Ezekiel 36:1

Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel and of Israel’s Restoration

1 "And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel; and [so] you must say, 'Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh;

Ezekiel 36:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 36:1

Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel,
&c.] The land of Judah, which was very mountainous, at least one part of it, called the hill country, ( Luke 1:39 Luke 1:65 ) and now the country being cleared of men through the captivity, and other desolating judgments, there were none but bare mountains to speak unto: or, "prophesy concerning the mountains of Israel" ^F4; the inhabitants of them, or those that should be restored to them, concerning their future happiness and comfort: some render it, "against the mountains of Israel" ^F5; but the later prophecies of them are in their favour, and not against them: and say, ye mountains of Israel,
hear the word of the Lord; concerning the destruction of their enemies, and concerning the temporal blessings that should be bestowed on them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (larvy yrh la) "de montibus Israelis", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus.
F5 "Contra montes Israelis", Vatablus.

Ezekiel 36:1 In-Context

1 "And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel; and [so] you must say, 'Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh;

2 thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because the enemy said concerning you, 'Ah, and [the] ancient high places will be to us as a possession!'" '

3 Therefore prophesy, and you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{Because indeed} {when you were desolate}, then they crushed you from all around, so that you became a possession to the remainder of the nations, and you became {a byword and object of slander for the people}."

4 Therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh; thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the river channels and to the valleys and to the ruins that [are] desolate and to the cities that [are] abandoned [and] that have become as plunder and as scorn for the remainder of the nations that [are] from all around.

5 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{Certainly} in the fire of my passion I spoke against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who made my land as [a] possession, because of its pastureland for plunder, for themselves in all of [the] joy of their whole heart [and] in [their] inner disdain."

Footnotes

• [a] Or "mortal," or "son of humankind"