Ezekiel 36:22-38

I Will Put My Spirit Within You

22 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: ¹It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, ²which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

23 ³And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. ⁴And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

24 ⁵I will take you ⁶from the nations and gather you from all the countries and ⁷bring you into your own land.

25 ⁸I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from ⁹all your uncleannesses, and ¹⁰from all your idols ¹¹I will cleanse you.

26 And I will give you ¹²a new heart, and ¹³a new spirit I will put within you. ¹⁴And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

27 ¹⁵And I will put my Spirit within you, ¹⁶and cause you to walk in my statutes and ¹⁷be careful to obey my rules.^[a]

28 ¹⁸You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ¹⁹you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

29 And ²⁰I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And ²¹I will summon the grain and make it abundant and ²²lay no famine upon you.

30 ²³I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, ²⁴that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

31 Then ²⁵you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.

32 ²⁶It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

33 "Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that ²⁷I cleanse you from all your iniquities, ²⁸I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt.

34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by.

35 And they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like ²⁹the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.'

36 Then ³⁰the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and ³¹replanted that which was desolate. ³²I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.

37 "Thus says the Lord GOD: This also ³³I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: ³⁴to increase their people like ³⁵a flock.

38 Like the flock for sacrifices,^[b]³⁶like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so ³⁷shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. ³⁸Then they will know that I am the LORD."

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Ezekiel 36:22-38 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 36

This chapter is a prophecy concerning the desolations of the land of Israel, and the causes of them; of the return of the people to it, and the fruitfulness of it; and of spiritual blessings bestowed upon them in the latter day. And first, for the comfort of the people of Israel, it is observed that their enemies that insulted them will suffer the vengeance of God's wrath, particularly the Edomites, Eze 36:1-7, that the land of Israel should again become fruitful, its cities rebuilt, men and beasts be multiplied upon it, and be no more liable to destruction, nor bear any more the reproach of the Heathen, Eze 36:8-15, the causes of its desolation and destruction, the sins of its inhabitants, especially bloodshed, idolatry, and profanation of the name of God, Eze 36:16-20, nevertheless the Lord promises to have mercy on them, and return them to their own land, not for their sakes, but for his own name's sake, Eze 36:21-24, then follow promises of spiritual blessings to them: as purification from all sin by the blood of Christ; regeneration by his Spirit and grace; and evangelical obedience as the fruit of that, Eze 36:25-27, and others of a mixed kind, respecting partly temporal and partly spiritual blessings, Eze 36:28-36, for all which it is expected of the Lord that he should be prayed unto for them; particularly their inhabitation in their own land, and the multiplication of them in it, with which the chapter concludes, Eze 36:37,38.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 38

1. ver. 32; [Deuteronomy 9:5]
2. [See ver. 20 above]
3. See Ezekiel 20:41
4. [Ezekiel 30:19, 26; Ezekiel 38:23; Ezekiel 39:7, 21]; See Ezekiel 6:7
5. See Ezekiel 11:17
6. See Psalms 44:11
7. Ezekiel 37:12, 21
8. [Isaiah 52:15; Hebrews 10:22]
9. Isaiah 4:4; [ver. 17]
10. Ezekiel 37:23
11. Jeremiah 33:8
12. See Ezekiel 11:19, 20
13. See Ezekiel 11:19, 20
14. See Ezekiel 11:19, 20
15. Ezekiel 37:14
16. [See ver. 26 above]
17. Ezekiel 37:24
18. Ezekiel 28:25
19. See Ezekiel 11:20
20. Ezekiel 37:23; [Matthew 1:21]
21. Joel 2:19; [Zechariah 9:17]
22. Ezekiel 34:29
23. Ezekiel 34:27
24. [See ver. 29 above]
25. See Ezekiel 6:9
26. [See ver. 22 above]
27. [ver. 25]
28. [ver. 9, 10]
29. See Isaiah 51:3
30. [Psalms 126:2]
31. [Ezekiel 34:29]
32. See Ezekiel 17:24
33. [Ezekiel 14:3]
34. See ver. 10
35. [Ezekiel 34:31]
36. [2 Chronicles 35:7]
37. [See ver. 33 above]
38. See Ezekiel 6:7

Footnotes 2

[a]. Or my just decrees
[b]. Hebrew flock of holy things

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.