25 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face towards the Ammonites and prophesy against them. 3 Say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God, Because you said, ‘Aha!’ over my sanctuary when it was profaned, and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and over the house of Judah when they went into exile,4 therefore behold, I am handing you over to the people of the East for a possession, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon a fold for flocks. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 6 For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within your soul against the land of Israel, 7 therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand against you, and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
8 “Thus says the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir said, ‘Behold, the house of Judah is like all the other nations’, 9 therefore I will lay open the flank of Moab from the cities, from its cities on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. 10 I will give it along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, that the Ammonites may be remembered no more among the nations, 11 and I will execute judgements upon Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
12 “Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom acted revengefully against the house of Judah and has grievously offended in taking vengeance on them,13 therefore thus says the Lord God, I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it man and beast. And I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword. 14 And I will lay my vengeance upon 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, declares the Lord God.
15 “Thus says the Lord God: Because the Philistines acted revengefully and took vengeance with malice of soul to destroy in never-ending enmity,16 therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the rest of the sea coast. 17 I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon them.”
The prophecy against Ammon is straightforward. Because in the time of Israel's misfortune Ammon had gloated over them, God was to punish them. This is something one sees again and again in the prophetic literature. God may punish His people, but woe betide anyone who mocks them in their distress, for God will not tolerate that. And God does not change in this; the principle is just as true in the 21st Century as it was in Ezekiel's time. The judgment pronounced on Moab (8-11) was that they, with Ammon, would be possessed by the 'men of the East', i.e. Bedouin tribesmen. This, as a matter of history, was fulfilled, and they are now no longer peoples, but forgotten about and out of existence. For a detailed description of the wickedness and remorseless cruelty of Edom (12-14), we need to read the small prophecy of Obadiah, which belongs to the period immediately preceding this. The reference in 14 is thought by scholars to have been fulfilled in the Maccabaean period, when the Maccabees visited judgment upon Edom, and subjugated them as a people. Next is Philistia (15-17), up on the Mediterranean coast. History shows that 'after Maccabaean times the Philistines completely vanished from sight as a people and only the names of their cities remained' (Taylor).