Ezekiel 33-39

Good News Translation

God Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout^(A)

33 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “tell your people what happens when I bring war to a land. The people of that country choose one of their number to be a lookout. ³ When he sees the enemy approaching, he sounds the alarm to warn everyone. ⁴ If someone hears it but pays no attention and the enemy comes and kills him, then he is to blame for his own death. ⁵ His death is his own fault, because he paid no attention to the warning. If he had paid attention, he could have escaped. ⁶ If, however, the lookout sees the enemy coming and does not sound the alarm, the enemy will come and kill those sinners, but I will hold the lookout responsible for their death.

⁷ “Now, mortal man, I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel. You must pass on to them the warnings I give you. ⁸ If I announce that an evil person is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, then he will die, still a sinner, and I will hold you responsible for his death. ⁹ If you do warn an evil person and he doesn't stop sinning, he will die, still a sinner, but your life will be spared.”

Individual Responsibility

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to me. “Mortal man,” he said, “repeat to the Israelites what they are saying: ‘We are burdened with our sins and the wrongs we have done. We are wasting away. How can we live?’ ¹¹ Tell them that as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning and live. Israel, stop the evil you are doing. Why do you want to die?

¹² “Now, mortal man, tell the Israelites that when someone good sins, the good he has done will not save him. If an evil person stops doing evil, he won't be punished, and if a good man starts sinning, his life will not be spared. ¹³ I may promise life to someone good, but if he starts thinking that his past goodness is enough and begins to sin, I will not remember any of the good he did. He will die because of his sins. ¹⁴ I may warn someone evil that he is going to die, but if he stops sinning and does what is right and good— ¹⁵ for example, if he returns the security he took for a loan or gives back what he stole—if he stops sinning and follows the laws that give life, he will not die, but live. ¹⁶ I will forgive the sins he has committed, and he will live because he has done what is right and good.

¹⁷ “And your people say that what I do isn't right! No, it's their way that isn't right. ¹⁸ When someone righteous stops doing good and starts doing evil, he will die for it. ¹⁹ When someone evil quits sinning and does what is right and good, he has saved his life. ²⁰ But Israel, you say that what I do isn't right. I am going to judge you by what you do.”

The News of Jerusalem's Fall

^21 (B)On the fifth day of the tenth month of the twelfth year of our exile, someone who had escaped from Jerusalem came and told me that the city had fallen. ²² The evening before he came, I had felt the powerful presence of the Lord. When the man arrived the next morning, the Lord gave me back the power of speech.

The Sins of the People

²³ The Lord spoke to me. ²⁴ “Mortal man,” he said, “the people who are living in the ruined cities of the land of Israel are saying: ‘Abraham was only one man, and he was given the whole land. There are many of us, so now the land is ours.’

²⁵ “Tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: You eat meat with the blood still in it. You worship idols. You commit murder. What makes you think that the land belongs to you? ²⁶ You rely on your swords. Your actions are disgusting. Everyone commits adultery. What makes you think that the land is yours?

²⁷ “Tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, warn them that as surely as I am the living God, the people who live in the ruined cities will be killed. Those living in the country will be eaten by wild animals. Those hiding in the mountains and in caves will die of disease. ²⁸ I will make the country a desolate wasteland, and the power they were so proud of will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so wild that no one will be able to travel through them. ²⁹ When I punish the people for their sins and make the country a wasteland, then they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Results of the Prophet's Message

³⁰ The Lord said, “Mortal man, your people are talking about you when they meet by the city walls or in the doorways of their houses. They say to one another, ‘Let's go and hear what word has come from the Lord now.’ ³¹ So my people crowd in to hear what you have to say, but they don't do what you tell them to do. Loving words are on their lips, but they continue their greedy ways. ³² To them you are nothing more than an entertainer singing love songs or playing a harp. They listen to all your words and don't obey a single one of them. ³³ But when all your words come true—and they will come true—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

The Shepherds of Israel

34 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the rulers of Israel. Prophesy to them, and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, say to them: You are doomed, you shepherds of Israel! You take care of yourselves, but never tend the sheep. ³ You drink the milk, wear clothes made from the wool, and kill and eat the finest sheep. But you never tend the sheep. ⁴ You have not taken care of the weak ones, healed the ones that are sick, bandaged the ones that are hurt, brought back the ones that wandered off, or looked for the ones that were lost. Instead, you treated them cruelly. ^5 (C)Because the sheep had no shepherd, they were scattered, and wild animals killed and ate them. ⁶ So my sheep wandered over the high hills and the mountains. They were scattered over the face of the earth, and no one looked for them or tried to find them.

⁷ “Now, you shepherds, listen to what I, the Lord, am telling you. ⁸ As surely as I am the living God, you had better listen to me. My sheep have been attacked by wild animals that killed and ate them because there was no shepherd. My shepherds did not try to find the sheep. They were taking care of themselves and not the sheep. ⁹ So listen to me, you shepherds. ¹⁰ I, the Sovereign Lord, declare that I am your enemy. I will take my sheep away from you and never again let you be their shepherds; never again will I let you take care only of yourselves. I will rescue my sheep from you and not let you eat them.

The Good Shepherd

¹¹ “I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them ¹² in the same way as shepherds take care of their sheep that were scattered and are brought together again. I will bring them back from all the places where they were scattered on that dark, disastrous day. ¹³ I will take them out of foreign countries, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land. I will lead them back to the mountains and the streams of Israel and will feed them in pleasant pastures. ¹⁴ I will let them graze in safety in the mountain meadows and the valleys and in all the green pastures of the land of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

¹⁶ “I will look for those that are lost, bring back those that wander off, bandage those that are hurt, and heal those that are sick; but those that are fat and strong I will destroy, because I am a shepherd who does what is right.

¹⁷ “Now then, my flock, I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I will judge each of you and separate the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats. ¹⁸ Some of you are not satisfied with eating the best grass; you even trample down what you don't eat! You drink the clear water and muddy what you don't drink! ¹⁹ My other sheep have to eat the grass you trample down and drink the water you muddy.

²⁰ “So now, I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I will judge between you strong sheep and the weak sheep. ²¹ You pushed the sick ones aside and butted them away from the flock. ²² But I will rescue my sheep and not let them be mistreated any more. I will judge each of my sheep and separate the good from the bad. ^23 (D)I will give them a king like my servant David to be their one shepherd, and he will take care of them. ^24 (E)I, the Lord, will be their God, and a king like my servant David will be their ruler. I have spoken. ²⁵ I will make a covenant with them that guarantees their security. I will get rid of all the dangerous animals in the land, so that my sheep can live safely in the fields and sleep in the forests.

²⁶ “I will bless them and let them live around my sacred hill.^[a] There I will bless them with showers of rain when they need it. ²⁷ The trees will bear fruit, the fields will produce crops, and everyone will live in safety on his own land. When I break my people's chains and set them free from those who made them slaves, then they will know that I am the Lord. ²⁸ The heathen nations will not plunder them any more, and the wild animals will not kill and eat them. They will live in safety, and no one will terrify them. ²⁹ I will give them fertile fields and put an end to hunger in the land. The other nations will not sneer at them any more. ³⁰ Everyone will know that I protect Israel and that they are my people. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

³¹ “You, my sheep, the flock that I feed, are my people, and I am your God,” says the Sovereign Lord.

God's Punishment of Edom

35 ^(F)The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the country of Edom. ³ Tell the people what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying:

⁵ “You were Israel's constant enemy and let her people be slaughtered in the time of her disaster, the time of final punishment for her sins. ⁶ So then—as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God—death is your fate, and you cannot escape it. You are guilty of^[b] murder, and murder will follow you. ⁷ I will make the hill country of Edom a wasteland and kill everyone who travels through it. ⁸ I will cover the mountains with corpses, and the bodies of those who are killed in battle will cover the hills and valleys. ⁹ I will make you desolate forever, and no one will live in your cities again. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “You said that the two nations, Judah and Israel, together with their lands, belonged to you and that you would possess them, even though I, the Lord, was their God. ¹¹ So then, as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I will pay you back for your anger, your jealousy, and your hate toward my people. They will know that I am punishing you for what you did to them. ¹² Then you will know that I, the Lord, heard you say with contempt that the mountains of Israel were desolate and that they were yours to devour. ¹³ I have heard the wild, boastful way you have talked against me.”

¹⁴ The Sovereign Lord says, “I will make you so desolate that the whole world will rejoice at your downfall, ¹⁵ just as you rejoiced at the devastation of Israel, my own possession. The mountains of Seir, yes, all the land of Edom, will be desolate. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.”

God's Blessing on Israel

36 The Lord said, “Mortal man, speak to the mountains of Israel and tell them to listen to the message which I, ² the Sovereign Lord, have for them: Israel's enemies gloated and said, ‘Now those ancient hills are ours!’

³ “Prophesy, then, and announce what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. When the neighboring nations captured and plundered the mountains of Israel, everyone made fun of Israel. ⁴ So now listen to what I, the Sovereign Lord, say to you mountains and hills, to you brooks and valleys, to you places that were left in ruins, and to you deserted cities which were plundered and mocked by all the surrounding nations.

⁵ “I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken out in the heat of my anger against the surrounding nations, and especially against Edom. With glee and contempt they captured my land and took possession of its pastures.

⁶ “So prophesy to the land of Israel; tell the mountains, hills, brooks, and valleys what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying in jealous anger because of the way the nations have insulted and humiliated them. ⁷ I, the Sovereign Lord, solemnly promise that the surrounding nations will be humiliated. ⁸ But on the mountains of Israel the trees will again grow leaves and bear fruit for you, my people Israel. You are going to come home soon. ⁹ I am on your side, and I will make sure that your land is plowed again and crops are planted on it. ¹⁰ I will make your population grow. You will live in the cities and rebuild everything that was left in ruins. ¹¹ I will make people and cattle increase in number. There will be more of you than ever before, and you will have many children. I will let you live there as you used to live, and I will make you more prosperous than ever. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will bring you, my people Israel, back to live again in the land. It will be your own land, and it will never again let your children starve.

¹³ “I, the Sovereign Lord, say: It is true that people say that the land eats people and that it robs the nation of its children. ¹⁴ But from now on it will no longer eat people and rob you of your children. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. ¹⁵ The land will no longer have to listen to the nations making fun of it or see the peoples sneer at it. The land will no longer rob the nation of its children. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

Israel's New Life

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to me. ¹⁷ “Mortal man,” he said, “when the Israelites were living in their land, they defiled it by the way they lived and acted. I regarded their behavior as being as ritually unclean as a woman is during her monthly period.^{[c] 18} I let them feel the force of my anger because of the murders they had committed in the land and because of the idols by which they had defiled it. ¹⁹ I condemned them for the way they lived and acted, and I scattered them through foreign countries. ²⁰ Wherever they went, they brought disgrace on my holy name, because people would say, ‘These are the people of the Lord, but they had to leave his land.’ ²¹ That made me concerned for my holy name, since the Israelites brought disgrace on it everywhere they went.

²² “Now then, give the Israelites the message that I, the Sovereign Lord, have for them: What I am going to do is not for the sake of you Israelites, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have disgraced in every country where you have gone. ²³ When I demonstrate to the nations the holiness of my great name—the name you disgraced among them—then they will know that I am the Lord. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. I will use you to show the nations that I am holy. ²⁴ I will take you from every nation and country and bring you back to your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you. ^26 (G)I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. ²⁷ I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you. ²⁸ Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will command the grain to be plentiful, so that you will not have any more famines. ³⁰ I will increase the yield of your fruit trees and your fields, so that there will be no more famines to disgrace you among the nations. ³¹ You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins and your iniquities. ³² Israel, I want you to know that I am not doing all this for your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

³³ The Sovereign Lord says, “When I make you clean from all your sins, I will let you live in your cities again and let you rebuild the ruins. ³⁴ Everyone who used to walk by your fields saw how overgrown and wild they were, but I will let you farm them again. ³⁵ Everyone will talk about how this land, which was once a wilderness, has become like the Garden of Eden, and how the cities which were torn down, looted, and left in ruins, are now inhabited and fortified. ³⁶ Then the neighboring nations that have survived will know that I, the Lord, rebuild ruined cities and replant waste fields. I, the Lord, have promised that I would do this—and I will.”

³⁷ The Sovereign Lord says, “I will once again let the Israelites ask me for help, and I will let them increase in numbers like a flock of sheep. ³⁸ The cities that are now in ruins will then be as full of people as Jerusalem was once full of the sheep which were offered as sacrifices at a festival. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 I felt the powerful presence of the Lord, and his spirit took me and set me down in a valley where the ground was covered with bones. ² He led me all around the valley, and I could see that there were very many bones and that they were very dry. ³ He said to me, “Mortal man, can these bones come back to life?”

I replied, “Sovereign Lord, only you can answer that!”

⁴ He said, “Prophesy to the bones. Tell these dry bones to listen to the word of the Lord. ⁵ Tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them: I am going to put breath into you and bring you back to life. ⁶ I will give you sinews and muscles, and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you and bring you back to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ So I prophesied as I had been told. While I was speaking, I heard a rattling noise, and the bones began to join together. ⁸ While I watched, the bones were covered with sinews and muscles, and then with skin. But there was no breath in the bodies.

⁹ God said to me, “Mortal man, prophesy to the wind.^[d] Tell the wind that the Sovereign Lord commands it to come from every direction, to breathe into these dead bodies, and to bring them back to life.”

^10 (H)So I prophesied as I had been told. Breath entered the bodies, and they came to life and stood up. There were enough of them to form an army.

¹¹ God said to me, “Mortal man, the people of Israel are like these bones. They say that they are dried up, without any hope and with no future. ¹² So prophesy to my people Israel and tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am going to open their graves. I am going to take them out and bring them back to the land of Israel. ¹³ When I open the graves where my people are buried and bring them out, they will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁴ I will put my breath in them, bring them back to life, and let them live in their own land. Then they will know that I am the Lord. I have promised that I would do this—and I will. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Judah and Israel in One Kingdom

¹⁵ The Lord spoke to me again. ¹⁶ “Mortal man,” he said, “take a wooden stick and write on it the words, ‘The kingdom of Judah.’ Then take another stick and write on it the words, ‘The kingdom of Israel.’ ¹⁷ Then hold the two sticks end to end in your hand so that they look like one stick. ¹⁸ When your people ask you to tell them what this means, ¹⁹ tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am going to take the stick representing Israel and put it with the one that represents Judah. Out of the two I will make one stick and hold it in my hand.

²⁰ “Hold in your hand the two sticks and let the people see them. ²¹ Then tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am going to take all my people out of the nations where they have gone, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land. ²² I will unite them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. They will have one king to rule over them, and they will no longer be divided into two nations or split into two kingdoms. ²³ They will not defile themselves with disgusting idols any more or corrupt themselves with sin. I will free them from all the ways in which they sin and betray me. I will purify them; they will be my people, and I will be their God. ^24 (I)A king like my servant David will be their king. They will all be united under one ruler and will obey my laws faithfully. ²⁵ They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their ancestors lived. They will live there forever, and so will their children and all their descendants. A king like my servant David will rule them forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant with them that guarantees their security forever. I will establish them and increase their population, and will see to it that my Temple stands forever in their land. ^27 (J)I will live there with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ When I place my Temple there to be among them forever, then the nations will know that I, the Lord, have chosen Israel to be my own people.”

Gog as the Instrument of God

38 The Lord spoke to me. ^2 (K)“Mortal man,” he said, “denounce Gog, chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal in the land of Magog. Denounce him ³ and tell him that I, the Sovereign Lord, am his enemy. ⁴ I will turn him around, put hooks in his jaws, and drag him and all his troops away. His army, with its horses and uniformed riders, is enormous, and every soldier carries a shield and is armed with a sword. ⁵ Troops from Persia, Ethiopia,^[e] and Libya are with him, and all have shields and helmets. ⁶ All the fighting men of the lands of Gomer and Beth Togarmah in the north are with him, and so are men from many other nations. ⁷ Tell him to get ready and have all his troops ready at his command. ⁸ After many years I will order him to invade a country where the people were brought back together from many nations and have lived without fear of war. He will invade the mountains of Israel, which were desolate and deserted so long, but where all the people now live in safety. ⁹ He and his army and the many nations with him will attack like a storm and cover the land like a cloud.”

¹⁰ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Gog: “When that time comes, you will start thinking up an evil plan. ¹¹ You will decide to invade a helpless country where the people live in peace and security in unwalled towns that have no defenses. ¹² You will plunder and loot the people who live in cities that were once in ruins. They have been gathered from the nations, and now they have livestock and property and live at the crossroads of the world. ¹³ The people of Sheba and Dedan and the merchants from the towns of Spain will ask you, ‘Have you assembled your army and attacked in order to loot and plunder? Do you intend to get silver and gold, livestock and property, and march off with all those spoils?’”

¹⁴ So the Sovereign Lord sent me to tell Gog what he was saying to him: “Now while my people Israel live in security, you will set out^{[f] 15} to come from your place in the far north, leading a large, powerful army of soldiers from many nations, all of them on horseback. ¹⁶ You will attack my people Israel like a storm moving across the land. When the time comes, I will send you to invade my land in order to show the nations who I am, to show my holiness by what I do through you. ¹⁷ You are the one I was talking about long ago, when I announced through my servants, the prophets of Israel, that in days to come I would bring someone to attack Israel.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

God's Punishment of Gog

¹⁸ The Sovereign Lord says, “On the day when Gog invades Israel, I will become furious. ¹⁹ I declare in the heat of my anger that on that day there will be a severe earthquake in the land of Israel. ²⁰ Every fish and bird, every animal large and small, and every human being on the face of the earth will tremble for fear of me. Mountains will fall, cliffs will crumble, and every wall will collapse. ²¹ I will terrify Gog with all sorts of calamities.^[g] I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. His men will turn their swords against one another. ²² I will punish him with disease and bloodshed. Torrents of rain and hail, together with fire and sulfur, will pour down on him and his army and on the many nations that are on his side. ²³ In this way I will show all the nations that I am great and that I am holy. They will know then that I am the Lord.”

The Defeat of Gog

39 The Sovereign Lord said, “Mortal man, denounce Gog, the chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal, and tell him that I am his enemy. ² I will turn him in a new direction and lead him out of the far north until he comes to the mountains of Israel. ³ Then I will knock his bow out of his left hand and his arrows out of his right hand. ⁴ Gog and his army and his allies will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, and I will let their bodies be food for all the birds and wild animals. ⁵ They will fall dead in the open field. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. ⁶ I will start a fire in the land of Magog and along all the seacoasts where people live undisturbed, and everyone will know that I am the Lord. ⁷ I will make sure that my people Israel know my holy name, and I will not let my name be disgraced any more. Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, am the holy God of Israel.”

⁸ The Sovereign Lord said, “The day I spoke about is certain to come. ⁹ The people who live in the cities of Israel will go out and collect the abandoned weapons for firewood. They will build fires with the shields, bows, arrows, spears, and clubs, and have enough to last for seven years. ¹⁰ They will not have to gather firewood in the fields or cut down trees in the forest, because they will have the abandoned weapons to burn. They will loot and plunder those who looted and plundered them.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

The Burial of Gog

¹¹ The Lord said, “When all this happens, I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, in Travelers' Valley, east of the Dead Sea.^[h] Gog and all his army will be buried there, and the valley will be called ‘The Valley of Gog's Army.’ ¹² It will take the Israelites seven months to bury all the corpses and make the land clean again. ¹³ Everyone in the land will help bury them, and they will be honored for this on the day of my victory. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. ¹⁴ After the seven months are over, men will be chosen to travel through the land in order to find and bury those bodies^[i] remaining on the ground, so that they can make the land clean. ¹⁵ As they go up and down the country, every time they find a human bone, they will put a marker beside it so that the gravediggers can come and bury it in the Valley of Gog's Army. ¹⁶ (There will be a town nearby named after the army.) And so the land will be made clean again.”

^17 (L)The Sovereign Lord said to me, “Mortal man, call all the birds and animals to come from all around to eat the sacrifice I am preparing for them. It will be a huge feast on the mountains of Israel, where they can eat meat and drink blood. ¹⁸ They are to eat the bodies of soldiers and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth, all of whom will be killed like rams or lambs or goats or fat bulls. ¹⁹ When I kill these people like sacrifices, the birds and animals are to eat all the fat they can hold and to drink blood until they are drunk. ²⁰ At my table they will eat all they can hold of horses and their riders and of soldiers and fighting men. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

The Restoration of Israel

²¹ The Lord said, “I will let the nations see my glory and show them how I use my power to carry out my just decisions. ²² The Israelites will know from then on that I am the Lord their God. ²³ And the nations will know that the Israelites went into exile because of the sins which they committed against me. I turned away from them and let their enemies defeat them and kill them in battle. ²⁴ I gave them what they deserved for their uncleanness and their wickedness, and I turned away from them.”

²⁵ The Sovereign Lord said, “But now I will be merciful to Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel, and make them prosperous again. I will protect my holy name. ²⁶ When they are once more living in safety in their own land, with no one to threaten them, they will be able to forget how they were disgraced for having betrayed me. ²⁷ In order to show to the many nations that I am holy, I will bring my people back from all the countries where their enemies live. ²⁸ Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God. They will know this, because I sent them into captivity and now gather them and bring them back into their own land, not leaving even one of them behind. ²⁹ I will pour out my spirit on the people of Israel and never again turn away from them. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”