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 ok 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."

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, Revelation 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, Revelation 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, Revelation 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, Revelation 16:5.

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

Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee to blood, and blood shall pursue thee: since thou hast not {c} hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

(c) Except you repent your former cruelty.

35:6 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.

6. 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 (Ps 109:17; Mt 7:2; 26:52).

35:1-9 All who have God against them, have the word of God against them. Those that have a constant hatred to God and his people, as the carnal mind has, can only expect to be made desolate for ever.