Blessing on Israel

36 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the ^(A)mountains of Israel, and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord! ² Thus says the Lord God: “Because ^(B)the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! ^(C)The ^[a]ancient heights ^(D)have become our possession,’ ” ’ ³ therefore prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, ^(E)and you are taken up by the lips of ^(F)talkers and slandered by the people”— ⁴ therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, the hills, the ^[b]rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which ^(G)became plunder and ^(H)mockery to the rest of the nations all around— ⁵ therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(I)“Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, ^(J)who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with wholehearted joy and ^[c]spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country.” ’

⁶ “Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have ^(K)borne the shame of the nations.” ⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord God: “I have ^(L)raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall ^(M)bear their own shame. ⁸ But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. ⁹ For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. ¹⁰ I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and ^(N)the ruins rebuilt. ^11 (O)I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and ^[d]bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do ^(P)better for you than at your beginnings. ^(Q)Then you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹² Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; ^(R)they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you ^(S)bereave them of children.”

¹³ ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because they say to you, ^(T)‘You devour men and bereave your nation of children,’ ¹⁴ therefore you shall devour men no more, nor bereave your nation anymore,” says the Lord God. ^15 (U)“Nor will I let you hear the taunts of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to stumble anymore,” says the Lord God.’ ”

The Renewal of Israel

¹⁶ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁷ “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, ^(V)they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like ^(W)the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore I poured out My fury on them ^(X)for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. ¹⁹ So I ^(Y)scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them ^(Z)according to their ways and their deeds. ²⁰ When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they ^(AA)profaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ ²¹ But I had concern ^(AB)for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, ^(AC)but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. ²³ And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am ^(AD)hallowed in you before their eyes. ²⁴ For ^(AE)I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ^25 (AF)Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you ^(AG)from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a ^(AH)new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My ^(AI)Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ^28 (AJ)Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; ^(AK)you shall be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will ^(AL)deliver you from all your uncleannesses. ^(AM)I will call for the grain and multiply it, and ^(AN)bring no famine upon you. ^30 (AO)And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then ^(AP)you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you ^(AQ)will ^[e]loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. ^32 (AR)Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”

³³ ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, ^(AS)and the ruins shall be rebuilt. ³⁴ The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. ³⁵ So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of ^(AT)Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. ^(AU)I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

³⁷ ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(AV)“I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will ^(AW)increase their men like a flock. ³⁸ Like a ^[f]flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its ^[g]feast days, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

The Day of the Lord^(A)

¹⁰ All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. ^[g]Jerusalem shall be raised up and ^(N)inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, ^(O)and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.

¹² And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:

The Nations Worship the King

¹⁶ And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall ^(V)go up from year to year to ^(W)worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep ^(X)the Feast of Tabernacles. ^17 (Y)And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. ¹⁸ If the family of ^(Z)Egypt will not come up and enter in, ^(AA)they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁹ This shall be the ^[i]punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

²⁰ In that day ^(AB)“HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The ^(AC)pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. ²¹ Yes, ^[j]every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a ^(AD)Canaanite ^(AE)in the house of the Lord of hosts.

Israel’s Rejection Not Total

11 I say then, ^(A)has God cast away His people? ^(B)Certainly not! For ^(C)I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God has not cast away His people whom ^(D)He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, ^3 (E)“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? ⁴ But what does the divine response say to him? ^(F)“I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ^5 (G)Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. ⁶ And ^(H)if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. ^[a]But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

⁷ What then? ^(I)Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were ^(J)blinded. ⁸ Just as it is written:

⁹ And David says:

Israel’s Rejection Not Final

¹¹ I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But ^(N)through their ^[b]fall, to provoke them to ^(O)jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. ¹² Now if their ^[c]fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

¹³ For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as ^(P)I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ¹⁴ if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and ^(Q)save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be ^(R)but life from the dead?

¹⁶ For if ^(S)the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷ And if ^(T)some of the branches were broken off, ^(U)and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and ^[d]fatness of the olive tree, ^18 (V)do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ Well said. Because of ^(W)unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. ²² Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, ^[e]goodness, ^(X)if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise ^(Y)you also will be cut off. ²³ And they also, ^(Z)if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵ For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be ^(AA)wise in your own ^[f]opinion, that ^(AB)blindness in part has happened to Israel ^(AC)until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And so all Israel will be ^[g]saved, as it is written:

²⁸ Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are ^(AF)beloved for the sake of the fathers. ²⁹ For the gifts and the calling of God are ^(AG)irrevocable. ³⁰ For as you ^(AH)were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, ³¹ even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. ³² For God has ^[h]committed them ^(AI)all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

³⁶ For ^(AM)of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, ^(AN)to whom be glory forever. Amen.