^36:24“ ‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land. ^36:25I will sprinkle you with pure water¹⁷ and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. ^36:26I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone¹⁸ from your body and give you a heart of flesh.¹⁹^36:27I will put my Spirit within you;²⁰ I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes²¹ and carefully observe my regulations.²²^36:28Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.²³^36:29I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it; I will not bring a famine on you. ^36:30I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. ^36:31Then you will remember your evil behavior²⁴ and your deeds which were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds. ^36:32Understand that²⁵ it is not for your sake I am about to act, declares the sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and embarrassed by your behavior, O house of Israel.

^36:33“ ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will populate the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt. ^36:34The desolate land will be plowed, instead of being desolate in the sight of everyone who passes by. ^36:35They will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited.” ^36:36Then the nations which remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken—and I will do it!’

^36:37“This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them:²⁶ I will multiply their people like sheep.²⁷^36:38Like the sheep for offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem²⁸ during her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Read in Logos

Ezekiel 36:26: And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Footnotes

17 The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19–20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.
18 That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination ( Sukkah 52a).
19 That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.
20 Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.
21 Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.
22 Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31–34 is parallel to this passage.
23 This promise reflects the ancient covenantal ideal (see Exod 6:7).
24 Heb “ways.”
25 Heb “Let it be known.”
26 The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”
27 Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”
28 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .