Ezekiel 36
1 You human, prophesy about the mountains in Israel. Say to them, “You mountains in Israel, listen to what Yahweh says.
Also, thou son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of Jehovah.
2 This is what Yahweh the Lord says: Your enemies [happily] said about you, ‘Aha! The mountains in Israel that have existed for a long time have become ours!’”
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy hath said concerning you, “Aha! the everlasting heights have become our possession”;
3 Therefore prophesy about those mountains and say, “This is what Yahweh the Lord declares: [Armies of other nations] attacked you [DOU] from every direction, with the result that your land became abandoned, and people of other nations occupied you, and they spoke maliciously about you and slandered you.
therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because, yea, because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, so that ye have become a possession to the residue of the nations, and a subject for the lips of talkers, and a derision to the people;
4 Therefore, you mountains in Israel, listen to this message from me. I, Yahweh the Lord, have something to say to the hills and mountains, to the ravines and valleys, to the deserted ruins and towns whose valuable possessions have been taken and their people ridiculed by the people of other nations around them. This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare: I am very angry [DOU] with the people of Edom and other nations; they have forced you [Israeli people] to endure them insulting you.
therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, to the mountains and the hills, the valleys and the plain, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities, which are become a prey and a derision to the residue of the nations which are round about, —
therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, who have allotted my land to themselves for a possession, with joy of their whole heart, and with a despiteful mind, to cast it out for a prey.
Prophesy, therefore, concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the valleys and the plains, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the reproach of the nations.
7 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: Lifting up my arm, I solemnly declare that the people of the nations that are around you will also endure being insulted.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I have lifted up my hand, that the nations that are round about you, that they shall bear their reproach.
8 But [I say to] you mountains in Israel that huge crops of fruit will grow on your trees for my Israeli people, because they will soon return home [from Babylonia].
But ye, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches, and bear your fruit for my people Israel; for they are near coming.
9 I (am concerned about/will take care of) you, and I will bless you. I will [enable farmers to] plow the ground and plant seed there.
For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and ye shall be tilled and sown;
10 I will cause the number of people who live on you mountains and everywhere else in Israel to greatly increase. People will live in the towns and rebuild [houses where there are now only] ruins.
and I will multiply men upon you, even all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built.
11 I will cause the number of people and domestic animals to increase. People will have many children [IDM, DOU]. I will enable people to live there like they did previously, and I will enable them to prosper like they did before. Then you will know that it is I, Yahweh, [who have the power to do what I say that I will do].
I will multiply men upon you, and beasts; and they shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as of old, and will do better to you than in the ancient time; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
12 I will enable my Israeli people to walk through your mountains. They will own you; you will be their permanent possession. Never again will their children die.
Yea, I will cause men, even my people Israel, to walk upon you, and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of children.
13 This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say to you: People say that [only a small amount of food is produced on your mountains, and as a result the people of Israel] die from hunger.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because they say of you, “Thou hast devoured men, and made thy people childless!”
14 Therefore, I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that no longer will that happen.
therefore thou shalt devour men no more, and no more make thy people childless, saith the Lord Jehovah.
15 No longer will the people of other nations ridicule you; no longer will they laugh at you; no longer will [the armies of] other nations conquer you. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have declared that it will happen.”
Neither will I cause the reproach of the nations to be heard against thee any more, neither shalt thou bear the derision of the nations any more, neither shalt thou make thy nation childless any more, saith the lord Jehovah.
16 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
Moreover, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying:
17 “You human, when the Israeli people were living in their own land, they (defiled it/caused it to become unacceptable to me) by the things that they did. I considered that their behavior was [disgusting], like [SIM] the rags/cloths that women use during their monthly menstrual periods.
Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings; their way before me was as the impurity of an unclean woman.
18 So I severely punished [MTY] them, because they had murdered [MTY] many people and because they had defiled the land by [worshiping] idols there.
Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood which they had shed in the land, and because they had polluted it with their idols.
19 I caused them to be scattered among many nations [DOU]. I punished [MTY] them like they deserved to be punished because of their very evil behavior [DOU].
And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
20 And wherever they went among those nations, they caused my reputation [MTY] to be disgraced. What has happened is that the people in those countries said about the Israeli people, ‘They belong to Yahweh, but they were forced to leave the land that he [gave to them].’
And when they came to the nations whither they went, they polluted my holy name, in that it was said of them, “These are the people of Jehovah, and they are gone forth out of his land.”
21 But I was concerned about my reputation, which the people of Israel had disgraced among the nations to which they were forced to go.
Therefore I will have regard to my holy name, which the house of Israel have polluted among the nations whither they are gone.
22 Therefore, say to the Israeli people, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: You Israeli people, it is not for your sake that I am going to do these things. Instead, it is for the sake of my sacred reputation, which you have disgraced among the nations to which you were forced to go.
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Not for your own sakes do I this, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have polluted among the nations whither ye are gone.
23 I will show that my reputation is sacred, a reputation which you have disgraced among the nations to which you were forced to go. And when I show the nations that I am holy, the people of those nations will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].
And I will sanctify my great name, which hath been polluted among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall be sanctified in regard to you, before their eyes, saith the Lord Jehovah.
24 What I will do is to bring you back from those nations. I will gather you from all the countries [to which you were forced to go], and bring you back to your own land.
For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.
25 [It will be as though] [MET] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and then you will be clean. I will cause you to be cleansed from everything that has defiled you, and I will cause you to stop worshiping idols.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. From all your uncleanness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.
26 I will give you a completely new way of thinking [IDM]. I will enable you to stop being stubborn [IDM], and I will enable you to obey me from your inner beings [IDM].
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take out of your body the heart of stone, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
27 I will put my Spirit within you and enable you to carefully obey all my laws [DOU].
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my commandments and do them.
28 You will again live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.
And ye shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 I will free you from all your disgraceful behavior. I will cause your grain to be plentiful, and I will not send a famine to you again.
And I will save you from all your uncleanness. And I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and bring no famine upon you.
30 I will cause your fruit trees to produce plenty of fruit and your ground to produce plenty of good crops, with the result that you will no longer be ridiculed by the people of other nations because of your not having enough food.
And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.
31 When that happens, you will think about your previous evil behavior and wicked deeds, and you will (be very displeased with/hate) yourselves for your sins and the detestable things that you did.
Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings which were not good, and ye shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities, and for your abominations.
32 But I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that I want you to know that it is not for your sake that I will do those things. You Israeli people ought to be ashamed of your behavior.
Not for your own sakes do I this, saith the Lord Jehovah, be it known to you. Be ye ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!
33 This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: At the time that I forgive you for all the sins that you have committed, I will enable you to live in your towns again and to build houses where there are now only ruins.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day when I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, then will I cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places to be rebuilt;
34 People who walk through your country will see that your land is again cultivated instead of (being desolate/having nothing growing in it).
and the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
35 They will say, “This land that was ruined has become [very fertile/productive] like [SIM] the garden of Eden! The cities that were piles of ruins, empty and destroyed, now have walls around them, and people live in those cities.”
Then shall it be said, “This land, that was desolate, is become as the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.”
36 When that happens, the people in the nations that are around you that still exist will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have enabled you to rebuild what was destroyed, and to again plant crops in the fields that had nothing growing in them. I, Yahweh, have said [that it will happen], and I will cause it to happen.
Then the nations that are left around you shall know that I, Jehovah, have built that which was ruined, and planted that which was desolate. I, Jehovah, have spoken it, and I will do it.
37 This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: Again I will heed what you Israeli people are pleading for me to do for you. I will cause your people to be as numerous as your sheep,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Yet will I listen to the house of Israel, and do this for them. I will increase
38 as numerous as the flocks of sheep that will be needed for offerings in Jerusalem during your regular festivals. The cities that are now ruined will be filled with people, and then you will know that I, Yahweh the Lord, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].’”
them with men like a flock; 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 Jehovah.
