Israel Will Surely Be Rebuilt

¹⁶ Another message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, ¹⁷ “Son of man, the people of Israel used to live in their own land. But they made it ‘unclean’ because of how they acted and the way they lived. To me they were ‘unclean’ like a woman having her monthly period. ¹⁸ They spilled people’s blood in the land. They made the land ‘unclean’ by worshiping other gods. So I poured out my great anger on them. ¹⁹ I scattered them among the nations. I sent them to other countries. I judged them based on how they acted and on how they lived. ²⁰ They treated my name as if it were not holy. They did it everywhere they went among the nations. People said about them, ‘They are the Lord’s people. But they were forced to leave his land.’ ²¹ I was concerned about my holy name. The people of Israel treated it as if it were not holy. They did it everywhere they went among the nations.