1‘Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel. Tell them, “Mountains of Israel, listen to the LORD’s message.2The LORD and King says, ‘Your enemies made fun of you. They boasted, “The hills you lived in for a long time belong to us now.” ’ ”3Ezekiel, prophesy. Say, “The LORD and King says, ‘Your enemies destroyed you. They crushed you from every side. So the rest of the nations took over your land. People talked about you. They told lies about you.’ ” ’4Mountains of Israel, listen to the message of the LORD and King. He speaks to you mountains, hills, canyons and valleys. He speaks to you destroyed cities and deserted towns. The rest of the nations around you took away from you everything of value. They made fun of you.5So the LORD and King says, ‘I am very angry with those nations. I have spoken against them and the whole land of Edom. They were very happy when they took over my land. Deep down inside them, they hated Israel. They wanted to take its grasslands.6Ezekiel, prophesy about the land of Israel. Speak to the mountains, hills, canyons and valleys. Tell them, “The LORD and King says, ‘I have a jealous anger against the nations. They have laughed at you.’7So the LORD and King says, ‘I raise my hand and make a promise. I promise that the nations around you will also be laughed at.8‘ “ ‘Mountains of Israel, you will produce branches and bear fruit for my people Israel. They will come home soon.9I am concerned about you. I will do good things for you. Farmers will plough your ground. They will plant seeds in it.10I will cause many people to live in Israel. The towns will no longer be empty. Their broken-down houses will be rebuilt.11I will cause many people and animals to live in you, Israel. They will have many babies. I will cause people to make their homes in your towns, just as I did in the past. I will help you succeed more than ever before. Then you will know that I am the LORD.12I will let my people Israel live there again. They will possess you. They will receive you as their own. You will never take their children away from them again.’ ” ’13The LORD and King says, ‘People say to you mountains, “You destroy people. You let your nation’s children be taken away.”14But I will not let you destroy people anymore. I will no longer let your nation’s children be taken away,’ announces the LORD and King.15‘You will not have to listen to the nations laughing at you anymore. People will no longer make fun of you. You will not let your nation fall,’ announces the LORD and King.
Israel will surely be rebuilt
16Another message from the LORD came to me. The LORD said,17‘Son of man, the people of Israel used to live in their own land. But they made it “unclean” because of how they acted and the way they lived. To me they were “unclean” like a woman having her monthly period.18They spilled people’s blood in the land. They made the land “unclean” by worshipping other gods. So I poured out my great anger on them.19I scattered them among the nations. I sent them to other countries. I judged them based on how they acted and on how they lived.20They treated my name as if it were not holy. They did it everywhere they went among the nations. People said about them, “They are the LORD’s people. But they were forced to leave his land.”21I was concerned about my holy name. The people of Israel treated it as if it were not holy. They did it everywhere they went among the nations.22‘So tell the Israelites, “The LORD and King speaks. He says, ‘People of Israel, I will not take action for your benefit. Instead, I will act for the honour of my holy name. You have treated it as if it were not holy. You did it everywhere you went among the nations.23But I will show everyone how holy my great name is. You have treated it as if it were not holy. So I will use you to prove to the nations how holy I am. Then they will know that I am the LORD,’ announces the LORD and King.24‘ “ ‘I will take you out of the nations. I will gather you together from all the countries. I will bring you back into your own land.25I will sprinkle pure water on you. Then you will be “clean”. I will make you completely pure and “clean”. I will take all the statues of your gods away from you.26I will give you new hearts. I will give you a new spirit that is faithful to me. I will remove your stubborn hearts from you. I will give you hearts that obey me.27I will put my Spirit in you. I will make you want to obey my rules. I want you to be careful to keep my laws.28Then you will live in the land I gave your people of long ago. You will be my people. And I will be your God.29I will save you from all your “uncleanness”. I will give you plenty of corn. You will have more than enough. So you will never be hungry again.30I will multiply the fruit on your trees. I will increase the crops in your fields. Then the nations will no longer make fun of you because you are hungry.31You will remember your evil ways and the sinful things you have done. You will hate yourselves because you have sinned so much. I also hate your evil practices.32I want you to know that I am not doing those things for your benefit,’ announces the LORD and King. ‘People of Israel, you should be ashamed of yourselves! Your conduct has brought dishonour to you.’ ” ’33The LORD and King says, ‘I will make you pure from all your sins. On that day I will give you homes in your towns again. Your broken-down houses will be rebuilt.34The dry and empty land will be farmed again. Everyone who passes through it will see that it is no longer empty.35They will say, “This land was completely destroyed. But now it’s like the Garden of Eden. The cities were full of broken-down buildings. They were destroyed and empty. But now they have high walls around them. And people live in them.”36Then the nations that remain around you will know that I have rebuilt what was once destroyed. I have planted again the fields that were once empty. I have spoken. And I will do this. I am the LORD.’37The LORD and King says, ‘Once again I will answer Israel’s prayer. Here is what I will do for them. I will multiply them as if they were sheep.38Large flocks of animals are sacrificed at Jerusalem during the appointed feasts there. In the same way, the destroyed cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’
Ezekiel 36
English Standard Version
Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel
1“And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. (Eze 2:1; Eze 6:2)2Thus says the Lord God: Because the enemy said of you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The ancient heights have become our possession,’ (De 32:13; Eze 25:3; Eze 26:2; Eze 35:10; Eze 35:12; Eze 36:5)3therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people, (La 2:15; Eze 6:3)4therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around, (Eze 6:3; Eze 7:21; Eze 33:24; Eze 33:27)5therefore thus says the Lord God: Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey. (De 4:24; Eze 25:6; Eze 35:10; Eze 35:15; Eze 36:3)6Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. (Eze 32:24; Eze 36:1; Eze 36:5)7Therefore thus says the Lord God: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach. (Eze 20:5; Eze 36:6)8“But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home. (Isa 56:1; Eze 12:23; Eze 17:23)9For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. (Eze 5:8; Eze 36:34)10And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. (Jer 30:19; Eze 36:33; Eze 36:35; Eze 36:37; Eze 37:26)11And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply 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 will know that I am the Lord. (Ge 1:28; Job 42:12; Jer 31:27; Jer 33:12; Eze 6:7; Eze 16:55)12I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children. (Eze 5:17; Ob 1:17)13Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,’ (Nu 13:32)14therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord God.15And I will not let you hear anymore the reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord God.” (Eze 36:6)
The Lord’s Concern for His Holy Name
16The word of the Lord came to me:17“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. (Le 18:19; Le 18:25; Eze 2:1)18So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. (Eze 5:11; Eze 7:8; Eze 16:36; Eze 22:3)19I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. (Eze 5:10; Eze 18:30)20But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ (Isa 52:5; Eze 22:26; Ro 2:24)21But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. (Isa 43:25; Isa 48:11; Eze 20:9)
I Will Put My Spirit Within You
22“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. (De 9:5; Eze 36:20; Eze 36:32)23And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. (Eze 6:7; Eze 20:41; Eze 30:19; Eze 30:26; Eze 38:23; Eze 39:7; Eze 39:21)24I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. (Ps 44:11; Eze 11:17; Eze 37:12; Eze 37:21)25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. (Isa 4:4; Isa 52:15; Jer 33:8; Eze 36:17; Eze 37:23; Heb 10:22)26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Eze 11:19)27And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.[1] (Eze 36:26; Eze 37:14; Eze 37:24)28You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Eze 11:20; Eze 28:25)29And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. (Eze 34:29; Eze 37:23; Joe 2:19; Zec 9:17; Mt 1:21)30I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. (Eze 34:27; Eze 36:29)31Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. (Eze 6:9)32It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. (Eze 36:22)33“Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. (Eze 36:9; Eze 36:25)34And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by.35And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ (Isa 51:3)36Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it. (Ps 126:2; Eze 17:24; Eze 34:29)37“Thus says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. (Eze 14:3; Eze 34:31; Eze 36:10)38Like the flock for sacrifices,[2] like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (2Ch 35:7; Eze 6:7; Eze 36:33)