Ezekiel 36:3

3 therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because, yea, because they have made [you] desolate, and have swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the remnant of the nations, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and in the defaming of the people:

Ezekiel 36:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 36:3

Therefore prophesy and say, thus saith the Lord God
Who heard all the enemy said, and knew all their designs and purposes, their schemes and devices: because they have made you desolate;
ravaged their country, destroyed their cities, burnt their temple, and carried them captive, and left the land without men or cattle: and swallowed you up on every side;
all their neighbours, being their enemies, were like ravenous beasts of prey, gaping upon them with their mouths; and, observing the low condition into which they were brought by the king of Babylon, helped forward the destruction; and everyone shared in the spoil and plunder nearest to them they could conveniently come at: that ye might be a possession to the residue of the Heathen;
either to those that were left in the land by the king of Babylon, or to the rest of the Heathen nations round about them: ye are taken up in the lips of talkers,
and are an infamy of the people; reproached, defamed, and made a proverb and byword, by every foul mouthed prating fellow.

Ezekiel 36:3 In-Context

1 And thou, son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Jehovah.

2 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha! and, The ancient high places are become ours in possession;

3 therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because, yea, because they have made [you] desolate, and have swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the remnant of the nations, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and in the defaming of the people:

4 therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the water-courses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and a derision to the remnant of the nations that are round about,

5 -- therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the remnant of the nations, and against the whole of Edom, which have appointed my land unto themselves for a possession with the joy of all [their] heart, with despite of soul, to plunder it by pillage.

Footnotes

• [a] Lit. 'panted after you:' see Ps. 56.1.
• [b] Heb. 'the tongue.'