Ezekiel 36:13

13 "'God, the Master, says: Because you have a reputation of being a land that eats people alive and makes women barren,

Ezekiel 36:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 36:13

Thus saith the Lord God, because they say unto you
The Heathens that dwelt round about the land of Judea said to the mountains, or to the whole land, thou land devourest up men;
eats up the inhabitants of it; which is part of the ill report the spies, in the times of Moses, brought on it, ( Numbers 13:32 ) , to which the allusion is here; suggesting, that either the air was unwholesome; or that the land did not produce a sufficiency of food to support the inhabitants of it; or that the curse of God was upon it; and that one judgment or another was ever on it; either famine, or pestilence, or the sword of the enemy, or internal broils among themselves, or wild beasts, whereby the inhabitants of the land were wasted and consumed: and hast bereaved thy nations;
the several tribes, of men and children; so that they were diminished and depopulated: the allusion seems to be to miscarrying women, or such who kill their children in the womb, and become abortive.

Ezekiel 36:13 In-Context

11 I'll make this place teem with life - human and animal. The country will burst into life, life, and more life, your towns and villages full of people just as in the old days. I'll treat you better than I ever have. And you'll realize that I am God.

12 I'll put people over you - my own people Israel! They'll take care of you and you'll be their inheritance. Never again will you be a harsh and unforgiving land to them.

13 "'God, the Master, says: Because you have a reputation of being a land that eats people alive and makes women barren,

14 I'm now telling you that you'll never eat people alive again nor make women barren. Decree of God, the Master.

15 And I'll never again let the taunts of outsiders be heard over you nor permit nations to look down on you. You'll no longer be a land that makes women barren. Decree of God, the Master.'"