Ezekiel 36

1"Now you, son of man, speak my message to the mountains of Israel. Say: Mountains of Israel, listen to what the LORD says.

1Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:

Note"Son of man" is how God addresses Ezekiel throughout the book (about ninety times. The Hebrew phrase simply means "human being," "mortal," and it marks the distance between the speaker and the man being spoken to. The "mountains of Israel" are the central hill country, the high spine of land running north–south that was the heartland of Israelite settlement. Prophets sometimes addressed a land, a city or a hillside directly, as if it could hear) a standard rhetorical form, not a claim that the hills were alive.

2This is what the Lord GOD says: The enemy has said about you, 'Aha! Those ancient hilltops belong to us now.'

2Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:

Note"High places" (Hebrew *bamot*) usually means hilltop shrines, and the KJV wording will suggest that. In the mouth of the enemy here it more likely means just the ancient heights, the old high ground of the hill country, now claimed as spoils. Both senses of the word were live, and the line trades on that. The "enemy" are Israel's neighboring peoples, who moved into the emptied land after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC.

3So speak my message and say: This is what the Lord GOD says. They left you empty and ruined. They crushed you from every side, so that you became the property of the other nations. People gossiped about you and made your name a byword for disgrace.

3Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:

Note"The heathen" in the KJV translates *goyim*, which means simply "the nations", foreign peoples, everyone who is not Israel. It carries no sense of the modern English word "heathen" as ignorant or savage. "The residue of the heathen" means the nations that were left, the ones that survived the same wars Israel lost. The Hebrew behind "swallowed you up" is uncertain; it has been read as "trampled," "crushed," and "panted after you greedily."

4So listen to the word of the Lord GOD, mountains of Israel. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys, to the empty ruins and the abandoned cities that were looted and laughed at by the other nations all around you.

4Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;

NoteThe KJV's "rivers" translates a word for ravines and watercourses, steep gullies that run with water in the rainy season and are dry the rest of the year. Israel had almost no permanent rivers. The four terms together (mountains, hills, ravines, valleys) are a standard way of naming a whole landscape, high ground to low.

5This is what the Lord GOD says: In the heat of my anger I have spoken against those other nations, and against all of Edom. They claimed my land as their own, glad with all their heart and full of scorn, to take its open land as plunder.

5Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.

NoteEdom lay south-east of Judah, around the Dead Sea's southern end; the people were traditionally reckoned as descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother, which made them Israel's nearest kin among the nations. Several biblical writers accuse Edom of gloating over Jerusalem's fall and grabbing land afterwards. "Idumea" is the later Greek and Roman name for the same territory, which the KJV translators used here. "The fire of my jealousy" uses "jealousy" in an older, stronger sense: the Hebrew *qin'ah* is fierce protectiveness over what is one's own, closer to "burning zeal" than to petty envy.

6So speak about the land of Israel. Say to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: This is what the Lord GOD says. Look, I have spoken in my anger and my fury, because you have had to carry the insults of the nations.

6Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:

7So this is what the Lord GOD says: I raise my hand and swear that the nations around you will carry insults of their own.

7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.

NoteRaising the hand was the physical gesture that accompanied a sworn oath, the way a raised hand accompanies swearing in a court today. "I have lifted up mine hand" therefore means "I have sworn."

8But you, mountains of Israel, will grow new branches and produce fruit for my people Israel, because they will soon be coming home.

8But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.

9Look, I am on your side. I will turn toward you, and your soil will be plowed and planted.

9For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:

10I will fill you with many people, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be lived in again, and the ruins will be rebuilt.

10And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded:

Note"The house of Israel" means the nation as an extended family, everyone descended from Jacob, who was also called Israel. "House" here is household or lineage, not a building.

11I will fill you with people and animals, and they will grow in number and have young. I will settle you as you were long ago, and I will treat you better than I did at the start. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

11And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

12Yes, I will make people walk on you again, my people Israel. They will own you, and you will be the land they inherit. Never again will you take their children from them.

12Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men.

Note"Inheritance" translates *nachalah*, the allotted portion of land held by a family and passed down through generations. It was not property that could simply be sold off, and losing it meant losing a family's place in the nation. The charge that the land "bereaves them of men" is that it kills off its own inhabitants, leaving families childless.

13This is what the Lord GOD says: People say to you, 'You are a land that eats up men, and you rob your nation of its children.'

13Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations;

NoteThe accusation that the land "devours men" echoes the report the scouts brought back in Numbers 13:32, that Canaan was a land that ate up those who lived in it. After invasion, famine and deportation had emptied the country, the old slander had fresh currency among the neighboring peoples.

14So you will never again eat up men or rob your nation of its children, says the Lord GOD.

14Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord GOD.

15I will not let you hear the insults of the nations any longer. You will not have to carry the scorn of the peoples any longer, and you will not make your nation stumble any longer, says the Lord GOD."

15Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord GOD.

NoteThe last clause is disputed. The Hebrew as it stands reads "cause your nation to stumble"; some ancient copies and versions read "bereave your nation of its children," matching verses 13–14. Translations divide between the two.

16Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said:

16Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

17"Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they made it unclean by the way they lived and by the things they did. In my sight, the way they lived was as unclean as a woman during her monthly bleeding.

17Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.

NoteThis compares the nation's conduct to ritual uncleanness, a state, under Israelite law, that temporarily barred a person from the sanctuary and from contact with holy things. Menstruation was the standard example of a routine, blameless impurity that nevertheless had to run its course before a person could approach worship again. The point of the comparison is contamination and exclusion, not moral judgment on women.

18So I poured out my fury on them, because of the blood they had spilled on the land and because they had made it filthy with their idols.

18Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:

NoteThe word translated "idols" here is a contemptuous coinage Ezekiel uses constantly, *gillulim*, probably built on a root for dung or for shapeless lumps. "Blood shed upon the land" refers both to murder and to the belief that unavenged bloodshed physically polluted the ground it fell on.

19I scattered them among the nations, and they were spread out through many countries. I judged them for the way they lived and the things they did.

19And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.

NoteThe scattering is the exile. Babylon deported Judeans in stages between 597 and 582 BC; Ezekiel was among those taken in the first wave and wrote from a settlement of exiles in Babylonia. Others fled to Egypt and elsewhere. His audience are people already living out this dispersal.

20And wherever they went among the nations, they brought shame on my holy name, because people said about them, 'These are the LORD's people, and yet they had to leave his land.'

20And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.

NoteIn Hebrew usage a name stands for the reputation and public standing of its bearer. To "profane" a name is to drag it down into contempt, here, the nations conclude from Israel's defeat that Israel's God was too weak to keep his own people in his own land. The complaint is about what outsiders now say, not about swearing.

21But I cared about my holy name, which the house of Israel had shamed among the nations wherever they went.

21But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.

22So say to the house of Israel: This is what the Lord GOD says. I am not doing this for your sake, house of Israel. I am doing it for the sake of my holy name, which you shamed among the nations wherever you went.

22Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.

23I will show that my great name is holy. It was shamed among the nations, shamed by you right in front of them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when I show my holiness through you before their eyes.

23And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

Note"Sanctify" in older English means to treat or show as holy, to set apart. The Hebrew here is about God demonstrating, publicly and visibly, that his name is not the discredited thing the nations take it for.

24I will take you out of the nations. I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back to your own land.

24For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

25Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will wash you clean from all your filth and from all your idols.

25Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

NoteSprinkling water was a purification rite: under Israelite law, water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer was sprinkled on a person who had been made unclean, for instance by contact with a corpse, to restore them to a state where they could take part in worship (Numbers 19). The image is of a specific ritual, not of an ordinary wash.

26I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit inside you. I will take out of you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

NoteIn Hebrew the "heart" is the seat of thought, will and decision, closer to what English calls the mind than to the emotions. A heart of stone is one that cannot be moved or changed; a heart of flesh is one that responds. "Spirit" here translates *ruach*, a word that also means breath and wind, and covers the animating disposition of a person.

27I will put my Spirit inside you. I will make you live by my laws and carefully keep my rules.

27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Note"My spirit" is the same word, *ruach*, used for the "new spirit" in the previous verse. "Statutes" and "judgments" are two standard categories of Israelite law: fixed decrees, and rulings of the kind a judge would hand down. Together they mean the whole body of law.

28You will live in the land I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.

28And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Note"You will be my people, and I will be your God" is a set formula, the standard wording for the covenant bond between God and Israel, used in the same fixed shape throughout the Hebrew Bible. It is phrased like the mutual declarations that sealed a treaty or a marriage.

29I will also save you from everything that made you unclean. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful, and I will not send famine on you.

29I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

NoteThe KJV's "corn" means grain of any kind, wheat and barley here. It does not mean maize, which was unknown in Europe or the Near East in biblical times and only entered English as "corn" much later in America.

30I will make the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field plentiful, so that the nations will never again shame you for going hungry.

30And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

31Then you will remember your evil ways and the things you did that were not good, and you will hate yourselves for your sins and for the disgusting things you did.

31Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

32I am not doing this for your sake, says the Lord GOD. Understand that. Be ashamed and humiliated because of the way you have lived, house of Israel.

32Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.

Note"Confounded" in the KJV means publicly disgraced or humiliated, not confused or puzzled. The older English sense is close to "put to shame."

33This is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I wash you clean from all your sins, I will also settle people in the cities again, and the ruins will be rebuilt.

33Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.

34The empty land will be farmed again, instead of lying bare in front of everyone who passes by.

34And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

35People will say, 'This land that was empty has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were wrecked and empty and torn down now have walls and people living in them.'

35And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.

NoteThe garden of Eden is the garden of Genesis 2–3, and by Ezekiel's day it had become shorthand for perfect fertility, the standard against which any lush landscape was measured. The KJV's "fenced" cities means fortified ones, walled and defensible, nothing to do with fences.

36Then the nations left around you will know that I the LORD have rebuilt what was torn down and replanted what was bare. I the LORD have said it, and I will do it.

36Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.

37This is what the Lord GOD says: Once more I will let the house of Israel ask me for this, and I will do it for them. I will make their people as many as a flock of sheep.

37Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.

NoteEarlier in the book (Ezekiel 14:3 and 20:3) God tells Ezekiel he will not let the elders of Israel consult him at all. This verse reverses that: he will again allow himself to be asked. "Enquire of" is the technical term for formally seeking a word or ruling from God, usually through a prophet.

38They will be like the flocks set apart for sacrifice, like the flocks brought to Jerusalem at her appointed festivals. That is how full the ruined cities will be with crowds of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD."

38As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

NoteIsraelites traveled to Jerusalem for three annual festivals, bringing animals for sacrifice; at those times the city was packed with flocks. "Solemn feasts" in the KJV means appointed or fixed festivals, days set in the calendar, not gloomy ones. The image is of density and sheer numbers: the ruined cities as crowded with people as the festival city was with sheep.