Ezekiel 36–37

CHAPTER 36

Mountains of Israel Will Bear Fruit

¹“Now as for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh.

²‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting ^1aheights have become our possession,’

³therefore prophesy and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “¹For good reason they have made you ^adesolate and bruised you from every side, that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations, and you have been taken up in the ^2bspeech of their tongue and the rumors of the people.” ’ ”

⁴‘Therefore, O ^amountains of Israel, hear the word of Lord Yahweh. Thus says Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities which have become ^bplunder and objects of scoffing to the rest of the nations which are round about,

⁵therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Surely in the fire of My ^ajealousy I have spoken against the ^brest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted ^cgladness and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for plunder.”

⁶‘Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have ^aborne the dishonor of the nations.’

⁷“Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘I have ¹sworn that surely the nations which are around you will themselves bear their dishonor.

⁸‘But you, O mountains of Israel, you will ^aput forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come.

⁹‘For, behold, I am for you, and I will ^aturn to you, and you will be ^bcultivated and sown.

¹⁰‘I will multiply men on you, ^aall the house of Israel, all of it; and the ^bcities will be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt.

¹¹‘I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will multiply and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were ^aformerly and will ¹treat you ^bbetter than at the first. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh.

¹²‘And I will cause ^amen—My people Israel—to walk on you and possess you so that you will become their ^binheritance and never again ^cbereave them of children.’

¹³“Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because they say to you, “You are a ^adevourer of men and have bereaved your ¹nation of children,”

¹⁴therefore you will no longer devour men and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ declares Lord Yahweh.

¹⁵“I will not let you hear ^adishonor from the nations anymore, nor will you bear ^breproach from the peoples any longer, nor will you cause your nation to ^cstumble any longer,” declares Lord Yahweh.’”

Yahweh’s Name Profaned Among the Nations

¹⁶Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

¹⁷“Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they ^adefiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like ^bthe uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.

¹⁸“Therefore I ^apoured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols.

¹⁹“Also I ^ascattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. ^bAccording to their ways and their deeds I judged them.

²⁰“Then they came to the nations to which they came. And they ^aprofaned My holy name because it was said of them, ‘These are the ^bpeople of Yahweh; yet they have come out of His land.’

²¹“But I ¹had concern for My ^aholy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

They Will Know That I Am Yahweh

²²“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “It is ^anot for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, to which you have come.

²³“I will ^aprove the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the ^bnations will know that I am Yahweh,” declares Lord Yahweh, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.

²⁴“And I will ^atake you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land.

²⁵“Then I will ^1asprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your ^buncleanness and from all your ^cidols.

²⁶“Moreover, I will give you a ^anew heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the ^bheart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

²⁷“I will ^aput My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to do My judgments.

²⁸“And you will inhabit the land that I gave to your fathers; so you will be ^aMy people, and I will be your God.

²⁹“Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I ^awill not ¹bring a famine on you.

³⁰“I will ^amultiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field so that you will not receive again the reproach of famine among the nations.

³¹“Then you will ^aremember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves to your own faces for your iniquities and your abominations.

³²“I am not doing this ^afor your sake,” declares Lord Yahweh, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and feel dishonor for your ways, O house of Israel!”

³³‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the ^acities to be inhabited, and the ^bwaste places will be rebuilt.

³⁴“The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by.

³⁵“And they will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the ^agarden of Eden; and the waste, desolate, and ¹ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’

³⁶“Then the nations that remain all around you will know that I, Yahweh, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, Yahweh, have spoken and ^awill do it.”

³⁷‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “This also I will let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock.

³⁸“Like the ^aflock for holy offerings, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed times, so will the waste cities be filled with ^bflocks of men. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”

CHAPTER 37

Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

¹The ^ahand of Yahweh was upon me, and He ^bbrought me out ¹by the Spirit of Yahweh and caused me to rest in the middle of the ^cvalley; and it was full of bones.

²He caused me to pass among them all around, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and behold, they were very dry.

³He said to me, “Son of man, ^acan these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord Yahweh, ^bYou know.”

⁴Then He said to me, “^aProphesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, ^bhear the word of Yahweh.’

⁵“Thus says Lord Yahweh to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause ^1abreath to enter you that you may come to life.

⁶‘I will put sinews on you, make flesh come up upon you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will ^aknow that I am Yahweh.’”

⁷So I prophesied ^aas I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a ¹noise, and behold, a rumbling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

⁸And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh came up upon them, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Come from the four ¹winds, O breath, and ^abreathe on these who were killed, that they may ^bcome to life.” ’ ”

¹⁰So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the ^abreath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an ^bexceedingly great military force.

¹¹Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the ^awhole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our ^bbones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are ¹completely ^ccut off.’

¹²“Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will open your graves and ^acause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

¹³“Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.

¹⁴“And I will ^aput My ¹Spirit within you, and you will come to life, and I will ²place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken and done it,” declares Yahweh.’”

Israel Will No Longer be Divided

¹⁵The word of Yahweh came again to me saying,

¹⁶“Now as for you, son of man, take for yourself ^aone stick and write on it, ‘For ^bJudah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^cJoseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’

¹⁷“Then ^adraw them together for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.

¹⁸“And when the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us ^awhat you mean by these?’

¹⁹say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’

²⁰“And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

²¹“And speak to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will ^atake the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

²²and I will make them ^aone nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and ^bone king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms.

²³“They also will ^ano longer defile themselves with their idols or with their detestable things or with any of their transgressions; but ^bI will save them from all their ¹places of habitation…