Ezekiel 36

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. 15I 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.

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.

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. 24I 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. 26I 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.

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.