And you shall know that I, the LORD, have heard all the revilings which you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying: The Edomites will realize Yahweh has heard their insults concerning Israel. God is obviously able to have heard what the Edomites said, even if he was not physically present when they said it. The Hebrew pronouns for you are singular, referring to Edom as a nation. The Hebrew noun for revilings comes from a root meaning “despise” or “have contempt for,” so acceptable renderings are “taunts” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “insults” (New Century Version, Christian Community Bible), and “abusive speech” (New Revised Standard Version). Usually this word is used in the Old Testament in relation to God, so it may also be rendered “blasphemies” (King James Version / New King James Version, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) or “blasphemous talk” (Revised English Bible). Other possible renderings are “made fun of” (New International Reader’s Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) and “laugh at” (Contemporary English Version), even though contempt for God and his land is a serious issue. The mountains of Israel was the area where the Israelites originally settled and remained the core of the country (see the comments on 6.2).

Some translations break this sentence into two or more; for example, Revised English Bible has “you will know that I am the LORD. I have heard all your blasphemous talk about the mountains of Israel. You have said” (similarly King James Version / New King James Version, English Standard Version, New English Bible, New American Bible). By breaking the sentence in this way the opening clause is the recognition formula and applies to the Edomites, but this only makes sense if the recognition formula at the end of verse 11 relates to the Israelites, as we have recommended.

They are laid desolate, they are given us to devour: These were the insults of the Edomites concerning the land of Israel. They are laid desolate means the land was in ruins, empty and deserted (see 25.3). They are given us to devour is picture language that describes the Edomites eating the land (compare New Living Translation “they have been given to us as food to eat”). Translators may use this idiom if it is appropriate in their language; otherwise, a more meaningful rendering may be “They’ve been handed over to us. Let’s wipe them out” (New International Reader’s Version) or “Their land is ours to take” (similarly Contemporary English Version). This clause reminds us of the greed of the Edomites who wanted to take possession of the land after the destruction of Jerusalem (see verse 10), and it is in this greed that the Edomites’ contempt lay.

A model for this verse is:

• At that time you Edomites will know that I Yahweh have heard all the insults you made about the mountains of Israel, how you said that they are empty now and the land is yours to take.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .