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.”