Ezekiel 36–37

Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel

36“And you, ⁱson of man, prophesy to ^jthe mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ²Thus says the Lord God: Because ^kthe enemy said of you, ^l‘Aha!’ and, ‘The ancient ^mheights have become our possession,’ ³therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God: Precisely because ⁿthey made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and ^oyou became the talk and evil gossip of the people, ⁴therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to ^pthe mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, ^qthe desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become ^ra prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around, ⁵therefore thus says the Lord God: Surely I have spoken in ^smy hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and ^tagainst all Edom, who ^ugave my land to themselves as a possession ^vwith wholehearted joy and ^wutter contempt, that they might make its pasturelands a prey. ⁶Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to ^jthe mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord God: ^xBehold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered ^ythe reproach of the nations. ⁷Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^zI swear that the nations that are all around you ^yshall themselves suffer reproach.

⁸“But you, O mountains of Israel, ^ashall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for ^bthey will soon come home. ⁹For ^cbehold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and ^dyou shall be tilled and sown. ¹⁰And ^eI will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. ^fThe cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. ¹¹And I will multiply on you ^gman and beast, and ^hthey shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in ⁱyour former times, and ^jwill do more good to you than ever before. ^kThen you will know that I am the Lord. ¹²I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. ^lAnd they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer ^mbereave them of children. ¹³Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ⁿ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,’ ¹⁴therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord God. ¹⁵And I will not let you hear anymore ^ythe reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord God.”

The Lord’s Concern for His Holy Name

¹⁶The word of the Lord came to me: ^17o“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, ^pthey defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were ^qlike the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. ¹⁸So ^rI poured out my wrath upon them ^sfor the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols ^twith which they had defiled it. ^19uI scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. ^vIn accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, ^wthey profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ ²¹But I had concern ^xfor my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

I Will Put My Spirit Within You

²²“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^yIt is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, ^wwhich you have profaned among the nations to which you came. ^23zAnd I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. ^aAnd the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. ^24bI will take you ^cfrom the nations and gather you from all the countries and ^dbring you into your own land. ^25eI will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from ^fall your uncleannesses, and ^gfrom all your idols ^hI will cleanse you. ²⁶And I will give you ⁱa new heart, and ⁱa new spirit I will put within you. ⁱAnd I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ^27jAnd I will put my Spirit within you, ⁱand cause you to walk in my statutes and ^kbe careful to obey my rules.^{1 28l}You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ^myou shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹And ⁿI will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And ^oI will summon the grain and make it abundant and ^play no famine upon you. ^30qI will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, ^othat you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹Then ^ryou will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. ^32yIt is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

³³“Thus says the Lord God: On the day that ^sI cleanse you from all your iniquities, ^tI will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. ³⁴And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. ³⁵And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like ^uthe garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶Then ^vthe nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and ^wreplanted that which was desolate. ^xI am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.

³⁷“Thus says the Lord God: This also ^yI will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: ^zto increase their people like ^aa flock. ³⁸Like the flock for sacrifices,^{2 b}like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so ^tshall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. ^cThen they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Valley of Dry Bones

37^dThe hand of the Lord was upon me, and ^ehe brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;¹ it was full of bones. ²And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³And he said to me, ^f“Son of man, ^gcan these bones live?” And ^hI answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴Then he said to me, ⁱ“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ^jO dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause ^kbreath² to enter you, and you shall live. ^6lAnd I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and ^lcover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, ^mand you shall know that I am the Lord.”

⁷So I prophesied ⁿas I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, ^oa rattling,³ and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But ^pthere was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, ⁱ“Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, ^fson of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from ^qthe four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰So I prophesied ⁿas he commanded me, and ^rthe breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹Then he said to me, ^f“Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and ^sour hope is lost; ^twe are indeed cut off.’ ¹²Therefore ⁱprophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^uI will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And ^vI will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³And ^wyou shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴And ^xI will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; ^yI have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

I Will Be Their God; They Shall Be My People

¹⁵The word of the Lord came to me: ^16z“Son of man, ^atake a stick⁴ and write on it, ‘For ^bJudah, and ^cthe people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^bJoseph (the stick of ^dEphraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ ¹⁷And ^ejoin them one to another into one stick, that ^fthey may become ^gone in your hand. ¹⁸And when ^hyour people say to you, ⁱ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take ^jthe stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the ^jstick of Judah,⁵ and ^kmake them one stick, ^gthat they may be one in my hand. ²⁰When the sticks on which you write are in your hand ^lbefore their eyes, ²¹then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^mI will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and ^mbring them to their own land. ²²And ⁿI will make them one nation in the land, on ^othe mountains of Israel. And ^pone king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer ^qtwo nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. ^23rThey shall not ^sdefile themselves anymore ^twith their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But ^uI will save them from all the backslidings⁶ in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and ^vthey shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴“My servant ^wDavid ^xshall be king over them, and they shall all have ^yone shepherd.…