered by John Hyrcanus, and compelled to submit to circumcision as a mark of absorption into the Jewish people. Subsequently Herod (who was himself of Idumean origin), as king of the Jews, reigned over them, and their name disappeared from history.

Many commentators would see in this prophecy a further intimation of their ultimate conversion and incorporation into the Church; but this seems quite foreign, not only to the scope of this series of prophecies, but especially to the connection, “I will lay my vengeance upon Edom,” and “they shall know my vengeance.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

14. the hand of my people] Cf. Oba_1:18, “the house of Jacob shall be a fire … and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall burn among them and devour them.” Isa_11:14, Zep_2:9.

know my vengeance] that it is I who take vengeance upon them (Eze_25:4); Isa_34:8.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by fie hand of my people Israel,.... This was fulfilled in the times of the Maccabees, when Judas Maccabins overthrew and conquered them,

"Then Judas fought against the children of Esau in Idumea at Arabattine, because they besieged Gael: and he gave them a great overthrow, and abated their courage, and took their spoils.'' (1 Maccabees 5:3)

and when Hyrcanus took their cities, and subdued them, and they became Jews, as Josephus (x) relates; though Kimchi thinks this refers to future time, and is yet to be accomplished; and it is, by the ancient Jews (y), understood of the times of the Messiah: some choose to understand the phrase,

by the hand of my people Israel, the same hand by which judgment was inflicted upon Israel; suggesting that by the same hand vengeance would be inflicted on the Edomites, namely, by the Babylonians:

and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; that is, shall execute all the anger and fury, or all that punishment in anger and fury, which the Lord in righteous judgment has appointed them to, and has determined shall be performed upon them, by the children of Israel or the Babylonians, as his instruments:

and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God; the meaning is, they shall feel it, and be sensible of it, and know that it comes from the Lord himself; full of resentment against them, and highly displeased at their behaviour towards his people Israel.

(x) Antiqu. l. 13. c. 9. sect. 1. (y) In Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 179. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

I will lay my vengeance upon Edom; which as it is great, so just, sure, and opportune, their foot slideth in due time, Deu 32:35.

By the hand of my people Israel; no history mentions the fulfilling of this, as it sounds in the letter of it, unless 1Ma 5:3,2; Ma 10:16,17; some therefore interpret, by the hand, by the same hand, that I used in punishing my people Israel; others refer it to a spiritual meaning, as Isa 11:14; Jer 49:2; Ob 21.

They; the instruments God used, whether Maccabees in after-times, or the Chaldeans in that present age.

Shall do in Edom according to my anger; my just displeasure, as it set them on work, shall give them their strength and measures; they shall do as much as I intended against Edom.

And according to my fury; redoubled to affect the more, and confirm the prediction.

They shall know my vengeance; both Edom, my people, and those I employ, shall see this was my quarrel, which I threatened to revenge, and now have done it, and Edom shall know I am not like their gods, though they said so, Eze 25:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

By the hand of my people Israel: The words received a fulfillment in the conquest of Edom by John Hyrcanus, who compelled its people to receive circumcision (Josephus, "Ant.," 13:9. 1). In Amo_9:12 its subjugation is connected with the Messianic prophecy that thefallen tabernacle of David should be raised up. There is an obvious emphasis in the repetition of the word vengeance. The law of a Divine retribution will work out its appointed purpose-vengeance to those who sought vengeance. They (the Edomites) shall reap as they have sown, and shall know that the vengeance of Jehovah is more terrible than their own.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel

Here the "hand" of Israel is a metonym for Israel's army. Yahweh speaks of taking revenge on the people of Edom as if his vengeance were like a sheet that he covered them with. The abstract noun "vengeance" can be translated with the verb "to punish." AT: "I will use my people Israel to punish the people of Edom" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)

they will do to Edom according to my anger and my fury

"they will show Edom my anger and fury" or "they will punish Edom according to my anger and fury against the people of Edom"

my anger and my fury

The word "fury" means basically the same thing as and intensifies the word "anger." AT: "my furious anger" or "my extreme anger" (See: Doublet)

they will know my vengeance

The abstract noun "vengeance" can be translated with the verb "to punish." AT: "the people of Edom will know that I have punished them" (See: Abstract Nouns)

this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 5:11. AT: "this is what the Lord Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

translationWords

avenge

people of God

anger

declare

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

by the hand of My people Israel They will be My agents to wreak My vengeance.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 17 words (14 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is nᵉqâmâh (“vengeance”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “vengeance” (nᵉqâmâh) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Numbers 31:2, which shares the word «vengeance», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “vengeance” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«וְנָתַתִּ֨י» is a Qal Sequential Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 17 Hebrew ↔ 33 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
“vengeance” occurs 2× in this single verse.
14 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 17 words in this verse.