Chronological
An Oracle Against Mount Seir
35 The word of the Lord came to me. 2 Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it. 3 Say this to it.
This is what the Lord God says. I am against you, Mount Seir. I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolate wasteland. 4 I will make your cities ruins, and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
5 Because you cherished an ancient hatred and turned the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of their final punishment, 6 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will subject you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you. Because you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. 7 I will make Mount Seir a desolate wasteland and cut off from it all those who flee from it and want to return.[a] 8 I will fill its mountains with its slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your streambeds, those who have been run through by the sword will fall. 9 I will make you desolate forever, and your cities will not be re-inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
10 Because you said, “These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them, even though the Lord was there,” 11 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will treat you as you deserve for your anger and for your jealousy which you held against these two nations in your hostility, and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. 12 Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the contemptuous statements that you uttered against the mountains of Israel: “They have been devastated and given to us for food.” 13 With your mouth you made proud boasts against me and heaped up arrogant words against me. I have heard it myself. 14 This is what the Lord God says. While the whole world celebrates, I will make you a desolation. 15 Because you celebrated when you took possession of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I deal with you. Mount Seir, you will be desolate, along with all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Prophesy Against the Mountains
36 Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say this.
Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.
2 This is what the Lord God says.
Because the enemy said about you, “Aha! At last! The ancient heights have become our possession,” 3 you are to prophesy and say, “This is what the Lord God says.”
Because they have devastated and crushed you from all sides, so that you would become the possession of the rest of the nations and a subject of people’s gossip and slander, 4 therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. This is what the Lord God says to the mountains, hills, valleys, ravines, desolate ruins, and abandoned cities, which have become a source of plunder and are subjected to ridicule by the rest of the nations all around.
5 So, this is what the Lord God says. Without fail, in my fiery zeal I am speaking against the rest of the nations and against all of Edom, because they took my land as their own with whole-hearted glee and deep-seated contempt, and they occupied its pastureland. 6 Therefore, prophesy about the land of Israel and say to the mountains, hills, valleys, and ravines: This is what the Lord God says. In my zeal and wrath I am speaking because you have endured the taunts of the nations.
7 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. I swear with an uplifted hand that the nations all around you will endure taunts against them. 8 But you, O mountains of Israel, will shoot forth your branches and bear your fruit for my people Israel, because they will soon come back. 9 Yes, I am on your side. I will look on you with favor, and your land will be cultivated and planted. 10 I will multiply people for you, for the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be resettled and the ruins rebuilt. 11 I will multiply both people and animals on you. They will multiply and be fruitful. I will resettle you as you were in earlier times and do more good for you than I did when you began. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 12 I will cause people, my people Israel, to walk over you. They will take possession of you. You will become their inheritance, and never again will you deprive them of their children.
13 This is what the Lord God says. Because some people say to you, “You devour your people and keep on depriving your nations[b] of their children,” 14 therefore, you will no longer devour your people or deprive your nations of their children, declares the Lord God. 15 No longer will I let you hear the taunts of the nations or endure the scorn of the peoples. Never again will you deprive your nations of their children, declares the Lord God.
The Lord Will Sprinkle His People
16 The word of the Lord came to me.
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own soil, they defiled it by their conduct and by their actions. To me their conduct was as unclean as the blood of a woman’s period. 18 So I poured out my wrath on them because of the blood they had poured on the ground and because of the filthy idols[c] with which they had defiled it, 19 and I scattered them among the nations so that they were dispersed among the countries. On the basis of their conduct and their actions I judged them. 20 Then when they came to the various nations, they profaned my holy name when people said about them, “These are the people of the Lord, but they had to leave his land.” 21 So I was concerned about my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the various nations to which they had come.
22 Therefore, say this to the house of Israel. This is what the Lord God says. I am about to act, O house of Israel, not for your sake, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you have gone. 23 I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when I reveal myself as holy in front of their eyes through you. 24 I will take you from among the nations. I will gather you from all the lands, and I will bring you to your own soil. 25 I will sprinkle purifying water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurity and from all your filthy idols.
The Lord Will Give His People a New Heart
26 Then I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my Spirit within you and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will carefully observe my ordinances. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your impurity. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful. I will not bring famine upon you. 30 I will increase the fruit on the trees and the produce in the fields, so that you will never again suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves on account of your guilty deeds and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I am about to act, declares the Lord God. Let this be known to you! Be ashamed and embarrassed because of your ways, O house of Israel.
33 This is what the Lord God says. On the day that I cleanse you from all your guilty deeds, I will resettle your cities, and the ruins will be rebuilt. 34 The desolate land will be cultivated instead of remaining desolate in the sight of every passerby. 35 People will say, “This land that was devastated has become like the Garden of Eden, and the cities that were ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.” 36 Then the nations that remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the places that were destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.
37 This is what the Lord God says. I will also allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them. I will multiply them so their people are like flocks. 38 Like flocks consecrated for sacrifice, like the flocks of Jerusalem on its festival days, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Resurrection of the Dry Bones
37 The hand of the Lord was upon me. He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, which was full of bones. 2 He had me pass through them and go all over among them. There were very many on the valley floor, and they were very dry.
3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these dry bones live?”[d] I answered, “Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’”
5 This is what the Lord God says to these bones.
I am about to make breath[e] enter you so that you will live. 6 I will attach tendons to you. I will put flesh back on you. I will cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I was prophesying there was a noise, a rattling, as the bones came together, one bone connecting to another. 8 As I watched, tendons were attached to them, then flesh grew over them, and skin covered them. But there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the wind.[f] Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind that this is what the Lord God says. From the four winds, come, O wind, and breathe into these slain so that they may live.”
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me. Breath entered them, and they came back to life. They stood on their feet, a very, very large army.
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up. Our hope is lost. We have been completely cut off.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them that this is what the Lord God says. My people, I am going to open your graves and raise you up from your graves and bring you back to the soil of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. I will settle you on your own land, and you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.”
One People United Under the New David
15 The word of the Lord came to me.
16 Now you, son of man, take one piece of wood and write on it: “Belonging to Judah and belonging to the people of Israel associated with him.” Then take another piece of wood and write on it: “Belonging to Joseph, Ephraim’s piece of wood, and the whole house of Israel associated with him.” 17 Then hold one piece of wood close to the other to make a single board for yourself, so that they are one in your hand.
18 When your countrymen say to you, “Won’t you tell us what you mean by these things?” 19 you tell them, “This is what the Lord God says. I am going to take the piece of wood which is in the hand of Ephraim, which is for Joseph and for the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will attach it to the piece of wood for Judah. In this way I will make them one board, so that they will be one in my hand.” 20 The boards on which you will write should be in your hand in front of their eyes.
21 Then say this to them. This is what the Lord God says. I am going to take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from all around, and I will bring them to their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king for all of them. Never again will they be two nations, and never again will they be divided into two kingdoms. 23 Never again will they defile themselves with their filthy idols, with their disgusting practices, and with all their rebellious actions. I will save them from all their backsliding by which they have sinned,[g] and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
24 My servant David will be King over them, and they will all have one Shepherd. They will follow my ordinances and be conscientious about keeping my statutes. 25 They will live on the land I gave my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live there permanently—they, their children, and their grandchildren—and my servant David will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them, and I will multiply them and set my sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My Dwelling Place will be over them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy when my holy place is in their midst forever.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.