Ezekiel 36:16-38:23

English Standard Version

The Lord's Concern for His Holy Name

¹⁶The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁷^(A)“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, ^(B)they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were ^(C)like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. ¹⁸So ^(D)I poured out my wrath upon them ^(E)for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols ^(F)with which they had defiled it. ¹⁹^(G)I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. ^(H)In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, ^(I)they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ ²¹But I had concern ^(J)for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

I Will Put My Spirit Within You

²²“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^(K)It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, ^(L)which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. ²³^(M)And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. ^(N)And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. ²⁴^(O)I will take you ^(P)from the nations and gather you from all the countries and ^(Q)bring you into your own land. ²⁵^(R)I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from ^(S)all your uncleannesses, and ^(T)from all your idols ^(U)I will cleanse you. ²⁶And I will give you ^(V)a new heart, and ^(W)a new spirit I will put within you. ^(X)And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷^(Y)And I will put my Spirit within you, ^(Z)and cause you to walk in my statutes and ^(AA)be careful to obey my rules.^[a] ²⁸^(AB)You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ^(AC)you shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹And ^(AD)I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And ^(AE)I will summon the grain and make it abundant and ^(AF)lay no famine upon you. ³⁰^(AG)I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, ^(AH)that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹Then ^(AI)you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. ³²^(AJ)It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

³³“Thus says the Lord God: On the day that ^(AK)I cleanse you from all your iniquities, ^(AL)I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. ³⁴And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. ³⁵And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like ^(AM)the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶Then ^(AN)the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and ^(AO)replanted that which was desolate. ^(AP)I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.

³⁷“Thus says the Lord God: This also ^(AQ)I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: ^(AR)to increase their people like ^(AS)a flock. ³⁸Like the flock for sacrifices,^[b] ^(AT)like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so ^(AU)shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. ^(AV)Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 ^(AW)The hand of the Lord was upon me, and ^(AX)he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;^[c] it was full of bones. ²And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³And he said to me, ^(AY)“Son of man, ^(AZ)can these bones live?” And ^(BA)I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴Then he said to me, ^(BB)“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ^(BC)O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause ^(BD)breath^[d] to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶^(BE)And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and ^(BF)cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, ^(BG)and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

⁷So I prophesied ^(BH)as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, ^(BI)a rattling,^[e] and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But ^(BJ)there was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, ^(BK)“Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, ^(BL)son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from ^(BM)the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰So I prophesied ^(BN)as he commanded me, and ^(BO)the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹Then he said to me, ^(BP)“Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and ^(BQ)our hope is lost; ^(BR)we are indeed cut off.’ ¹²Therefore ^(BS)prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(BT)I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And ^(BU)I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³And ^(BV)you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴And ^(BW)I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; ^(BX)I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

I Will Be Their God; They Shall Be My People

¹⁵The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶^(BY)“Son of man, ^(BZ)take a stick^[f] and write on it, ‘For ^(CA)Judah, and ^(CB)the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^(CC)Joseph (the stick of ^(CD)Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ ¹⁷And ^(CE)join them one to another into one stick, that ^(CF)they may become ^(CG)one in your hand. ¹⁸And when ^(CH)your people say to you, ^(CI)‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take ^(CJ)the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the ^(CK)stick of Judah,^[g] and ^(CL)make them one stick, ^(CM)that they may be one in my hand. ²⁰When the sticks on which you write are in your hand ^(CN)before their eyes, ²¹then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(CO)I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and ^(CP)bring them to their own land. ²²And ^(CQ)I will make them one nation in the land, on ^(CR)the mountains of Israel. And ^(CS)one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer ^(CT)two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. ²³^(CU)They shall not ^(CV)defile themselves anymore ^(CW)with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But ^(CX)I will save them from all the backslidings^[h] in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and ^(CY)they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴“My servant ^(CZ)David ^(DA)shall be king over them, and they shall all have ^(DB)one shepherd. ^(DC)They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. ²⁵^(DD)They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there ^(DE)forever, and David my servant shall be their prince ^(DF)forever. ²⁶^(DG)I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be ^(DH)an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land^[i] and ^(DI)multiply them, and will ^(DJ)set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ²⁷^(DK)My dwelling place shall be with them, ^(DL)and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸Then ^(DM)the nations will know that ^(DN)I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when ^(DO)my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

Prophecy Against Gog

38 The word of the Lord came to me: ²^(DP)“Son of man, ^(DQ)set your face toward ^(DR)Gog, of the land of ^(DS)Magog, the ^(DT)chief prince of ^(DU)Meshech^[j] and ^(DV)Tubal, and ^(DW)prophesy against him ³and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(DX)I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech^[k] and Tubal. ⁴^(DY)And I will turn you about and ^(DZ)put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and ^(EA)all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. ⁵^(EB)Persia, ^(EC)Cush, and ^(ED)Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ⁶^(EE)Gomer and all his ^(EF)hordes; ^(EG)Beth-togarmah from ^(EH)the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—^(EI)many peoples are with you.

⁷^(EJ)“Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. ⁸^(EK)After many days you will be mustered. ^(EL)In the latter years you will go against ^(EM)the land that is restored from war, the land whose people ^(EN)were gathered from many peoples upon ^(EO)the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and ^(EP)now dwell securely, all of them. ⁹You will advance, coming on ^(EQ)like a storm. You will be ^(ER)like a cloud covering the land, you and all your ^(ES)hordes, and many peoples with you.

¹⁰“Thus says the Lord God: On that day, ^(ET)thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme ¹¹and say, ‘I will go up against ^(EU)the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon ^(EV)the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ ¹²to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against ^(EW)the waste places that are now inhabited, and ^(EX)the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, ^(EY)who dwell at the center of the earth. ¹³^(EZ)Sheba and ^(FA)Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all ^(FB)its leaders^[l] will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’

¹⁴“Therefore, ^(FC)son of man, prophesy, and say to ^(FD)Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are ^(FE)dwelling securely, ^(FF)will you not know it? ¹⁵You will come from your place out of ^(FG)the uttermost parts of the north, you and ^(FH)many peoples with you, ^(FI)all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. ¹⁶You will come up against my people Israel, ^(FJ)like a cloud covering the land. ^(FK)In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, ^(FL)I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

¹⁷“Thus says the Lord God: Are you ^(FM)he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, ^(FN)my wrath will be roused in my anger. ¹⁹For ^(FO)in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day ^(FP)there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. ²⁰^(FQ)The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, ^(FR)shall quake at my presence. And ^(FS)the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. ²¹^(FT)I will summon a sword against Gog^[m] on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. ^(FU)Every man's sword will be against his brother. ²²With pestilence and bloodshed ^(FV)I will enter into judgment with him, and ^(FW)I will rain upon him and ^(FX)his hordes and the many peoples who are with him ^(FY)torrential rains and hailstones, ^(FZ)fire and sulfur. ²³So I will show my greatness and my ^(GA)holiness and ^(GB)make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then ^(GC)they will know that I am the Lord.