“Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD. 2 This is what the Lord 1GOD says: “Since the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting 2aheights have become our possession,’Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the chHeb bamothDeut 32:13; Ps 78:69; Is 58:14; Hab 3:19 3 therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “1For good reason they have made you adesolate and harassed you from every side, so that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations; and you have been taken up in the 2btalk and the rumor of the people.”’”Lit Because; or By the causeLit lip of the tongueJer 2:15Ps 44:13, 14; Jer 18:16; Ezek 35:13 4 Therefore, you amountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate ruins and to the abandoned cities which have become bplunder and an object of ridicule to the rest of the nations which are all around—Deut 11:11; Ezek 36:1, 6, 8Ezek 34:8, 28 5 therefore the Lord GOD says this: “Certainly in the fire of My ajealousy I have spoken against the brest of the nations, and against all Edom, who 1appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted cjoy and with contempt of soul, in order to make its pastureland plunder.”Lit gaveEzek 5:13; 36:6; 38:19Jer 25:9, 15-29; Ezek 36:3Jer 50:11; Ezek 35:15; Mic 7:8 6 Therefore prophesy in regard to the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have aendured the insults of the nations.’Ps 74:10; 123:3, 4; Ezek 34:29 7 Therefore the Lord GOD says this: ‘I have 1sworn that the nations that are around you will certainly endure their insults themselves.Lit lifted up My hand 8 But as for you, mountains of Israel, you will 1agrow your branches and bear fruit for My people Israel; for they are about to come.Lit giveIs 4:2; 27:6; Ezek 17:23; 34:26-29 9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will aturn to you, and you will be bcultivated and sown.Lev 26:9Ezek 28:26; 34:14; 36:34 10 And I will multiply people on you, aall the house of Israel, all of it; and the bcities will be inhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt.Is 27:6; 49:17-23; Ezek 37:21, 22Jer 31:27, 28; 33:12; Ezek 36:33 11 I will multiply on you people and animals, and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will populate you as you were apreviously, and treat you bbetter than at the beginning. Then you will know that I am the LORD.Jer 30:18; Ezek 16:55; Mic 7:14Job 42:12; Is 51:3 12 Yes, I will have apeople—My people Israel—walk on you and possess you, so that you will become their binheritance and never again cbereave them of children.’Ezek 34:13, 14Ezek 47:14Jer 15:7; Ezek 22:12, 27
13 “The Lord GOD says this: ‘Since they say to you, “You are a adevourer of people and have bereaved your nation of children,”Num 13:32 14 for that reason you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ declares the Lord GOD. 15 I will not let you hear ainsults from the nations anymore, nor will you suffer bdisgrace from the peoples any longer, nor will you make your nation cstumble any longer,” declares the Lord GOD.’”Is 60:14; Ezek 34:29; 36:7Ps 89:50; Is 54:4; Ezek 22:4Is 63:13; Jer 13:16; 18:15
16 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they adefiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like bthe uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.Jer 2:7Lev 15:19 18 Therefore I apoured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols.2 Chr 34:21, 25; Lam 2:4; 4:11; Ezek 22:20, 22 19 I also ascattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. bAccording to their ways and their deeds I judged them.Deut 28:64; Ezek 5:12; 22:15; Amos 9:9Ezek 24:14; 39:24; Rom 2:6 20 When they came to the nations where they went, they aprofaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the bpeople of the LORD, yet they have left His land.’Is 52:5; Ezek 12:16; Rom 2:24Jer 33:24 21 But I had 1concern for My aholy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.Lit compassionPs 74:18; Is 48:9; Ezek 20:44
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “It is anot for your sake, house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.Deut 7:7, 8; 9:5, 6; Ezek 36:32 23 And I will avindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the bnations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I show Myself holy among you in their sight.Is 5:16; Ezek 20:41; 38:23; 39:7, 25Ps 102:15; 126:2 24 For I will atake you from the nations, and gather you from all the lands; and I will bring you into your own land.Is 43:5, 6; Ezek 34:13; 37:21 25 Then I will asprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your bfilthiness and from all your cidols.Num 19:17-19; Ps 51:7; Titus 3:5, 6; Heb 9:13, 19; 10:22Is 4:4; Zech 13:1Is 2:18, 20; Hos 14:3, 8 26 Moreover, I will give you a anew heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the bheart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.Ps 51:10; Ezek 11:19; 18:31; John 3:3, 5; 2 Cor 5:17Ezek 11:19; Zech 7:12 27 And I will aput My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and 1follow My ordinances.Lit do MyIs 44:3; 59:21; Ezek 37:14; 39:29; Joel 2:28, 29 28 And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be aMy people, and I will be your God.Ezek 14:11; 37:23, 27 29 Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I awill not 1bring a famine on you.Lit giveEzek 34:27, 29; Hos 2:21-23 30 Instead, I will amultiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.Lev 26:4; Ezek 34:27 31 Then you will aremember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your wrongdoings and your abominations.Ezek 16:61-63; 20:43 32 I am not doing this afor your sake,” declares the Lord GOD; “let that be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your ways, house of Israel!”Deut 9:5
33 ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your wrongdoings, I will populate the acities, and the bplaces of ruins will be rebuilt.Ezek 36:10; Zech 8:7, 8Is 58:12 34 The desolated land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. 35 And they will say, ‘This desolated land has become like the aGarden of Eden; and the waste, desolated and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’Is 51:3; Ezek 31:9; Joel 2:3 36 Then the nations around you that are left will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolated; I, the LORD, have spoken, and I awill do it.”Ezek 17:24; 22:14; 37:14; Hos 14:4-9
37 ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “This too I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their people like a flock. 38 Like the aflock 1for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with bflocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”’”Lit of holy things1 Kin 8:63; 2 Chr 35:7-9; John 2:14Ps 74:1; 100:3; Jer 23:1; John 10:7, 9, 16