Ezekiel 35; Ezekiel 36; Ezekiel 37; Ezekiel 38

1 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying:

2 "Human, look toward Edom and prophesy against it.

3 Say to it: 'This is what the Lord God says: I am against you, Edom. I will stretch out my hand against you and make you an empty desert.

4 I will destroy your cities, and you will become empty. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

5 "'You have always been an enemy of Israel. You let them be defeated in war when they were in trouble at the time of their final punishment.

6 So the Lord God says, as surely as I live, I will let you be murdered. Murder will chase you. Since you did not hate murdering people, murder will chase you.

7 I will make Edom an empty ruin and destroy everyone who goes in or comes out of it.

8 I will fill its mountains with those who are killed. Those killed in war will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines.

9 I will make you a ruin forever; no one will live in your cities. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

10 "'You said, "These two nations, Israel and Judah, and these two lands will be ours. We will take them for our own." But the Lord was there.

11 So this is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, I will treat you just as you treated them. You were angry and jealous because you hated them. So I will punish you and show the Israelites who I am.

12 Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all your insults against the mountains of Israel. You said, "They have been ruined. They have been given to us to eat."

13 You have not stopped your proud talk against me. I have heard you.

14 This is what the Lord God says: All the earth will be happy when I make you an empty ruin.

15 You were happy when the land of Israel was ruined, but I will do the same thing to you. Mount Seir and all Edom, you will become an empty ruin. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'"

1 "Human, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: 'Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.

2 This is what the Lord God says: The enemy has said about you, "Now the old places to worship gods have become ours."'

3 So prophesy and say: 'This is what the Lord God says: They have made you an empty ruin and have crushed you from all around. So you became a possession of the other nations. People have talked and whispered against you.

4 So, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. The Lord God speaks to the mountains, hills, ravines, and valleys, to the empty ruins and abandoned cities that have been robbed and laughed at by the other nations.

5 This is what the Lord God says: I speak in hot anger against the other nations. I speak against the people of Edom, who took my land for themselves with joy and with hate in their hearts. They forced out the people and took their pastureland.'

6 So prophesy about the land of Israel and say to the mountains, hills, ravines, and valleys: 'This is what the Lord God says: I speak in my jealous anger, because you have suffered the insults of the nations.

7 So this is what the Lord God says: I promise that the nations around you will also have to suffer insults.

8 "'But you, mountains of Israel, will grow branches and fruit for my people, who will soon come home.

9 I am concerned about you; I am on your side. You will be plowed, and seed will be planted in you.

10 I will increase the number of people who live on you, all the people of Israel. The cities will have people living in them, and the ruins will be rebuilt.

11 I will increase the number of people and animals living on you. They will grow and have many young. You will have people living on you as you did before, and I will make you better off than at the beginning. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

12 I will cause my people Israel to walk on you and own you, and you will belong to them. You will never again take their children away from them.

13 "'This is what the Lord God says: People say about you, "You eat people and take children from your nation."

14 But you will not eat people anymore or take away the children, says the Lord God.

15 I will not make you listen to insults from the nations anymore; you will not suffer shame from them anymore. You will not cause your nation to fall anymore, says the Lord God.'"

16 The Lord spoke his word to me again, saying:

17 "Human, when the nation of Israel was living in their own land, they made it unclean by their ways and the things they did. Their ways were like a woman's uncleanness in her time of monthly bleeding.

18 So I poured out my anger against them, because they murdered in the land and because they made the land unclean with their idols.

19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were spread through the countries. I punished them for how they lived and what they did.

20 They dishonored my holy name in the nations where they went. The nations said about them: 'These are the people of the Lord, but they had to leave the land which he gave them.'

21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the nation of Israel had dishonored among the nations where they went.

22 "So say to the people of Israel, 'This is what the Lord God says: Israel, I am going to act, but not for your sake. I will do something to help my holy name, which you have dishonored among the nations where you went.

23 I will prove the holiness of my great name, which has been dishonored among the nations. You have dishonored it among these nations, but the nations will know that I am the Lord when I prove myself holy before their eyes, says the Lord God.

24 "'I will take you from the nations and gather you out of all the lands and bring you back into your own land.

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

26 Also, I will teach you to respect me completely, and I will put a new way of thinking inside you. I will take out the stubborn hearts of stone from your bodies, and I will give you obedient hearts of flesh.

27 I will put my Spirit inside you and help you live by my rules and carefully obey my laws.

28 You will live in the land I gave to your ancestors, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.

29 So I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will command the grain to come and grow; I will not allow a time of hunger to hurt you.

30 I will increase the harvest of the field so you will never again suffer shame among the nations because of hunger.

31 Then you will remember your evil ways and actions that were not good, and you will hate yourselves because of your sins and your terrible acts that I hate.

32 I want you to know that I am not going to do this for your sake, says the Lord God. Be ashamed and embarrassed about your ways, Israel.

33 "'This is what the Lord God says: This is what will happen on the day I cleanse you from all your sins: I will cause the cities to have people living in them again, and the destroyed places will be rebuilt.

34 The empty land will be plowed so it will no longer be a ruin for everyone who passes by to see.

35 They will say, "This land was ruined, but now it has become like the garden of Eden. The cities were destroyed, empty, and ruined, but now they are protected and have people living in them."

36 Then those nations still around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt what was destroyed and have planted what was empty. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.'

37 "This is what the Lord God says: I will let myself be asked by the people of Israel to do this for them again: I will make their people grow in number like a flock.

38 They will be as many as the flocks brought to Jerusalem during her holy feasts. Her ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord."

1 I felt the power of the Lord on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and put me down in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones.

2 He led me around among the bones, and I saw that there were many bones in the valley and that they were very dry.

3 Then he asked me, "Human, can these bones live?" I answered, "Lord God, only you know."

4 He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

5 This is what the Lord God says to the bones: I will cause breath to enter you so you will come to life.

6 I will put muscles on you and flesh on you and cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you so you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'"

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. While I prophesied, there was a noise and a rattling. The bones came together, bone to bone.

8 I looked and saw muscles come on the bones, and flesh grew, and skin covered the bones. But there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the wind. Prophesy, human, and say to the wind, 'This is what the Lord God says: Wind, come from the four winds, and breathe on these people who were killed so they can come back to life.'"

10 So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a very large army.

11 Then he said to me, "Human, these bones are like all the people of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope has gone. We are destroyed.'

12 So, prophesy and say to them, 'This is what the Lord God says: My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves. Then I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13 My people, you will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and cause you to come up from them.

14 And I will put my Spirit inside you, and you will come to life. Then I will put you in your own land. And you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, says the Lord.'"

15 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying,

16 "Human, take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah and all the Israelites with him.' Then take another stick and write on it, 'The stick of Ephraim, for Joseph and all the Israelites with him.'

17 Then join them together into one stick so they will be one in your hand.

18 "When your people say to you, 'Explain to us what you mean by this,'

19 say to them, 'This is what the Lord God says: I will take the stick for Joseph and the tribes of Israel with him, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and I will put it with the stick of Judah. I will make them into one stick, and they will be one in my hand.'

20 Hold the sticks on which you wrote these names in your hand so the people can see them.

21 Say to the people, 'This is what the Lord God says: I am going to take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.

22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule all of them. They will never again be two nations; they will not be divided into two kingdoms anymore.

23 They will not continue to make themselves unclean by their idols, their statues of gods which I hate, or by their sins. I will save them from all the ways they sin and turn against me, and I will make them clean. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

24 "'My servant David will be their king, and they will all have one shepherd. They will live by my rules and obey my laws.

25 They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They will all live on the land forever: they, their children, and their grandchildren. David my servant will be their king forever.

26 I will make an agreement of peace with them, an agreement that continues forever. I will put them in their land and make them grow in number. Then I will put my Temple among them forever.

27 The place where I live will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

28 When my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy.'"

1 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying,

2 "Human, look toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him

3 and say, 'The Lord God says this: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal.

4 I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws. And I will bring you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of whom will be dressed in beautiful uniforms. They will be a large army with large and small shields and all having swords.

5 Persia, Cush, and Put will be with them, all of them having shields and helmets.

6 There will also be Gomer with all its troops and the nation of Togarmah from the far north with all its troops -- many nations with you.

7 "'Be prepared. Be prepared, you and all the armies that have come together to make you their commander.

8 After a long time you will be called for service. After those years you will come into a land that has been rebuilt from war. The people in the land will have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which were empty for a long time. These people were brought out from the nations, and they will all be living in safety.

9 You will come like a storm. You, all your troops, and the many nations with you will be like a cloud covering the land.

10 "'This is what the Lord God says: At that time ideas will come into your mind, and you will think up an evil plan.

11 You will say, "I will march against a land of towns without walls. I will attack those who are at rest and live in safety. All of them live without city walls or gate bars or gates.

12 I will capture treasures and take loot. I will turn my power against the rebuilt ruins that now have people living in them. I will attack these people who have been gathered from the nations, who have become rich with farm animals and property, who live at the center of the world."

13 Sheba, Dedan, and the traders of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, "Did you come to capture treasure? Did you bring your troops together to take loot? Did you bring them to carry away silver and gold and to take away farm animals and property?"'

14 "So prophesy, human, and say to Gog, 'This is what the Lord God says: Now that my people Israel are living in safety, you will know about it.

15 You will come with many people from your place in the far north. You will have a large group with you, a mighty army, all riding on horses.

16 You will attack my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. This will happen in the days to come when I bring you against my land. Gog, then the nations will know me when they see me prove how holy I am in what I do through you.

17 "'This is what the Lord God says: You are the one about whom I spoke in past days. I spoke through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for many years that I would bring you against them.

18 This is what will happen: On the day Gog attacks the land of Israel, I will become very angry, says the Lord God.

19 With jealousy and great anger I tell you that at that time there will surely be a great earthquake in Israel.

20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild animals, everything that crawls on the ground, and all the people on the earth will shake with fear before me. Also the mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.

21 Then I will call for a war against Gog on all my mountains, says the Lord God. Everyone's sword will attack the soldier next to him.

22 I will punish Gog with disease and death. I will send a heavy rain with hailstones and burning sulfur on Gog, his army, and the many nations with him.

23 Then I will show how great I am. I will show my holiness, and I will make myself known to the many nations that watch. Then they will know that I am the Lord.'