I will lay your cities waste is literally “And I will make your cities into a ruin,” which means God will make the Edomite cities heaps of ruins. For the Hebrew word rendered waste, see the comments on 5.14, where it is translated “desolation.” This clause may be rendered “I will destroy your towns/cities” (New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version), “I will demolish your cities” (New Living Translation), or “I will leave your cities in ruins” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version).

And you shall become a desolation means the land of Edom “will become empty” (New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version), presumably of people, that is, all the Edomites will die. Desolation renders the same Hebrew noun as in the previous verse (see the comments there). One way to express this clause is “There will be no one left in your land.”

And you shall know that I am the LORD: When all the inhabitants of Edom are killed, then the country itself will recognize Yahweh as God. Those languages in which it is impossible to address a mountain or a country will have to use an indefinite “they” as the subject who recognizes Yahweh. F

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 .