The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 36 The Restoration of Israel

 The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 36

The Restoration of Israel

16 The word of the Lord came to me:

17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and by their deeds. Their conduct was like the uncleanness of a woman during her menstrual impurity in my sight.

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

19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the land; according to their ways and according to their deeds I judged them.

20 And when they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, “These are the Lord’s people, and they have gone out of his land.”

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

22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake that I am doing this, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you went.

23 And I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when I am sanctified in their eyes.

24 And I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you into your own land.

25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

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

28 And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be a people, and I will be your Lord.

29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain, and multiply it, and I will not bring famine upon you.

30 And I will multiply the fruit of the trees, and the increase of the field, that you shall no more suffer the reproach of famine among the nations.

31 Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.

32 It is not for your sake that I am doing this, says the Lord God; Let it be known to you: be ashamed and confounded by your ways, O house of Israel.

33 Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, then I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the desolate places to be rebuilt.

34 And the desolate land will be cultivated, instead of being desolate in the sight of all who pass by.

35 And they will say: This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the desolate, desolate, and destroyed cities are fortified and inhabited.

36 Then the nations that remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the destroyed cities and planted what was desolate: I, the Lord God, have spoken, and I will do it.

37 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “The house of Israel will yet ask me to do this for them: I will make them as numerous as a flock.

38 Like a flock that is sanctified, like the flock of Jerusalem at its appointed feasts, so the desolate cities will be filled with families, and they will know that I am the Lord.”