Once again we come upon an ‘archaic’ word in the Holy Bible: sith. Found in Ezekiel 35:6:
“…sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.”
We can dismiss it as a ‘flyer,’ one of those hold-over words from Old English, and replace it with the commonly used quasi-equivalent, since. Or, we could just read a little and seek to understand, before casting it aside as ‘poetic’ or ‘archaic’.
Since (used as reference to time) — between then and now; from that time until now.
Sith — Continuously, perpetually from that time and including into the future. (Note that sith links the perpetual past to the perpetual future; whereas since links the past to the present, or to the immediate future.)
Now read Ez. 35:6 and watch the verbs: “sith thou hast not hated [past] blood, even blood shall pursue [future] thee.” Also note the time duration used to describe their hatred: “Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred…” (v. 5); and the future description: “I will make thee perpetual desolations…” (v. 9).
Perpetual — continuous hatred in the past leads to continuous desolation in the future. As a perpetual motion machine will continue, uninterrupted, unless an external force stops it, so are the past actions and prophetic statements regarding Esau’s hatred for Israel. The word sith fits perfectly: it’s an exact descriptor supporting the perpetual (past and future) sin and subsequent judgement of Esau. Maybe it’s a small thing, a minor and archaic word to some, but I appreciate the wonder, the absolute precision, of every word in our Holy Bible.