Ezekiel 36

1 “And you, son of man, prophesy to mountains of Israel, and you have said, O mountains of Israel, hear a word of YHWH!

And you, son of man, be a prophet about the mountains of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, give ear to the word of the Lord:

2 Thus said Lord YHWH: Because the enemy said against you, Aha! The high places of old have also become our possession,

This is what the Lord has said: Because your hater has said against you, Aha! and, The old waste places are our heritage, we have taken them:

3 therefore, prophesy, and you have said, Thus said Lord YHWH: Because, even because, of desolating, And of swallowing you up from all around, For your being a possession to the remnant of the nations, And you are taken up on the tip of the tongue, And [are] an evil report to the people.

For this cause be a prophet, and say, This is what the Lord has said: Because, even because they have been glad over you and put you to shame on every side, because you have become a heritage for the rest of the nations, and you are taken up on the lips of talkers and in the evil talk of the people:

4 Therefore, O mountains of Israel, Hear a word of Lord YHWH! Thus said Lord YHWH, to mountains, and to hills, To streams, and to valleys, And to ruins that [are] desolate, And to cities that are forsaken, That have been for a prey, And for a scorn, to the remnant of the surrounding nations,

For this reason, you mountains of Israel, give ear to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord has said to the mountains and to the hills, to the streams and to the valleys, to the unpeopled wastes and to the towns where no one is living, from which the goods have been taken and which have been put to shame by the rest of the nations who are round about:

5 Therefore, thus said Lord YHWH: Have I not, in the fire of My jealousy, Spoken against the remnant of the nations, And against Edom—all of it, Who gave My land to themselves for a possession, With the joy of the whole heart—with despite of soul, For the sake of casting it out for a prey?

For this cause the Lord has said: Truly, in the heat of my bitter feeling I have said things against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who have taken my land as a heritage for themselves with the joy of all their heart, and with bitter envy of soul have made attacks on it:

6 Therefore, prophesy concerning the ground of Israel, And you have said to mountains, and to hills, To streams, and to valleys, Thus said Lord YHWH: Behold, I, in My jealousy and in My fury, have spoken, Because you have borne the shame of nations.

For this cause be a prophet about the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the streams and to the valleys, This is what the Lord has said: Truly, in my bitter feeling and in my wrath I have said these things, because you have undergone the shame of the nations:

7 Therefore, thus said Lord YHWH: I have lifted up My hand, Do the nations who [are] surrounding you not bear their own shame?

For this cause the Lord has said, See, I have taken an oath that the nations which are round about you are themselves to undergo the shame which they have put on you.

8 And you, O mountains of Israel, You give out your branch, And you bear your fruits for My people Israel, For they have drawn near to come.

But you, O mountains of Israel, will put out your branches and give your fruit to my people Israel; for they are ready to come.

9 For behold, I [am] for you, and have turned to you, And you have been tilled and sown.

For truly I am for you, and I will be turned to you, and you will be ploughed and planted:

10 And I have multiplied men on you, All the house of Israel—all of it, And the cities have been inhabited, And the ruins are built.

And I will let your numbers be increased, all the children of Israel, even all of them: and the towns will be peopled and the waste places will have buildings;

11 And I have multiplied man and beast on you, And they have multiplied and been fruitful, And I have caused you to dwell according to your former states, And I have done better than at your beginnings, And you have known that I [am] YHWH.

Man and beast will be increased in you, and they will have offspring and be fertile: I will make you thickly peopled as you were before, and will do more for you than at the first: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

12 And I have caused man to walk over you—My people Israel, And they possess you, and you have been their inheritance, And you no longer add to bereave them.

Yes, I will have you walked on by the feet of men, even my people Israel; they will have you for a heritage and you will be theirs, and never again will you take their children from them.

13 Thus said Lord YHWH: Because they are saying to you, You [are] a devourer of men, And you have been a bereaver of your nations,

This is what the Lord has said: Because they say to you, You, O land, are the destruction of men, causing loss of children to your nation;

14 Therefore, you no longer devour man, And you do not cause your nations to stumble anymore, A declaration of Lord YHWH.

For this reason you will no longer take the lives of men and will never again be the cause of loss of children to your nation, says the Lord.

15 And I do not proclaim the shame of the nations to you anymore, And you no longer bear the reproach of peoples, And your nations do not stumble anymore, A declaration of Lord YHWH.”

And I will not let the shaming of the nations come to your ears, and no longer will you be looked down on by the peoples, says the Lord.

16 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

17 “Son of man, The house of Israel are dwelling on their land, And they defile it by their way and by their doings, Their way has been as the uncleanness of a separated one before Me.

Son of man, when the children of Israel were living in their land, they made it unclean by their way and their acts: their way before me was as when a woman is unclean at the time when she is kept separate.

18 And I pour out My fury on them For the blood that they shed on the land, And they have defiled it with their idols.

So I let loose my wrath on them because of those whom they had violently put to death in the land, and because they had made it unclean with their images:

19 And I scatter them among nations, And they are spread through lands, According to their way, and according to their doings, I have judged them.

And I sent them in flight among the nations and wandering through the countries: I was their judge, rewarding them for their way and their acts.

20 And one goes to the nations to where they have gone, And they defile My holy Name by saying to them, These [are] the people of YHWH, And they have gone forth from His land.

And when they came among the nations, wherever they went, they made my holy name unclean, when it was said of them, These are the people of the Lord who have gone out from his land.

21 And I have pity on My holy Name, That the house of Israel has defiled Among the nations to where they have gone in.

But I had pity for my holy name which the children of Israel had made unclean wherever they went.

22 Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus said Lord YHWH: I am not working for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy Name That you have defiled Among the nations to where you have gone in.

For this cause say to the children of Israel, This is what the Lord has said: I am doing this, not because of you, O children of Israel, but because of my holy name, which you have made unclean among the nations wherever you went.

23 And I have sanctified My great Name, That is profaned among the nations, That you have defiled in your midst, And the nations have known that I [am] YHWH, A declaration of Lord YHWH, In My being sanctified in you before your eyes.

And I will make holy my great name which has been made unclean among the nations, which you have made unclean among them; and it will be clear to the nations that I am the Lord, says the Lord, when I make myself holy in you before their eyes.

24 And I have taken you out of the nations, And have gathered you out of all the lands, And I have brought you into your land,

For I will take you out from among the nations, and get you together from all the countries, and take you into your land.

25 And I have sprinkled clean water over you, And you have been clean; I cleanse you from all your uncleannesses, And from all your idols.

And I will put clean water on you so that you may be clean: from all your unclean ways and from all your images I will make you clean.

26 And I have given a new heart to you, And I give a new spirit in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given a heart of flesh to you.

And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.

27 And I give My Spirit in your midst, And I have done this, so that you walk in My statutes, And you keep My judgments, and have done them.

And I will put my spirit in you, causing you to be guided by my rules, and you will keep my orders and do them.

28 And you have dwelt in the land that I have given to your fathers, And you have been to Me for a people, And I am to you for God.

So that you may go on living in the land which I gave to your fathers; and you will be to me a people, and I will be to you a God.

29 And I have saved you from all your uncleannesses, And I have called to the grain, and multiplied it, And I have put no famine on you.

And I will make you free from all your unclean ways: and at my voice the grain will come up and be increased, and I will not let you be short of food.

30 And I have multiplied the fruit of the tree, And the increase of the field, So that you do not receive a reproach of famine among nations anymore.

And I will make the tree give more fruit and the field fuller produce, and no longer will you be shamed among the nations for need of food.

31 And you have remembered your ways that [are] evil, And your doings that [are] not good, And have been loathsome in your own faces, For your iniquities, and for your abominations.

And at the memory of your evil ways and your wrongdoings, you will have bitter hate for yourselves because of your evil-doings and your disgusting ways, O children of Israel.

32 I am not working for your sake, A declaration of Lord YHWH, Be it known to you, Be ashamed and confounded, because of your ways, O house of Israel.

Not because of you am I doing it, says the Lord; let it be clear to you, and be shamed and made low because of your ways, O children of Israel.

33 Thus said Lord YHWH: In the day of My cleansing you from all your iniquities, I have caused the cities to be inhabited, And the ruins have been built,

This is what the Lord has said: In the day when I make you clean from all your evil-doings I will let the towns be peopled and there will be building on the waste places.

34 And the desolate land is tilled, Instead of which it was a desolation before the eyes of everyone passing by,

And the land which was waste will be farmed, in place of being a waste in the eyes of everyone who went by.

35 And they have said: This land, that was desolated, Has been as the Garden of Eden, And the cities—the dried up, And the desolated, and the broken down, [And the] fortified have remained.

And they will say, This land which was waste has become like the garden of Eden; and the towns which were unpeopled and wasted and pulled down are walled and peopled.

36 And the nations who are left around you have known That I, YHWH, have built the thrown down, I have planted the desolated: I, YHWH, have spoken, and I have done [it].

Then the rest of the nations round about you will be certain that I the Lord am the builder of the places which were pulled down and the planter of that which was waste: I the Lord have said it, and I will do it.

37 Thus said Lord YHWH: Yet this I am inquired of by the house of Israel to do for them: I multiply them as a flock of men,

This is what the Lord has said: The children of Israel will again make prayer to me for this, that I may do it for them; I will make them increased with men like a flock.

38 As a flock of holy ones, as a flock of Jerusalem, In her appointed times, So the dried up cities are full of flocks of man, And they have known that I [am] YHWH!”

Like sheep for the offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem at her fixed feasts, so the unpeopled towns will be made full of men: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.