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.

Also, you son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear 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.”'

Thus says the Lord GOD; Because the enemy has said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:

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.

Therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the heathen, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy 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—

Therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that 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.'

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.

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.

Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because you have borne the shame of the heathen:

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.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; I have lifted up my hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.

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, you shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.

9 For behold, I am for you, and I treat you with favor; you will be plowed and sown with seed.

For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown:

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 multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be built:

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.

And I will multiply on you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better to you than at your beginnings: and you shall know 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 cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no more from now on bereave them of men.

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

Thus says the Lord GOD; Because they say to you, You land devour up men, and have bereaved your nations:

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.

Therefore you shall devour men no more, neither bereave your nations any more, says the Lord GOD.

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.'”

Neither will I cause men to hear in you the shame of the heathen any more, neither shall you bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shall you cause your nations to fall any more, says the Lord GOD.

16 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

Moreover 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 house of Israel dwelled in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.

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.

Why I poured my fury on them for the blood that they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had polluted it:

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 scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.

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 entered to the heathen, where they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of 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 house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, where 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.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the heathen, where 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 sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the middle of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified 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 from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own 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.

Then will I sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

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.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an 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 within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, 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.

And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your 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.

I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine on you.

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 multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

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.

Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

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 for your sakes do I this, says the Lord GOD, be it known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house 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.

Thus says the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be built.

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 desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed 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 shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.

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 heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken 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.

Thus says the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them 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.'”

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 the LORD.