Ezekiel 35-39

New American Standard Bible 1995

Prophecy against Mount Seir

35 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, set your face against ^(A)Mount Seir, and prophesy against it ³ and say to it, ‘Thus says the Lord ^[a]God,

⁵ Because you have had everlasting ^(E)enmity and have ^[b]delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of the ^[c](F)punishment of the end, ⁶ therefore as I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will ^[d]give you over to ^(G)bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you. ⁷ I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation and I will cut off from it the one who passes through and returns. ⁸ I will ^(H)fill its mountains with its slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain by the sword will ^[e]fall. ⁹ I will make you an everlasting ^(I)desolation and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “Because you have ^(J)said, ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess ^[f]them,’ although the ^(K)Lord was there, ¹¹ therefore as I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will deal with you ^(L)according to your anger and according to your envy which you showed because of your hatred against them; so I will ^(M)make Myself known among them when I judge you. ¹² Then you will know ^[g]that I, the Lord, have heard all your revilings which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are ^(N)given to us for food.’ ¹³ And you have ^[h](O)spoken arrogantly against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; ^(P)I have heard it.” ¹⁴ Thus says the Lord God, “As all the ^(Q)earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation. ¹⁵ As you ^(R)rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, ^(S)so I will do to you. You will be a ^(T)desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’

The Mountains of Israel to Be Blessed

36 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord ^[i]God, “Because the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting ^[j](U)heights have become our possession,’ ³ therefore prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “^[k]For good reason they have made you ^(V)desolate and crushed you from every side, that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations and you have been taken up in the ^[l](W)talk and the whispering of the people.”’” ⁴ Therefore, O ^(X)mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities which have become a ^(Y)prey and a derision to the rest of the nations which are round about, ⁵ therefore thus says the Lord God, “Surely in the fire of My ^(Z)jealousy I have spoken against the ^(AA)rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who ^[m]appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted ^(AB)joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey.” ⁶ Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have ^(AC)endured the insults of the nations.’ ⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘I have ^[n]sworn that surely the nations which are around you will themselves endure their insults. ⁸ But you, O mountains of Israel, you will ^(AD)put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. ⁹ For, behold, I am for you, and I will ^(AE)turn to you, and you will be ^(AF)cultivated and sown. ¹⁰ I will multiply men on you, ^(AG)all the house of Israel, all of it; and the ^(AH)cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt. ¹¹ I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were ^(AI)formerly and will ^[o]treat you ^(AJ)better than at the first. Thus you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² Yes, I will cause ^(AK)men—My people Israel—to walk on you and possess you, so that you will become their ^(AL)inheritance and never again ^(AM)bereave them of children.’

¹³ “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Because they say to you, “You are a ^(AN)devourer of men and have bereaved your ^[p]nation of children,” ¹⁴ therefore you will no longer devour men and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ declares the Lord God. ¹⁵ “I will not let you hear ^(AO)insults from the nations anymore, nor will you bear ^(AP)disgrace from the peoples any longer, nor will you cause your nation to ^(AQ)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 in their own land, they ^(AR)defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like ^(AS)the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore I ^(AT)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 Also I ^(AU)scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the lands. ^(AV)According to their ways and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰ When they came to the nations where they went, they ^(AW)profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the ^(AX)people of the Lord; yet they have come out of His land.’ ²¹ But I had ^[q]concern for My ^(AY)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, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is ^(AZ)not for your sake, O 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 I will ^(BA)vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the ^(BB)nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. ²⁴ For I will ^(BC)take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will ^(BD)sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your ^(BE)filthiness and from all your ^(BF)idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a ^(BG)new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the ^(BH)heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will ^(BI)put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. ²⁸ You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be ^(BJ)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 ^(BK)will not ^[r]bring a famine on you. ³⁰ I will ^(BL)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 ^(BM)remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. ³² I am not doing this ^(BN)for your sake,” declares the Lord God, “let it 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 I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the ^(BO)cities to be inhabited, and the ^(BP)waste places will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. ³⁵ They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the ^(BQ)garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken and ^(BR)will do it.”

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

Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

37 The ^(BU)hand of the Lord was upon me, and He ^(BV)brought me out ^[t]by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the ^(BW)valley; and it was full of bones. ² He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. ³ He said to me, “Son of man, ^(BX)can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord ^[u]God, ^(BY)You know.” ⁴ Again He said to me, “^(BZ)Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, ^(CA)hear the word of the Lord.’ ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause ^[v](CB)breath to enter you that you may come to life. ⁶ I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will ^(CC)know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied ^(CD)as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a ^[w]noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ And I looked, and behold, sinews 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, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and ^(CE)breathe on these slain, that they ^(CF)come to life.”’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the ^(CG)breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an ^(CH)exceedingly great army.

The Vision Explained

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the ^(CI)whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our ^(CJ)bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are ^[x]completely ^(CK)cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and ^(CL)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 I will ^(CM)put My ^[y]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 “And you, son of man, take for yourself ^(CN)one stick and write on it, ‘For ^(CO)Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^(CP)Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ ¹⁷ Then ^(CQ)join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ When the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us ^(CR)what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will 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 Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will ^(CS)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 ^(CT)one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and ^(CU)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 ^(CV)no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but ^(CW)I will deliver them from all their ^[z]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 “My servant ^(CX)David will be king over them, and they will all have ^(CY)one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. ²⁵ They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and ^(CZ)David My servant will be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a ^(DA)covenant of peace with them; it will be an ^(DB)everlasting covenant with them. And I will ^[aa]place them and ^(DC)multiply them, and will set My ^(DD)sanctuary in their midst forever. ²⁷ My ^(DE)dwelling place also will be with them; and ^(DF)I will be their God, and they will be My people. ²⁸ And the nations will know that I am the Lord ^(DG)who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”

Prophecy about Gog and Future Invasion of Israel

38 And the word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, set your face toward ^(DH)Gog of the land of ^(DI)Magog, the ^[ab]prince of ^(DJ)Rosh, ^(DK)Meshech and ^(DL)Tubal, and prophesy against him ³ and say, ‘Thus says the Lord ^[ac]God, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, ^[ad]prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. ⁴ I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will ^(DM)bring you out, and all your army, ^(DN)horses and horsemen, all of them ^[ae]splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords; ^5 (DO)Persia, ^[af](DP)Ethiopia and ^(DQ)Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ^6 (DR)Gomer with all its troops; ^(DS)Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples with you.

⁷ “^(DT)Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. ^8 (DU)After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been ^(DV)gathered from many ^[ag]nations to the ^(DW)mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but ^[ah]its people were brought out from the ^[ai]nations, and they are ^(DX)living securely, all of them. ⁹ You will go up, you will come ^(DY)like a storm; you will be like a ^(DZ)cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.”

¹⁰ ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It will come about on that day, that ^[aj]thoughts will come into your mind and you will ^(EA)devise an evil plan, ¹¹ and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of ^[ak](EB)unwalled villages. I will go against those who are ^(EC)at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, ¹² to ^(ED)capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the ^[al]center of the world.’ ^13 (EE)Sheba and ^(EF)Dedan and the merchants of ^(EG)Tarshish with all its ^[am]villages will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great ^(EH)spoil?’”’

¹⁴ “Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “On that day when My people Israel are ^(EI)living securely, will you not know it? ^15 (EJ)You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army; ¹⁶ and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may ^(EK)know Me when I am ^(EL)sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.”

¹⁷ ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who ^(EM)prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸ It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares the Lord God, “that My fury will mount up in My ^(EN)anger. ¹⁹ In My ^(EO)zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great ^[an](EP)earthquake in the land of Israel. ^20 (EQ)The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the ^(ER)mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will ^[ao]collapse and every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ I will call for a ^(ES)sword against ^[ap]him on all My mountains,” declares the Lord God. “^(ET)Every man’s sword will be against his brother. ²² With pestilence and with blood I will enter into ^(EU)judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, ^[aq]a torrential rain, with ^(EV)hailstones, fire and brimstone. ²³ I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and ^(EW)make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.”’

Prophecy against Gog—Invaders Destroyed

39 “And ^(EX)you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, ‘Thus says the Lord ^[ar]God, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, ^[as]prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal; ² and I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel. ³ I will ^(EY)strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand. ⁴ You will ^(EZ)fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as ^(FA)food to every ^[at]kind of predatory bird and beast of the field. ⁵ You will fall on the ^[au]open field; for it is I who have spoken,” declares the Lord God. ⁶ “And I will send ^(FB)fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the ^(FC)coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the Lord.

⁷ “My ^(FD)holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be ^(FE)profaned anymore. And the ^(FF)nations will know that I am the Lord, the ^(FG)Holy One in Israel. ⁸ Behold, it is coming and it shall be done,” declares the Lord God. “That is the day of which I have spoken.

⁹ “Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will ^(FH)go out and make ^(FI)fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them. ¹⁰ They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them and seize the ^(FJ)plunder of those who plundered them,” declares the Lord God.

¹¹ “On that day I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off those who would pass by. So they will bury Gog there with all his ^[av]horde, and they will call it the valley of ^[aw]Hamon-gog. ¹² For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to ^(FK)cleanse the land. ¹³ Even all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be ^[ax]to their ^(FL)renown on the day that I ^(FM)glorify Myself,” declares the Lord God. ¹⁴ “They will set apart men who will constantly pass through the land, ^(FN)burying those who were passing through, even those left on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. ¹⁵ As those who pass through the land pass through and anyone sees a man’s bone, then he will ^[ay]set up a marker by it until the buriers have buried it in the valley of ^[az]Hamon-gog. ¹⁶ And even the name of the city will be Hamonah. So they will cleanse the land.”’

¹⁷ “As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘Speak to every ^[ba]kind of ^(FO)bird and to every ^(FP)beast of the field, “Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to ^(FQ)sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You will ^(FR)eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were ^(FS)rams, lambs, goats and ^(FT)bulls, all of them fatlings of ^(FU)Bashan. ¹⁹ So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. ²⁰ You will be glutted at My table with ^(FV)horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war,” declares the Lord God.

²¹ “And I will set My ^(FW)glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them. ²² And the house of Israel will ^(FX)know that I am the Lord their God from that day onward. ²³ The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their ^(FY)iniquity because they acted treacherously against Me, and I ^(FZ)hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword. ^24 (GA)According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them, and I hid My face from them.”’”

Israel Restored

²⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Now I will ^[bb](GB)restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole ^(GC)house of Israel; and I will be ^(GD)jealous for My holy name. ²⁶ They will ^[bc](GE)forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they ^[bd]perpetrated against Me, when they ^(GF)live securely on their own land with ^(GG)no one to make them afraid. ²⁷ When I ^(GH)bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be ^(GI)sanctified ^[be]through them in the sight of the many nations. ²⁸ Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. ²⁹ I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have ^(GJ)poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares the Lord God.