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14 Then the Lord’s message came to me: 15 “Son of man, your brothers,[a] your relatives,[b] and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘They have gone far away[c] from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.’

16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little[d] sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.’

17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’

18 “When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them;[e] I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies[f] and I will give them tender hearts,[g] 20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.[h] 21 But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done,[i] says the Sovereign Lord.”

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 11:15 tc The MT reads “your brothers, your brothers” either for emphasis (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:341, n. 1; 346) or as a result of dittography.
  2. Ezekiel 11:15 tc The MT reads גְאֻלָּתֶךָ (geʾullatekha, “your redemption-men”), referring to the relatives responsible for deliverance in times of hardship (see Lev 25:25-55). The LXX and Syriac read “your fellow exiles,” assuming an underlying Hebrew text of גָלוּתֶךָ (galutekha) or having read the א (alef) as an internal mater lectionis for holem.
  3. Ezekiel 11:15 tc The MT has an imperative form (“go far!”), but it may be read with different vowels as a perfect verb (“they have gone far”).
  4. Ezekiel 11:16 tn Or “have been partially a sanctuary”; others take this as temporal (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV “a little while”).
  5. Ezekiel 11:19 tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew mss along with the LXX and other ancient versions read “within them.”
  6. Ezekiel 11:19 tn Heb “their flesh.”
  7. Ezekiel 11:19 tn Heb “heart of flesh.”
  8. Ezekiel 11:20 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).
  9. Ezekiel 11:21 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”