Ezekiel 35:6

Eze 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 pursue thee.

Ver. 6. I will prepare thee unto blood.] Thou shalt have blood thy bellyful, which thou hast so greedily sought and sucked. Satiabis te sanguine quem sitiisti, cuiusque insatiabilis semper fuisti, as the Scythian queen said to Cyrus’s head.

Even blood shall pursue thee.] As a bloodhound. It shall, it shall, believe me it shall.

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.

Except thou repent thy former cruelty.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I will prepare thee unto blood--I will expose thee to slaughter.

sith--old English for "seeing that" or "since."

thou hast not hated blood--The Hebrew order is, "thou hast hated not blood"; that is, thou couldst not bear to live without bloodshed [GROTIUS]. There is a play on similar sounds in the Hebrew; Edom resembling dam, the Hebrew for "blood"; as "Edom" means "red," the transition to "blood" is easy. Edom, akin to blood in name, so also in nature and acts; "blood therefore shall pursue thee." The measure which Edom meted to others should be meted to himself (Psa 109:17; Mat 7:2; Mat 26:52).

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

Verse 6. Blood shall pursue thee] Thou lovest blood, and thou shalt have blood. It is said that Cyrus and two hundred thousand men were slain in an ambush by Thomyris, queen of the Scythians, and that she cut off his head, and threw it into a vessel filled with blood, with this severe sarcasm: -

Satia te sanguine quem sitisti, Cyre.

"O Cyrus, now satisfy thyself with blood."

Hence, the figure: -

"Sarcasmus, with this biting taunt doth kill:

Cyrus, thy thirst was blood, now drink thy fill."

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

(6) I will prepare thee unto blood.—Rather, I will make thee blood. There is here a play upon the name of Edom in the original: I will make thee dom (=blood); Edom itself means red. The latter part of the verse brings out, as frequently, the congruity of the punishment: violence shall come upon him who has loved (“not hated “) violence.

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

6. prepare thee unto blood] make thee blood (cf. Eze_16:38, and on Eze_34:26), i.e. all blood—give thee over to universal slaughter. The clause “I will … pursue thee” is wanting in LXX.

sith thou hast not hated] The words might mean: surely thou hast hated (hatest) blood, and blood shall …, a sense not very clear, but probably similar to Eze_11:8, “Ye fear the sword, and I will bring the sword.” LXX. reads: ye have sinned even unto blood (Eze_22:4).

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.

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, Rev 16:14, or, "I will make thee blood" (w); 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, Rev 16:3,

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, Rev 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, Rev 16:5.

(w) "in sanguinem redigam te", Munster; "in sanguinem faciam te", Grotius; "sanguinem faciam te", Coceeius, Starckius.

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

Blood. The Machabees sprung from the same stock. Pursue the Idumeans, and force them to receive circumcision, 1 Machabees iv. 15.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As I live: God is true and constant to his threats against hardened sinners, and will be so as sure as he lives.

Prepare thee unto blood; I will dispose all things for war against thee, for a bloody war, in which thy blood shall be shed.

Blood, thy guilt and my just revenges of innocent blood, shall pursue thee, never leave till thou die for it.

Hast not hated blood; hast loved, rather than hated, bloodshed; therefore vengeance for it follows thee.

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

I will prepare thee unto blood. This peculiar expression was probably selected because of the suggestion of the name Edom ("red") contained in the term dam ("blood") though Smend doubts this and designed to intimate that Edom"s name would eventually be verified in Edom"s fate. And blood shall pursue thee. "As blood-guiltiness invariably pursues a murderer, cries for vengeance, and delivers him up to punishment" (Havernick), so should blood follow in the steps of Edom. The translation of Ewald, who reads instead of "And because thy inclination is after blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee," is hardly an improvement, and is besides unnecessary. Sith thou hast not hated blood . So render Ewald, Keil, Kliefoth, Havernick, Schroder, Plumptre, and the Revised Version, meaning that Edom had loved bloodshed. Kimchi, Hitzig, Hengstenberg, Smend, and Fairbairn regard aloAmai as a particle of strong affirmation, equivalent to "forsooth," "verily," and understand the prophet to say that "Edom had hated blood. As to the precise import of this rendering, diversity of sentiment prevails. Some, with Theodoret, explain "blood" as an allusion to the blood-relationship of Esau and Jacob, Edom and Israel, and hold the charge to be that Edom had hated his "brother" Israel. Others, with Hengstenberg, take the blood Edom hated to be the blood he had shed. Hitzig and Fairbairn suppose the sense to be that Edom hated the idea of his own blood being shed. Even better, therefore (Revised Version)blood shall pursue thee. A parallel to this expression is supplied by Deu_28:22, Deu_28:45. According to the first or commonly accepted exposition of thepreceding clause, the sense is that Edom would ultimately fall beneath the great law of retribution, and reap as she had sown blood for blood; according to the second, the allusion is to the fact that what Edom now most dreaded, the shedding of his own blood, would be that which should ultimately overtake him. (cf. Eze_11:8; Job_3:25)

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

And blood - Thy guilt, and my just revenge of innocent blood. Hast not hated - Thou hast loved, rather than hated, blood-shed; therefore vengeance for it follows thee.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

I shall make you into blood falling by the sword.

you hated blood You despised the birthright, for its sacrificial service was handed over to them (sic), but “you hated” to filthy yourself with the blood of sacrificial offerings in worship of Me. And the filth of the blood of the slain will pursue you. Others say: You hated the blood of circumcision (Gen. Rabbah 63:13). Others say: You fear murderers just as anyone else, and murderers will pursue you. Others say: “You hated blood,” [meaning that you hated] your brother, who is your flesh and blood.

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.