36Ezekiel 36

God's Blessing on Israel

1The Lord said, “Mortal man, speak to the mountains of Israel and tell them to listen to the message which I,Select Ezekiel 36:1

2the Sovereign Lord, have for them: Israel's enemies gloated and said, ‘Now those ancient hills are ours!’Select Ezekiel 36:2

3“Prophesy, then, and announce what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. When the neighboring nations captured and plundered the mountains of Israel, everyone made fun of Israel.Select Ezekiel 36:3

4So now listen to what I, the Sovereign Lord, say to you mountains and hills, to you brooks and valleys, to you places that were left in ruins, and to you deserted cities which were plundered and mocked by all the surrounding nations.Select Ezekiel 36:4

5“I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken out in the heat of my anger against the surrounding nations, and especially against Edom. With glee and contempt they captured my land and took possession of its pastures.Select Ezekiel 36:5

6“So prophesy to the land of Israel; tell the mountains, hills, brooks, and valleys what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying in jealous anger because of the way the nations have insulted and humiliated them.Select Ezekiel 36:6

7I, the Sovereign Lord, solemnly promise that the surrounding nations will be humiliated.Select Ezekiel 36:7

8But on the mountains of Israel the trees will again grow leaves and bear fruit for you, my people Israel. You are going to come home soon.Select Ezekiel 36:8

9I am on your side, and I will make sure that your land is plowed again and crops are planted on it.Select Ezekiel 36:9

10I will make your population grow. You will live in the cities and rebuild everything that was left in ruins.Select Ezekiel 36:10

11I will make people and cattle increase in number. There will be more of you than ever before, and you will have many children. I will let you live there as you used to live, and I will make you more prosperous than ever. Then you will know that I am the Lord.Select Ezekiel 36:11

12I will bring you, my people Israel, back to live again in the land. It will be your own land, and it will never again let your children starve.Select Ezekiel 36:12

13“I, the Sovereign Lord, say: It is true that people say that the land eats people and that it robs the nation of its children.Select Ezekiel 36:13

14But from now on it will no longer eat people and rob you of your children. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.Select Ezekiel 36:14

15The land will no longer have to listen to the nations making fun of it or see the peoples sneer at it. The land will no longer rob the nation of its children. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”Select Ezekiel 36:15

Israel's New Life

16The Lord spoke to me.Select Ezekiel 36:16

17“Mortal man,” he said, “when the Israelites were living in their land, they defiled it by the way they lived and acted. I regarded their behavior as being as ritually unclean as a woman is during her monthly period.Select Ezekiel 36:17

18I let them feel the force of my anger because of the murders they had committed in the land and because of the idols by which they had defiled it.Select Ezekiel 36:18

19I condemned them for the way they lived and acted, and I scattered them through foreign countries.Select Ezekiel 36:19

20Wherever they went, they brought disgrace on my holy name, because people would say, ‘These are the people of the Lord, but they had to leave his land.’Select Ezekiel 36:20

21That made me concerned for my holy name, since the Israelites brought disgrace on it everywhere they went.Select Ezekiel 36:21

22“Now then, give the Israelites the message that I, the Sovereign Lord, have for them: What I am going to do is not for the sake of you Israelites, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have disgraced in every country where you have gone.Select Ezekiel 36:22

23When I demonstrate to the nations the holiness of my great name—the name you disgraced among them—then they will know that I am the Lord. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. I will use you to show the nations that I am holy.Select Ezekiel 36:23

24I will take you from every nation and country and bring you back to your own land.Select Ezekiel 36:24

25I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you.Select Ezekiel 36:25

26I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart.Select Ezekiel 36:26

27I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you.Select Ezekiel 36:27

28Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.Select Ezekiel 36:28

29I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will command the grain to be plentiful, so that you will not have any more famines.Select Ezekiel 36:29

30I will increase the yield of your fruit trees and your fields, so that there will be no more famines to disgrace you among the nations.Select Ezekiel 36:30

31You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins and your iniquities.Select Ezekiel 36:31

32Israel, I want you to know that I am not doing all this for your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”Select Ezekiel 36:32

33The Sovereign Lord says, “When I make you clean from all your sins, I will let you live in your cities again and let you rebuild the ruins.Select Ezekiel 36:33

34Everyone who used to walk by your fields saw how overgrown and wild they were, but I will let you farm them again.Select Ezekiel 36:34

35Everyone will talk about how this land, which was once a wilderness, has become like the Garden of Eden, and how the cities which were torn down, looted, and left in ruins, are now inhabited and fortified.Select Ezekiel 36:35

36Then the neighboring nations that have survived will know that I, the Lord, rebuild ruined cities and replant waste fields. I, the Lord, have promised that I would do this—and I will.”Select Ezekiel 36:36

37The Sovereign Lord says, “I will once again let the Israelites ask me for help, and I will let them increase in numbers like a flock of sheep.Select Ezekiel 36:37

38The cities that are now in ruins will then be as full of people as Jerusalem was once full of the sheep which were offered as sacrifices at a festival. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”Select Ezekiel 36:38