Ezekiel 20:30-38

New International Reader's Version

The Lord Makes Israel New Again

³⁰ The Lord said to me, “Speak to the Israelites. Tell them, ‘Here is what the Lord and King says. “Are you going to make yourselves ‘unclean’ the way your people of long ago did? Are you also going to want to worship the statues of their evil gods? ³¹ You make yourselves ‘unclean’ by offering sacrifices to other gods. You even sacrifice your children in the fire. You continue to do these things to this day. People of Israel, should I let you ask me for advice? I will not let you do that,” announces the Lord and King. “And that is just as sure as I am alive.

³² “ ‘ “You say, ‘We want to be like the other nations. We want to be like all the other people in the world. They serve gods made out of wood and stone.’ But what you have in mind will never happen. ³³ I will rule over you by reaching out my mighty hand and powerful arm. I will pour my great anger out on you,” announces the Lord and King. “And that is just as sure as I am alive. ³⁴ I will bring you back from the nations. I will gather you together from the countries where you have been scattered. I will reach out my mighty hand and powerful arm. I will pour my great anger out on you. ³⁵ I will send you among the nations. There I will judge you face to face. It will be as if I were judging you in the desert again. ³⁶ Long ago, I judged your people in the desert of Egypt. In the same way, I will judge you,” announces the Lord and King. ³⁷ “I will take note of you as you pass under my shepherd’s stick. I will separate those who obey me from those who do not. And I will give the blessings of the covenant to those of you who obey me. ³⁸ I will get rid of those among you who turn against me. They refuse to obey me. I will bring them out of the land where they are living. But they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.