Ezekiel 36
1 You human, prophesy about the mountains in Israel. Say to them, “You mountains in Israel, listen to what Yahweh says.
And thou, son of man, prophesy unto mountains of Israel, and thou hast said, O mountains of Israel, hear a 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 said the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy said against you, Aha, and the high places of old for a possession have been to us,
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 thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because, even because, of desolating, And of swallowing you up from round about, For your being a possession to the remnant of the nations, And ye are taken up on the tip of the tongue, And [are] an evil report of 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, O mountains of Israel, Hear a word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus said the Lord Jehovah, to mountains, and to hills, To streams, and to valleys, And to wastes that [are] desolate, And to cities that are forsaken, That have been for a prey, And for a scorn, to the remnant of the nations who [are] round about.
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: 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?
Therefore, prophesy concerning the ground of Israel, And thou hast said to mountains, and to hills, To streams, and to valleys, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I, in My jealousy, and in My fury, I have spoken, Because the shame of nations ye have borne.
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 said the Lord Jehovah: I — I have lifted up My hand, Do not — the nations who [are] with you from round about — they their own shame bear?
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].
And ye, O mountains of Israel, Your branch ye give out, and your fruits ye bear for My people Israel, For they have drawn near to come.
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, lo, I [am] for you, and have turned to you, And ye have been 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 have multiplied on you men, All the house of Israel — all of it, And the cities have been inhabited, And the wastes are 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].
And I have multiplied on you man and beast, 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 ye have known 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.
And I have caused man to walk over you, — My people Israel, And they possess thee, and thou hast been to them for an inheritance, And thou dost add no more to bereave them.
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 said the Lord Jehovah: Because they are saying to you: A devourer of men [art] thou, And a bereaver of thy nations thou hast been,
14 Therefore, I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that no longer will that happen.
Therefore, man thou devourest no more, And thy nations thou causest not to stumble any more, An affirmation of 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.”
And I proclaim not unto thee any more the shame of the nations, And the reproach of peoples thou bearest no more, And thy nations stumble not any more, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'
16 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
And there is a word of Jehovah unto 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, The house of Israel are dwelling on their land, And they defile it by their way and by their doings, As the uncleanness of a separated one hath their way been before Me.
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.
And I do pour out My fury upon them For the blood that they shed on the land, And with their idols they have defiled it.
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 scatter them among nations, And they are spread through lands, According to their way, and according to their doings, I have 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 one goeth in unto the nations whither they have gone, And they pollute My holy name by saying to them, The people of Jehovah [are] these, And from His land they have gone forth.
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.
And I have pity on My holy name, That the house of Israel have polluted among nations whither they have gone in.
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 said the Lord Jehovah: Not for your sake am I working, O house of Israel, But — for My holy name, That ye have polluted among nations whither ye have gone in.
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 have sanctified My great name, That is profaned among nations, That ye have polluted in your midst, And known have the nations that I [am] Jehovah, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In My being sanctified in you before your eyes.
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.
And I have taken you out of the nations, And have gathered you out of all the lands, And I have brought you in unto your 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.
And I have sprinkled over you clean water, And ye have been clean; From all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, I do 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].
And I have given to you a new heart, And a new spirit I give in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given to you a heart of flesh.
27 I will put my Spirit within you and enable you to carefully obey all my laws [DOU].
And My Spirit I give in your midst, And I have done this, so that in My statutes ye walk, And My judgments ye keep, and have done 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 have dwelt in the land that I have given to your fathers, And ye have been to Me for a people, And I — I am to you for 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 have saved you from all your uncleannesses, And I have called unto the corn, and multiplied it, And I have put 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 have multiplied the fruit of the tree, And the increase of the field, So that ye receive not any more a reproach of famine among 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.
And ye 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.
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 sake am I working, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Be it known to you, Be ashamed and confounded, because of 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 said the Lord Jehovah: In the day of My cleansing you from all your iniquities, I have caused the cities to be inhabited, And the wastes have been built,
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 is tilled, Instead of which it was a desolation before the eyes of every passer 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.”
And they have said: This land, that was desolated, Hath been as the garden of Eden, And the cities — the wasted, And the desolated, and the broken down, Fenced places have remained.
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.
And known have the nations who are left round about you, That I Jehovah have built the thrown down, I have planted the desolated: I Jehovah have spoken, and I have done [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 said the Lord Jehovah: Yet this I am required, By the house of Israel to do to them, I multiply them as a flock of men,
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].’”
As a flock of holy ones, as a flock of Jerusalem, In her appointed seasons, So are the waste cities full of flocks of men, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah!'
