The Mountains of Israel to Be Blessed

36 “Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² This is what the Lord ^[a]God says: “Since the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting ^[b](A)heights have become our possession,’ ³ therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “^[c]For good reason they have made you ^(B)desolate and harassed you from every side, so that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations; and you have been taken up in the ^[d](C)talk and the rumor of the people.”’” ⁴ Therefore, you ^(D)mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate ruins and to the abandoned cities which have become ^(E)plunder and an object of ridicule to the rest of the nations which are all around— ⁵ therefore the Lord God says this: “Certainly in the fire of My ^(F)jealousy I have spoken against the ^(G)rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who ^[e]appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted ^(H)joy and with contempt of soul, in order to make its pastureland plunder.” ⁶ Therefore prophesy in regard to the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “This is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have ^(I)endured the insults of the nations.’ ⁷ Therefore the Lord God says this: ‘I have ^[f]sworn that the nations that are around you will certainly endure their insults themselves. ⁸ But as for you, mountains of Israel, you will ^[g](J)grow your branches and bear fruit for My people Israel; for they are about to come. ⁹ For, behold, I am for you, and I will ^(K)turn to you, and you will be ^(L)cultivated and sown. ¹⁰ And I will multiply people on you, ^(M)all the house of Israel, all of it; and the ^(N)cities will be inhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt. ¹¹ I will multiply on you people and animals, and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will populate you as you were ^(O)previously, and treat you ^(P)better than at the beginning. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² Yes, I will have ^(Q)people—My people Israel—walk on you and possess you, so that you will become their ^(R)inheritance and never again ^(S)bereave them of children.’

¹³ “The Lord God says this: ‘Since they say to you, “You are a ^(T)devourer of people and have bereaved your nation of children,” ¹⁴ for that reason you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ declares the Lord God. ¹⁵ I will not let you hear ^(U)insults from the nations anymore, nor will you suffer ^(V)disgrace from the peoples any longer, nor will you make your nation ^(W)stumble any longer,” declares the Lord God.’”

¹⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they ^(X)defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like ^(Y)the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore I ^(Z)poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹ I also ^(AA)scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. ^(AB)According to their ways and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰ When they came to the nations where they went, they ^(AC)profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the ^(AD)people of the Lord, yet they have left His land.’ ²¹ But I had ^[h]concern for My ^(AE)holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

Israel to Be Renewed for His Name’s Sake

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “It is ^(AF)not for your sake, house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³ And I will ^(AG)vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the ^(AH)nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I show Myself holy among you in their sight. ²⁴ For I will ^(AI)take you from the nations, and gather you from all the lands; and I will bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will ^(AJ)sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your ^(AK)filthiness and from all your ^(AL)idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a ^(AM)new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the ^(AN)heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will ^(AO)put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and ^[i]follow My ordinances. ²⁸ And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be ^(AP)My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I ^(AQ)will not ^[j]bring a famine on you. ³⁰ Instead, I will ^(AR)multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you will ^(AS)remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your wrongdoings and your abominations. ³² I am not doing this ^(AT)for your sake,” declares the Lord God; “let that be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your ways, house of Israel!”

³³ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your wrongdoings, I will populate the ^(AU)cities, and the ^(AV)places of ruins will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The desolated land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. ³⁵ And they will say, ‘This desolated land has become like the ^(AW)Garden of Eden; and the waste, desolated and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations around you that are left will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolated; I, the Lord, have spoken, and I ^(AX)will do it.”

³⁷ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “This too I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their people like a flock. ³⁸ Like the ^(AY)flock ^[k]for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with ^(AZ)flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’”

Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

37 The ^(BA)hand of the Lord was upon me, and He ^(BB)brought me out ^[l]by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the ^(BC)valley; and it was full of bones. ² He had me pass among them all around, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and behold, they were very dry. ³ Then He said to me, “Son of man, ^(BD)can these bones live?” And I answered, “Lord ^[m]God, ^(BE)You Yourself know.” ⁴ Again He said to me, “^(BF)Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘You dry bones, ^(BG)hear the word of the Lord.’ ⁵ This is what the Lord God says to these bones: ‘Behold, I am going to make ^[n](BH)breath enter you so that you may come to life. ⁶ And I will ^[o]attach tendons to you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you so that you may come to life; and you will ^(BI)know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied ^(BJ)as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a loud noise, and behold, a ^[p]rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ And I looked, and behold, tendons were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘The Lord God says this: “Come from the four winds, breath, and ^(BK)breathe on these slain, so that they ^(BL)come to life.”’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the ^(BM)breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an ^(BN)exceedingly great army.

The Vision Explained

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the ^(BO)entire house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our ^(BP)bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are ^[q]completely ^(BQ)cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to open your graves and ^(BR)cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. ¹⁴ And I will ^(BS)put My ^[r]Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’”

Reunion of Judah and Israel

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, ¹⁶ “Now you, son of man, take for yourself ^(BT)one stick and write on it, ‘For ^(BU)Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^(BV)Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ ¹⁷ Then ^(BW)put them together for yourself one to another into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ And when the sons of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not declare to us ^(BX)what ^[s]you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ ²⁰ The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. ²¹ And say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to ^(BY)take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; ²² and I will make them ^(BZ)one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and ^(CA)one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations, and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will ^(CB)no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their offenses; but ^(CC)I will rescue them from all their ^[t]dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

The Davidic Kingdom

²⁴ “And My servant ^(CD)David will be king over them, and they will all have ^(CE)one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances, and keep My statutes and ^[u]follow them. ²⁵ And they will live on the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and My servant ^(CF)David will be their leader forever. ²⁶ And I will make a ^(CG)covenant of peace with them; it will be an ^(CH)everlasting covenant with them. And I will ^[v]place them and ^(CI)multiply them, and set My ^(CJ)sanctuary in their midst forever. ²⁷ My ^(CK)dwelling place also will be among them; and ^(CL)I will be their God, and they will be My people. ²⁸ And the nations will know that I am the Lord ^(CM)who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”

Israel Has Not Been Rejected

11 I say then, God has not ^(A)rejected His people, has He? ^[a](B)Far from it! For ^(C)I too am an Israelite, ^[b]a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God ^(D)has not rejected His people whom He ^(E)foreknew. ^(F)Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ³ “Lord, ^(G)they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” ⁴ But what ^[c]is the divine response to him? “^(H)I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time ^(I)a remnant according to God’s ^[d]gracious choice. ⁶ But ^(J)if it is by grace, it is no longer ^[e]on the basis of works, since otherwise grace is no longer grace.

⁷ What then? What ^(K)Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but ^[f]those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were ^(L)hardened; ⁸ just as it is written:

⁹ And David says,

^11 (P)I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? ^[g](Q)Far from it! But by their wrongdoing ^(R)salvation has come to the Gentiles, to ^(S)make them jealous. ¹² Now if their wrongdoing proves to be riches for the world, and their failure, riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their ^[h](T)fulfillment be! ¹³ But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Therefore insofar as ^(U)I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry ¹⁴ if somehow I may ^(V)move ^(W)my ^[i]own people to jealousy and ^(X)save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection proves to be the ^(Y)reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but ^(Z)life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the ^(AA)first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are as well.

¹⁷ But if some of the ^(AB)branches were broken off, and ^(AC)you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the ^[j]rich root of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that ^(AD)it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. ^19 (AE)You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you ^(AF)stand by your faith. ^(AG)Do not be conceited, but fear; ²¹ for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. ²² See then the kindness and severity of God: to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s ^(AH)kindness, ^(AI)if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too ^(AJ)will be cut off. ²³ And they also, ^(AK)if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵ For ^(AL)I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this ^(AM)mystery—so that you will not be ^(AN)wise in your own estimation—that a partial ^(AO)hardening has happened to Israel until the ^(AP)fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written:

²⁸ In relation to the gospel they are ^(AT)enemies on your account, but in relation to God’s choice they are beloved ^(AU)on account of the fathers; ²⁹ for the gifts and the ^(AV)calling of God ^(AW)are irrevocable. ³⁰ For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹ so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. ³² For ^(AX)God has shut up all in disobedience, so that He may show mercy to all.

³³ Oh, the depth of ^(AY)the riches, ^[l]both of the ^(AZ)wisdom and knowledge of God! ^(BA)How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! ³⁴ For ^(BB)who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? ³⁵ Or ^(BC)who has first given to Him, ^[m]that it would be paid back to him? ³⁶ For ^(BD)from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. ^(BE)To Him be the glory ^[n]forever. Amen.