Ezekiel 35–36

Judgment on Mount Seir

35Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face against ^aMount Seir and ^bprophesy against it, ³and say to it, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you;

^cI will stretch out My hand against you,

And make you ¹most desolate;

⁴I shall lay your cities waste,

And you shall be desolate.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

^5d“Because you have had an ²ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, ^ewhen their iniquity came to an end, ⁶therefore, as I live,” says the Lord God, “I will prepare you for ^fblood, and blood shall pursue you; ^gsince you have not hated ³blood, therefore blood shall pursue you. ⁷Thus I will make Mount Seir ⁴most desolate, and cut off from it the ^hone who leaves and the one who returns. ⁸And I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those who are slain by the sword shall fall. ⁹ⁱI will make you ⁵perpetually desolate, and your cities shall be uninhabited; ^jthen you shall know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰“Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will ^kpossess them,’ although ^lthe Lord was there, ¹¹therefore, as I live,” says the Lord God, “I will do ^maccording to your anger and according to the envy which you showed in your hatred against them; and I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. ¹²ⁿThen you shall know that I am the Lord. I have ^oheard all your ^pblasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are desolate; they are given to us to consume.’ ¹³Thus ^qwith your mouth you have ⁶boasted against Me and multiplied your ^rwords against Me; I have heard them.”

¹⁴‘Thus says the Lord God: ^s“The whole earth will rejoice when I make you desolate. ^15tAs you rejoiced because the inheritance of the house of Israel was desolate, ^uso I will do to you; you shall be desolate, O Mount Seir, as well as all of Edom—all of it! Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” ’

Blessing on Israel

36“And you, son of man, prophesy to the ^amountains of Israel, and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord! ²Thus says the Lord God: “Because ^bthe enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! ^cThe ¹ancient heights ^dhave become our possession,’ ” ’ ³therefore prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, ^eand you are taken up by the lips of ^ftalkers and slandered by the people”—⁴therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, the hills, the ²rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which ^gbecame plunder and ^hmockery to the rest of the nations all around—⁵therefore thus says the Lord God: ⁱ“Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, ^jwho gave My land to themselves as a possession, with wholehearted joy and ³spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country.” ’

⁶“Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have ^kborne the shame of the nations.” ⁷Therefore thus says the Lord God: “I have ^lraised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall ^mbear their own shame. ⁸But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. ⁹For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. ¹⁰I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and ⁿthe ruins rebuilt. ^11oI will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and ⁴bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do ^pbetter for you than at your beginnings. ^qThen you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹²Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; ^rthey shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you ^sbereave them of children.”

¹³‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because they say to you, ^t‘You devour men and bereave your nation of children,’ ¹⁴therefore you shall devour men no more, nor bereave your nation anymore,” says the Lord God. ^15uNor will I let you hear the taunts of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to stumble anymore,” says the Lord God.’ ”

The Renewal of Israel

¹⁶Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁷“Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, ^vthey defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like ^wthe uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. ¹⁸Therefore I poured out My fury on them ^xfor the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. ¹⁹So I ^yscattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them ^zaccording to their ways and their deeds. ²⁰When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they ^aprofaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ ²¹But I had concern ^bfor My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.

²²“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, ^cbut for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. ²³And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am ^dhallowed in you before their eyes. ²⁴For ^eI will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ^25fThen I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you ^gfrom all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶I will give you a ^hnew heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put My ⁱSpirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ^28jThen you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; ^kyou shall be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹I will ^ldeliver you from all your uncleannesses. ^mI will call for the grain and multiply it, and ⁿbring no famine upon you. ^30oAnd I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹Then ^pyou will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you ^qwill ⁵loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. ^32rNot for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”

³³‘Thus says the Lord God: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, ^sand the ruins shall be rebuilt. ³⁴The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. ³⁵So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of ^tEden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. ^uI, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

³⁷‘Thus says the Lord God: ^v“I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will ^wincrease their men like a flock. ³⁸Like a ⁶flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its ⁷feast days, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”