The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Ezekiel 36
1 You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains
of Israel, and say, “You mountains of
Israel, hear Yahweh’s word.
2 The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because the
enemy has said against you, “Aha!” and,
“The ancient high places are ours in possession!
3 therefore prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord
Yahweh says: “Because, even because they
have made you desolate, and swallowed
you up on every side, that you might be
a possession to the residue of the nations,
and you are taken up in the lips of talkers,
and the evil report of the people;”
4 therefore, you mountains of Israel,
hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The
Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and
to the hills, to the watercourses and to
the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to
the cities that are forsaken, which have
become a prey and derision to the residue
of the nations that are all around;
5 therefore the Lord Yahweh says:
“Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have
spoken against the residue of the nations,
and against all Edom, that have appointed
my land to themselves for a possession
with the joy of all their heart, with despite
of soul, to cast it out for a prey.” ’
6 Therefore prophesy concerning the
land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the
hills, the watercourses and the valleys,
‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I have
spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath,
because you have borne the shame of the
nations.”
7 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “I
have sworn, ‘Surely the nations that are
around you will bear their shame.’
8 But you, mountains of Israel, you
shall shoot out your branches and yield
your fruit to my people Israel; for they are
at hand to come.
9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will
come to you, and you will be tilled and
sown.
10 I will multiply men on you, all the
house ofIsrael, even all ofit. The cities will
be inhabited and the waste places will be
built.
11 I will multiply man and animal on
you. They will increase and be fruitful. I
will cause you to be inhabited as you were
before, and you will do better than at your
beginnings. Then you will know that I am
Yahweh.
12 Yes, I will cause men to walk on you,
even my people Israel. They will possess
you, and you will be their inheritance, and
you will never again bereave them of their
children.”
13 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because
they say to you, ‘Youare a devourer ofmen,
and have been a bereaver of your nation;
14 therefore you shall devour men no
more, and not bereave your nation any
more,” says the Lord Yahweh.
15 “I won’t let you hear the shame of
the nations any more. You won’t bear the
reproach ofthe peoples any more, and you
won’t cause your nation to stumble any
more,” says the Lord Yahweh.
16 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me,
saying,
17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel
lived in their own land, they defiled it by
their ways and by their deeds. Their way
before me was as the uncleanness of a
woman in her impurity.
18 Therefore I poured out my wrath on
them for the blood which they had poured
out on the land, and because they had
defiled it with their idols.
19 I scattered them among the nations,
and they were dispersed throughthe countries.
I judged them according to their way
and according to their deeds.
20 When they came to the nations where
they went, they profaned my holy name, in
that men said ofthem, ‘These are Yahweh’s
people, and have left his land.’
21 But I had respect for my holy name,
which the house of Israel had profaned
among the nations where they went.
22 “Therefore tellthe house ofIsrael, ‘The
Lord Yahweh says: “I don’t do this for
your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy
name, which you have profaned among
the nations where you went.
23 I will sanctify my great name, which
has been profaned among the nations,
which you have profaned among them.
Then the nations will know that I am
Yahweh,” says the Lord Yahweh, “when I am
proven holy in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among
the nations and gather you out of all the
countries, and will bring you into your
own land.
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and
you will be clean. I will cleanse you from
all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 I will also give you a new heart, and I
will put a new spirit within you. I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and
I will give you a heart of flesh.
27 I will put my Spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes. You will
keep my ordinances and do them.
28 You will dwell in the land that I gave to
your fathers. You will be my people, and I
will be your God.
29 I will save you from all your uncleanness.
I will call for the grain and will
multiply it, and lay no famine on you.
30 I will multiply the fruit of the tree
and the increase of the field, that you may
receive no more the reproach of famine
among the nations.
31 Then you will remember your evil
ways, and your deeds that were not good;
and you will loathe yourselves in your
own sight for your iniquities and for your
abominations.
32 I don’t do this for your sake,” says the
Lord Yahweh. “Let it be known to you. Be
ashamed and confounded for your ways,
house of Israel.”
33 The Lord Yahweh says: “In the day
that I cleanse you from all your iniquities,
I will cause the cities to be inhabited and
the waste places will be built.
34 The land that was desolate will be
tilled instead of being a desolation in the
sight of all who passed by.
35 They will say, ‘This land that was desolate
has become like the garden of Eden.
The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are
fortified and inhabited.’
36 Then the nations that are left around
you will know that I, Yahweh, have built
the ruined places and planted that which
was desolate. I, Yahweh, have spoken it,
and I will do it.”
37 The Lord Yahweh says: “For this,
moreover, I will be inquired of by the
house of Israel, to do it for them: I will
increase them with men like a flock.
38 As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock
of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so
the waste cities will be filled with flocks
of men. Then they will know that I am
Yahweh.