Ezekiel 36

Blessing on Israel

1And you, mortal, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. 2#Ezek 25.3; 35.10; Hab 3.19Thus says the Lord God: Because the enemy said of you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient heights have become our possession,” 3#Jer 2.15; 18.16; 51.34; Ezek 35.13therefore prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: Because they made you desolate indeed and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and an object of gossip and slander among the people, 4#Ps 79.4; Jer 48.27; Ezek 6.3; 34.28therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted towns, which have become a source of plunder and an object of derision to the rest of the nations all around; 5#Jer 50.11; Ezek 25.12–14; 35.10, 12; 38.19; Mic 7.8therefore thus says the Lord God: I am speaking in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who, with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, took my land as their possession, because of its pasture, to plunder it. 6#Ps 123.3, 4; Ezek 34.29Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, to the watercourses and valleys: Thus says the Lord God: I am speaking in my jealous wrath because you have suffered the insults of the nations; 7therefore thus says the Lord God: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer insults.

8But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot out your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they shall soon come home. 9See now, I am for you; I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown, 10#v 33; Isa 27.6; Ezek 32.21, 22and I will multiply your population, the whole house of Israel, all of it; the towns shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt, 11#Jer 30.18; Ezek 16.55; 35.9and I will multiply humans and animals upon you. They shall increase and be fruitful, and I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. 12I will lead people upon you—my people Israel—and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance. No longer shall you bereave them of children.

13Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, “You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,” 14therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, says the Lord God, 15#Jer 13.16; 18.15; Ezek 22.4; 34.29and no longer will I let you hear the insults of the nations; no longer shall you bear the disgrace of the peoples, and no longer shall you cause your nation to stumble, says the Lord God.

The Renewal of Israel

16The word of the Lord came to me: 17#Lev 18.25, 26, 28; Jer 2.7Mortal, when the house of Israel lived on their own soil, they defiled it with their ways and their deeds; their conduct in my sight was like the uncleanness of a menstrual period. 18#Ezek 16.36–38; 22.20; 23.37So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land and for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19#Ezek 39.24; Am 9.9; Rom 2.6I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; in accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them. 20#Isa 52.5; Jer 33.24; Rom 2.24But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that it was said of them, “These are the people of the Lord, yet they had to go out of his land.” 21#Ps 74.18; Isa 48.9; Ezek 20.44But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

22 # Ps 106.8 Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23#Ps 126.2; Ezek 20.41; 28.25; 39.27I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations and which you have profaned among them, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes. 24#Ezek 34.13; 37.21I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25#Isa 52.15; Zech 13.1; Heb 10.22I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26#Ps 51.10; Ezek 11.19A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27#Ezek 11.19; 37.14I will put my spirit within you and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. 28#Jer 30.22; Ezek 11.20; 37.27Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29#Ezek 34.27, 29; Hos 2.21–23; Zech 13.1I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30I will make the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field abundant, so that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31#Ezek 6.9; 16.61–63; 20.43Then you shall remember your evil ways and your dealings that were not good, and you shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominable deeds. 32#Ezek 20.44It is not for your sake that I will act, says the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and dismayed for your ways, O house of Israel.

33Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the towns to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34The land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35#Isa 51.3; Ezek 31.9; Joel 2.3And they will say, “This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined towns are now inhabited and fortified.” 36#Ezek 22.14; 37.14; 39.27, 28Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.

37Thus says the Lord God: I will also let the house of Israel ask me to do this for them: to multiply their people like sheep. 38#1 Kings 8.63; Zech 11.17Like a consecrated flock, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed festivals, so shall the ruined towns be filled with flocks of people. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

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Ezekiel 36: NRSVUE

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