The Prophet Ezekiel

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 36 -

Yahweh said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, give a message to the hill country and mountains in Israel just as if they were people. Tell them to listen to my message for them.

This is it: The enemies of Israel, those people groups who live nearby, are now very happy, because they are saying that Jerusalem has been destroyed, so the ancient mountains of Israel will now belong to them.

So you, Ezekiel, must tell the mountains of Israel what I, Lord Yahweh, am saying to them: ’Armies of other nations attacked you from every direction, and everyone has left you. Those foreign armies are now in your land. They have spoken very maliciously about your people, the Israelites, and have told all kinds of lies about them.

Therefore, you mountains of Israel, listen to this message from me. I, Yahweh the Lord, have something to say to you, the hills and mountains, and to you, the ravines and valleys, and to you, the towns and cities which the enemy burned down, where no one is living any longer, from where the enemy has taken everything valuable, and whose people the people groups all around are mocking.

“This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare: I am very angry with the people of Edom and the other people groups; they have insulted your Israelite people and happily taken all their land as pastures.

So Ezekiel must speak for me to you, the land of Israel, mountains and hills, valleys and ravines: I, Yahweh the Lord, am very angry because the enemy has insulted you.

Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: I solemnly declare I will shame the people of the nations that are around you.

But I say to you mountains of Israel that huge crops of fruit will grow on your trees for my Israelite people, because they will soon return home from Babylonia.

I will work to help you, and I will be kind to you. I will enable farmers to plow the ground and plant seed in you.

I will cause the number of people who live there on your mountains and everywhere else in Israel to greatly increase. People will live in the cities and rebuild houses where there are now only ruins.

I will cause the number of people and domestic animals to increase. People will have many children. I will enable people to live there as they did previously, and I will enable them to prosper as they did before. Then you will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have the power to do what I say that I will do.

I will enable my Israelite people to walk through you mountains. They will own the land on you; you will belong to them forever. You will always grow enough food for them to eat, so they will never again go hungry and die.

I, Yahweh the Lord, am telling you mountains this: It is true that people have said they could not grow many crops on you, and so they died from hunger.

But that will no longer happen.

No longer will the other people groups ridicule you mountains. No longer will they laugh at you; no longer will you mountains make your nation suffer defeat. I, Lord Yahweh, am telling you this myself.’”

A New Heart and a New Spirit

(Romans 8:9–11; Galatians 5:16–26)

Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

“Son of man, when the Israelite people were living in their own land, they defiled it by the things that they did. They made it unacceptable to me. I considered that their behavior was as disgusting as the rags that women use during their monthly menstrual periods.

So I severely punished them, because they had murdered many people and because they had worshiped idols there. They made their entire land unacceptable to me.

So I made their enemies scatter them into other lands. I punished them as they deserved to be punished because they had done so many evil things.

Wherever they went among those lands, they caused other people to mock me, when they should have honored me. Those people have been saying, ‘The Israelites belong to Yahweh, but he was not strong enough to protect them. They had to leave the land that he had given to them.’

The people of Israel had disgraced me among the people groups to which they had to go, but I deserve that those people groups worship me instead.

So you, Ezekiel, say to the Israelite people that I, Lord Yahweh, am telling them this: ’You Israelite people, it is not for your sake that I am going to rescue you from your enemies. Instead, I will do this so that the people in these other lands will worship me as God. You have done your best to disgrace me wherever you have gone.

I will show that these other people groups should worship me as God, even though they would never know it by watching how you act. When I prove to them that I am powerful and can do anything, then they will know that I will carry out everything that I say I will do. And they will see you honor me as the God who is holy.

I will take you out of those distant lands. I will gather you from all those places where you had to go, and I will bring you back to your own land.

It will be as though I will sprinkle clean water on you, and then you will be clean. I will make you clean from everything that has made me reject you, and I will cause you to stop worshiping idols.

I will give you a completely new way of thinking. I will enable you to stop being stubborn, and I will enable you to obey me from your inner beings.

I will put my Spirit within you and enable you to carefully obey all my laws.

You will again live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.

I will free you from everything that made me reject you. I will cause your grain to be plentiful, and I will not send a famine to you again.

I will cause your fruit trees to produce plenty of fruit and your ground to produce plenty of good crops, with the result that the people of other lands will not mock you because you do not have enough food.

When that happens, you will think about your previous evil behavior and wicked deeds, and you will be very displeased with yourselves for your sins and the detestable things that you did.

But I, Lord Yahweh, tell you this: It is not for your sake that I will do those things. You Israelite people ought to be ashamed of your behavior.

I, Lord Yahweh, also tell you this: At the time that I cleanse you from all the sins that you have committed, I will enable you to live in your cities again and to build houses where there are now only ruins.

People who walk through your country will see that you are once again cultivating your land, and that your people are living in it again.

Then they will say, “This land that was ruined has become very fertile, like the garden of Eden. The cities that were piles of ruins, empty and destroyed, now have houses around them, and people are living in those cities.”

When that happens, the people who are still left in the lands that are around you will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have enabled you to rebuild what was destroyed, and to again plant crops in the fields that had nothing growing in them. I, Yahweh, have said that it will happen, and I will cause it to happen.

This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: Again I will answer your pleas for me to make your people become as numerous as sheep.

I will make them as numerous as the flocks of sheep that will be needed for offerings in Jerusalem during your regular festivals. The cities that are now ruined will be filled with people, and then you will know that I, Yahweh, have done this.’”

You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear the LORD’s word.

The Lord GOD says: ‘Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient high places are ours in possession!”’

therefore prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;”

therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD: The Lord GOD says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around;

therefore the Lord GOD says: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.”’

Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.”

Therefore the Lord GOD says: “I have sworn, ‘Surely the nations that are around you will bear their shame.’

“‘“But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot out your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come.

For, behold, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be tilled and sown.

I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it. The cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be built.

I will multiply man and animal on you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before, and you will do better than at your beginnings. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will never again bereave them of their children.”

“‘The Lord GOD says: “Because they say to you, ‘You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;’

therefore you shall devour men no more, and not bereave your nation any more,” says the Lord GOD.

“I won’t let you hear the shame of the nations any more. You won’t bear the reproach of the peoples any more, and you won’t cause your nation to stumble any more,” says the Lord GOD.’”

A New Heart and a New Spirit

(Romans 8:9–11; Galatians 5:16–26)

Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and by their deeds. Their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.

Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols.

I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their deeds.

When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, ‘These are the LORD’s people, and have left his land.’

But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord GOD says: “I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.

I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am proven holy in you before their eyes.

“‘“For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them.

You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God.

I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.

I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.

“‘“Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

I don’t do this for your sake,” says the Lord GOD. “Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.”

“‘The Lord GOD says: “In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places will be built.

The land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being a desolation in the sight of all who passed by.

They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’

Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, the LORD, have built the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

“‘The Lord GOD says: “For this, moreover, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock.

As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so the waste cities will be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”