Ézéchiel 36

Hope for the mountains of Israel

¹Now, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel. Say, Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD. ²The Lord GOD says this: The enemy said about you, “Aha! The ancient heights have become our property!” ³Therefore prophesy and say, The Lord GOD says this: They made you desolate and hounded you from every side, so that you became the property of the rest of the nations, and people talked and gossiped about you. ⁴therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. The Lord GOD says this to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, the desolate ruins and the abandoned towns that have been plundered and mocked by the rest of the nations around them.

⁵therefore the Lord GOD says this: In the fire of my jealousy I have spoken out against the other nations and against all of Edom. With hearts full of glee and with utter contempt, they took my land for themselves, so that they could plunder its pastures. ⁶Therefore prophesy about the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, The Lord GOD says this: I have spoken in my jealousy and my wrath, because you have suffered the scorn of the nations. ⁷Therefore the Lord GOD says this: I have raised my hand in an oath that the nations around you will themselves suffer scorn. ⁸But you, mountains of Israel, will put out your branches and produce your fruit for my people Israel, because they will soon come home. ⁹For I am on your side, and I will turn to you with favor. You will be plowed and planted. ¹⁰I will multiply the people living on you, the whole house of Israel, every one of them. The towns will be lived in, and the ruins rebuilt. ¹¹I will multiply people and animals on you, and they will increase and be fruitful. I will settle people on you as in the past, and I will make you more prosperous than you were at first. Then you will know that I am the LORD. ¹²I will lead people to walk on you again, my people Israel. They will take possession of you, and you will be their heritage. You will never again rob them of their children.

¹³The Lord GOD says this: People say about you, “You devour people, and you rob your nation of its children.” ¹⁴Therefore you will no longer devour people or rob your nation of its children, declares the Lord GOD.^{a 15}I will no longer let you hear the nations’ insults, and you will no longer bear the scorn of the peoples or make your nation fall, declares the Lord GOD.^b

For the sake of his holy name

¹⁶The word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁷Son of man, while the house of Israel was living in its own land, they made it unclean by their conduct and deeds. To me their conduct was like the impurity of a woman during her period. ¹⁸So I poured out my wrath on them because of the blood they had shed in the land and because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹I scattered them among the nations and dispersed them through the lands. I judged them by their conduct and their deeds. ²⁰Among the nations they came to, they profaned my holy name, for people said of them, “These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to leave his land.” ²¹But I was concerned for my holy name, the name the house of Israel profaned in the nations they went to.

A new heart and a new spirit

²²Therefore say to the house of Israel, The Lord GOD says this: I am not about to act for your sake, house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned in the nations you went to. ²³I will show that my great name is holy, the name that has been dishonored among the nations, which you dishonored among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, as I display my holiness through you before their eyes.^{c 24}I will take you out of the nations, gather you from every land and bring you back to your own country. ²⁵I will sprinkle pure water over you, and you will be clean. From all your impurities and from all your idols I will make you clean.^{d 26}I will give you a new heart, and I will place a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your bodies and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put my Spirit within you and make you follow my statutes and carefully keep my rulings. ²⁸You will live in the land I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹I will save you from all your impurities. I will call for the grain and make it abundant, and I will not send famine on you. ³⁰I will make the fruit trees and the fields produce plenty, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹Then you will call to mind your evil ways and the things you did that were not good, and you will be disgusted with yourselves for your guilt and your detestable practices. ³²I am not about to act for your sake, declares the Lord GOD. Be sure of that! Be ashamed and humiliated because of your conduct, house of Israel.

Like the garden of Eden

³³The Lord GOD says this: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will cause the towns to be lived in, and the ruins will be rebuilt. ³⁴The land that lay desolate will be farmed again, instead of lying waste for every passerby to see. ³⁵People will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden. The towns that lay ruined, desolate and torn down are now walled and lived in.” ³⁶Then the nations still left around you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted the wasteland. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.

³⁷The Lord GOD says this: This too I will let the house of Israel ask of me, and I will do it for them: I will make their people as many as a flock of sheep. ³⁸Like the flocks brought as holy offerings, like the flocks in Jerusalem at her appointed festivals, so the ruined towns will be crowded with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.