Ezekiel 36

1 “Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, 'Mountains of Israel, listen to the word of Yahweh.

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 The Lord Yahweh says this: The enemy has said about you, “Aha!” and “The ancient high places have 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 say, 'The Lord Yahweh says this: Because of your desolation and because of the attacks that came on you from all sides, you have become a possession of the other nations; you have been the subject of slanderous lips and tongues, and of people's stories.

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, mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says this to the mountains and the high hills, to the streambeds and valleys, to the uninhabited desolations and the forsaken cities that have become plunder and a subject of mocking for the other nations that surround them—

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 the Lord Yahweh says this: I have certainly spoken in the fire of my fury against the other nations, against Edom and all who took my land for themselves as a possession, against all those who had both joy in their heart and disdain in their spirit, as they seized my land that they might claim its pasturelands for themselves.'

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 to the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the high hills, to the streambeds and to the valleys, 'the Lord Yahweh says this: Behold! In my fury and in my anger I am declaring this because you have borne the insults 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, the Lord Yahweh says this: I myself will lift up my hand to swear that the nations that surround you will certainly carry 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 But you, mountains of Israel, you will grow branches and bear fruit for my people Israel, since they will soon come back to you.

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 I treat you with favor; you will be plowed and sown with seed.

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

10 So I will multiply upon you the number of your people, even the whole house of Israel. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.

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 I will multiply man and beast on you mountains so that they will multiply and be fruitful. Then I will cause you to be inhabited as you previously were, and I will make you prosper more than you did in the past, for you will know that I am Yahweh.

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 I will bring men, my people Israel, to walk on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will no longer cause their children to die.

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 The Lord Yahweh says this: Because they are saying to you, “You devour men, bereaving your nation of children,”

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 will not consume people any longer, and you will no longer make your nation mourn their deaths. This is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.

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 Nor will I allow you to hear the insults of the nations any longer; you will no longer have to bear the shame of the peoples or cause your nation to fall—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.'”

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 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

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

17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel inhabited their land, they defiled it with their ways and their deeds. Their ways were like the unclean menstruation of a woman 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 So I poured out my fury against them for the blood that they poured out on the land and for their pollution of it by 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 I scattered them among the nations; they were dispersed through the lands. I judged them according to their ways and their deeds.

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 Then they went to the nations, and wherever they went, they profaned my holy name when people said of them, 'Are these really the people of Yahweh? For they have been thrown out of 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 But I had compassion for my holy name that the house of Israel had defiled among the nations, when they went there.

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, 'The Lord Yahweh says this: I am not doing this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations everywhere you have gone.

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 For I will make my great name holy, which you have profaned among the nations—in the midst of the nations, you profaned it. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—when you see that I am holy.

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 I will take you from the nations and gather you from every land, and I will bring you to 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 Then I will sprinkle pure water on you so you will be purified from all of your impurities, and I will purify you from all of 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 I will give you a new heart and a new spirit in your innermost parts, and I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh. For I will give you a heart of flesh.

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 I will set my Spirit in you and enable you to walk in my statutes and keep my decrees, so you will do 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 Then you will inhabit the land that I gave to your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your 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 For I will save you from all of your uncleanness. I will summon the grain and multiply it. I will no longer put famine upon 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 I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field so that you will no longer bear the shame of famine among the nations.

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 Then you will think of your wicked ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will show loathing on your faces because of your own sins and your disgusting deeds.

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 doing this for your sake—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—let this be known to you. So be ashamed and disgraced because of your ways, 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 The Lord Yahweh says this: On the day that I purify you from all your iniquity, I will cause you to inhabit the cities and to rebuild the ruined places.

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 For you will plow the ruined land until it is no longer a ruin before the eyes of all who pass 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 Then they will say, “This land was desolate, but it has become like the garden of Eden; the desolate cities and the uninhabited ruins that were torn down are now fortified and inhabited.”

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 Then the other nations around you will know that I am Yahweh, that I built up the ruins and replanted the abandoned places. I am Yahweh. I have declared it and I will do 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 The Lord Yahweh says this: Again I will be asked by the house of Israel to do this for them, to increase them like a flock of people.

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 Like the flock is set apart for sacrifices, like the flock in Jerusalem at her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people and they will know that I am Yahweh.'”

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.