Ezekiel
Chapter 36
1 You, person of God, speak to Israel’s mountains and say, “Israel’s mountains, listen to God’s message:
2 God says: Because the enemy has claimed, “Aha, the ancient high places now belong to us,”
3 So, tell them, ‘God says: Because they have left you empty and taken you over from all sides, making you belong to the rest of the nations, and you have become the subject of gossip and a disgrace among the people.’
4 So, mountains of Israel, listen to God’s message; this is what God says to the mountains, hills, streams, valleys, empty ruins, and the abandoned cities that have become a target and mockery to the remaining nations nearby.
5 So this is what God says: In my fierce jealousy, I have spoken against the remaining nations and all of Idumea because they took over my land with great joy in their hearts and with spiteful thoughts, intending to take it as loot.
6 Predict what will happen to the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys that God says: Look, I have spoken in my anger and rage because you have suffered the disgrace of the nations.
7 So God says: I have made a promise, the nations around you will indeed carry their disgrace.
8 Mountains of Israel, you will grow new branches and make fruit for the people of Israel because they will soon return.
9 Look, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be plowed and planted.
10 I will increase the number of people in you, all of Israel, the whole place: the cities will be lived in, and the ruined places will be rebuilt.
11 I will increase the number of people and animals for you; they will grow and produce offspring. I will restore your homes as they were before, and I will improve your condition more than it was at the start. Then you will understand that I am God.
12 Yes, I will make people, my people Israel, walk on you; they will own you, and you will be their property, and you will not take away their people anymore.
13 God says, “Because people tell you, ‘You land, you eat up people and make your nations childless:’
14 So you will no longer eat people or make your nations childless, says God.
15 I will not let others hear the nations shame you again; you will no longer suffer the insults of the people, nor will you lead your own people to fall, says God.
16 God spoke to me again, saying,
17 Human, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they made it impure with their actions and behavior: to me, their way was as unclean as a woman during her monthly period.
18 So I unleashed my anger on them because of the blood they spilled on the land and the idols with which they defiled it.
19 I spread them among different nations, and they spread across many countries. I judged them based on their actions and their ways.
20 When they went among other nations, they dishonored my holy name because others said, ‘These are God’s people, and they had to leave his land.’
21 But I felt sorry for my holy name, which the people of Israel had dishonored among the nations where they had gone.
22 Tell the people of Israel, God says: I am not doing this for your sake, people of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have dishonored among the nations where you have gone.
23 I will make my great name holy, which you disrespected among the nations. You have disrespected it among them, and the nations will know that I am God when I show my holiness through you to them.
24 I will take you from the nations, gather you from all countries, and bring you to your own land.
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean: I will cleanse you from all your dirt and idols.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
27 I will put my spirit in you, and make you follow my rules, and you will obey my decisions, and follow them.
28 You will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
29 I will save you from all your impurities, and I will make the grain grow more and ensure there is no famine for you.
30 I will make trees and crops grow more so you won’t suffer hunger or be shamed by other nations.
31 Then you will remember your bad actions and deeds that were not good, and you will hate yourselves because of your sins and disgusting things.
32 I do this not for you, but let it be known, says God: feel shame and embarrassment because of what you have done, people of Israel.
33 This is what God says: When I have purified you from all your wrongdoings, I will let you live in the cities again, and the ruined places will be rebuilt.
34 The empty land will be farmed, where it was once empty for everyone who went by to see.
35 People will say, “This empty land has turned into a garden like Eden; and the ruined, empty cities are now protected and filled with people.”
36 Then the nations around you that remain will know that I, God, rebuild what was destroyed and regrow what was deserted: I, God, have said it, and I will do it.
37 God says: I will still be asked by the people of Israel to help them, and I will give them more people, like a flock.
38 Like a sacred herd, like the herd in Jerusalem during its festivals, the ruined cities will be filled with crowds of people, and they will understand that I am God.