Ezekiel 36
Living Bible
36 “Son of dust, prophesy to Israel’s mountains. Tell them: ‘Listen to this message from the Lord.
2 “‘Your enemies have sneered at you and claimed your ancient heights as theirs; 3 they have destroyed you on every side and sent you away as slaves to many lands. You are mocked and slandered. 4 Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. He says to the hills and mountains, dales and valleys, and to the ruined farms and the long-deserted cities, destroyed and mocked by heathen nations all around: 5 My anger is afire against these nations, especially Edom, for grabbing my land with relish, in utter contempt for me, to take it for themselves.’
6 “Therefore prophesy and say to the hills and mountains, dales and valleys of Israel: ‘This is what the Lord God says! I am full of fury because you suffered shame before the surrounding nations. 7 Therefore, I have sworn with hand held high that those nations are going to have their turn of being covered with shame, 8 but for Israel good times will return. There will be heavy crops of fruit to prepare for my people’s return—and they will be coming home again soon! 9 See, I am for you, and I will come and help you as you prepare the ground and sow your crops. 10 I will greatly increase your population throughout all Israel, and the ruined cities will be rebuilt and filled with people. 11 Not only the people, but your flocks and herds will also greatly multiply. O mountains of Israel, again you will be filled with homes. I will do even more for you than I did before. Then you shall know I am the Lord. 12 My people will walk upon you once again, and you will belong to them again; and you will no longer be a place for burning their children on idol altars.’”
13 The Lord God says: “Now the other nations taunt you, saying, ‘Israel is a land that devours her people!’ 14 But they will not say this anymore. Your birthrate will rise, and your infant mortality rate will drop off sharply,” says the Lord. 15 “No longer will those heathen nations sneer, for you will no longer be a nation of sinners,” the Lord God says.
16 Then this further word came to me from the Lord:
17 “Son of dust, when the people of Israel were living in their own country, they defiled it by their evil deeds; to me their worship was as foul as filthy rags.[a] 18 They polluted the land with murder and with the worshiping of idols, so I poured out my fury upon them. 19 And I exiled them to many lands; that is how I punished them for the evil way they lived. 20 But when they were scattered out among the nations, then they were a blight upon my holy name because the nations said, ‘These are the people of God and he couldn’t protect them from harm!’ 21 I am concerned about my reputation that was ruined by my people throughout the world.
22 “Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord God says: I am bringing you back again, but not because you deserve it; I am doing it to protect my holy name, which you tarnished among the nations. 23 I will honor my great name, that you defiled, and the people of the world shall know I am the Lord. I will be honored before their eyes by delivering you from exile among them.[b] 24 For I will bring you back home again to the land of Israel.
25 “‘Then it will be as though I had sprinkled clean water on you, for you will be clean—your filthiness will be washed away, your idol worship gone. 26 And I will give you a new heart—I will give you new and right desires—and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your stony hearts of sin and give you new hearts of love.[c] 27 And I will put my Spirit within you so that you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.
28 “‘And you shall live in Israel, the land which I gave your fathers long ago. And you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will cleanse away your sins. I will abolish crop failures and famine. 30 I will give you huge harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines. 31 Then you will remember your past sins and loathe yourselves for all the evils you did. 32 But always remember this: It is not for your own sakes that I will do this, but for mine. O my people Israel, be utterly ashamed of all that you have done!’”
33 The Lord God says: “When I cleanse you from your sins, I will bring you home again to Israel, and rebuild the ruins. 34 Acreage will be cultivated again that through the years of exile lay empty as a barren wilderness; all who passed by were shocked to see the extent of ruin in your land. 35 But when I bring you back, they will say, ‘This God-forsaken land has become like Eden’s garden! The ruined cities are rebuilt and walled and filled with people!’ 36 Then the nations all around—all those still left—will know that I, the Lord, rebuilt the ruins and planted lush crops in the wilderness. For I, the Lord, have promised it, and I will do it.”
37-38 The Lord God says: “I am ready to hear Israel’s prayers for these blessings and to grant them their requests. Let them but ask, and I will multiply them like the flocks that fill Jerusalem’s streets at the time of sacrifice. The ruined cities will be crowded once more, and everyone will know I am the Lord.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 36:17 as filthy rags, literally, “as a menstruous cloth.”
- Ezekiel 36:23 by delivering you from exile among them, implied.
- Ezekiel 36:26 hearts of love, literally, “hearts of flesh,” in contrast to “hearts of stone.”
Ezekiel 36
King James Version
36 Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord:
2 Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:
3 Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:
4 Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;
5 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.
8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.
9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:
10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded:
11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
12 Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men.
13 Thus saith the Lord God; Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations:
14 Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord God.
15 Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God.
16 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land.
21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.
33 Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.
34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.
37 Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.