Chronological

God Judges Edom

35 The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, look toward Mount Seir and speak against it, ³ saying, ‘The Lord God says, “I am against you, Mount Seir. I will put out My hand against you and make you a waste land. ⁴ I will destroy your cities, and you will become a waste. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ⁵ You have always hated the people of Israel and have given them over to be killed at the time of their trouble, at the time of the punishment of the end. ⁶ So as I live,” says the Lord God, “I will give you over to death, and you will not get away from death. Since you have not hated killing, death will come after you. ⁷ I will destroy Mount Seir and make it a waste. And I will kill all who travel through it. ⁸ I will fill its mountains with its dead. Those killed by the sword will fall on your hills and in your valleys. ⁹ I will destroy you forever, and no one will live in your cities. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “You have said, ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will own them,’ even when the Lord was there. ¹¹ So as I live,” says the Lord God, “I will punish you for your anger and the jealousy you showed because of your hate toward them. 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 bad things you have said against the mountains of Israel. You have said, ‘They are destroyed. They are given to us for food.’ ¹³ You have spoken in pride against Me, with many words and I have heard you.” ¹⁴ The Lord God says, “While the whole earth is filled with joy, I will destroy you. ¹⁵ As you had joy because the land of Israel was destroyed, so I will do to you. You will be destroyed, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’

Good Comes to Israel

36 “Son of man, speak in My name to the mountains of Israel. Say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the Word of the Lord. ² The Lord God says, “Those who hate you have laughed and spoken against you, saying, ‘The old hills now belong to us.’ ³ So tell the mountains of Israel, ‘The Lord God says, “They have made you a waste land, and destroyed you from every side. You were taken by the rest of the nations for their own. And the people have been saying bad things about you.”’” ⁴ So, mountains of Israel, hear the Word of the Lord God. This is what the Lord God says to the mountains, the hills, the valleys, the destroyed places and empty cities, which have been robbed and made fun of by the rest of the nations around them. ⁵ The Lord God says, “I speak in the fire of My jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom. They have taken My land for themselves with hearts full of joy and hate, that they might rob its good things.”

⁶ ‘So speak about the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, and valleys, “The Lord God says, ‘I speak in My jealousy and anger because you have been put to shame by the nations.’ ⁷ So the Lord God says, ‘I promise that the nations around you will also suffer shame. ⁸ But you, O mountains of Israel, will put out your branches and give your fruit for My people Israel. For they will come home soon. ⁹ See, I care for you and will show you favor. You will be plowed and planted. ¹⁰ I will cause the people to become many, all the people of Israel. People will live in the cities, and the places that have been destroyed will be built again. ¹¹ I will give you many people and animals, and they will have many young ones. You will be full of people as you were before. And I will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will have people, My people Israel, walk on you and own you. You will belong to them, and you will never again take their children from them.’

¹³ “The Lord God says, ‘People say to you, “You destroy men and have taken children from your nation. ¹⁴ But you will no longer destroy men and take away your nation’s children,” says the Lord God. ¹⁵ “I will not let you hear words of shame from the nations any more. You will not be put to shame by the nations any longer. And you will no longer make your nation fall,” says the Lord God.’”

New Life for Israel

¹⁶ The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they made it sinful by their ways and their works. The way they acted before Me was unclean, like a woman is unclean during her time each month. ¹⁸ So I poured out My anger upon them because of the blood they had poured on the land, and because they had made it sinful with their false gods. ¹⁹ I sent them among the different nations and spread them out among the lands. I judged them for their ways and their works. ²⁰ But in every place they went among the nations, they brought shame upon My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, yet they had to leave His land.’ ²¹ But I cared about My holy name, which the people of Israel had put to shame among the nations where they had gone.

²² “So tell the people of Israel, ‘The Lord God says, “It is not because of you, O people of Israel, that I am about to act. It is because of My holy name, which you have put to shame among the nations where you have gone. ²³ I will show how holy My great name is, which you have put to shame among the nations. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I use you to show them that I am holy. ²⁴ For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will put clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will make you clean from all your unclean ways and from all your false gods. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My Laws and be careful to do what I tell you. ²⁸ And you will live in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from all your unclean ways. I will give you much grain, and you will not have to go without food. ³⁰ I will have the trees give much fruit and the fields give much food. So you will never again suffer the shame of going hungry among the nations. ³¹ Then you will remember your sinful ways and your sinful works, and you will hate yourselves because of your sins and wrong-doing. ³² I want you to know that I am not doing this because of you,” says the Lord God. “Be ashamed and troubled because of your ways, O people of Israel!”

³³ ‘The Lord God says, “On the day that I make you clean from all your sins, I will fill the cities with people, and the destroyed places will be built again. ³⁴ And the waste land will be planted, instead of being a waste in the eyes of all who pass by. ³⁵ They will say, ‘This waste land has become like the garden of Eden. And the destroyed cities now have strong walls and many people.’ ³⁶ Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, the Lord, have built again the places that were destroyed, and planted what had been waste land. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I say.”

³⁷ ‘The Lord God says, “I will also let the people of Israel ask Me to do this for them: I will give them many people, like the sheep of a flock. ³⁸ The empty cities will be filled with flocks of people, like the flock kept for burnt gifts, like the flock at Jerusalem during her special suppers. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’”

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 The hand of the Lord was upon me. He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the center of the valley. It was full of bones. ² He led me around the valley. I saw there were very many bones, and they were very dry. ³ He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, only You know that.” ⁴ He said to me, “Speak in My name over these bones. Say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.’ ⁵ This is what the Lord God says to these bones: ‘I will make breath come into you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will join you together, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you to make you come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I spoke as I was told. And as I spoke, there was a noise, the sound of bones hitting against each other. The bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked and saw that parts had grown to hold them together. Flesh had grown, and they were covered with skin. But there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then He said to me, “Speak to the breath in My name, son of man. Tell the breath, ‘The Lord God says, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these dead bodies to make them come to life.”’” ¹⁰ So I spoke as I had been told. The breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet. They were a large army.

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is gone. We are all destroyed.’ ¹² So speak in My name and tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I will open your graves, My people, and make you come out of them. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then, My people, you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and brought you up. ¹⁴ I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life. I will place you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it,” says the Lord.’”

Judah and Israel under One King

¹⁵ The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ¹⁶ “Son of man, take one stick of wood and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the people of Israel with him.’ Then take another stick of wood and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the people of Israel with him.’ ¹⁷ Then join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. ¹⁸ And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not let us know what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the people of Israel who are with him. And I will put it with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick. They will be one in My hand.”’ ²⁰ Hold in front of them the sticks you write on, ²¹ and tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “I will take the people of Israel from the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king will rule over all of them. They will no longer be two nations, and they will no longer be divided under two kings. ²³ They will no longer make themselves unclean with their false gods, or with their hated objects of worship, or with any of their sins. I will keep them from turning again to these sins, and will make them clean. They will be My people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ “My servant David will be their king, and they will have one shepherd. They will follow and keep My Laws, and obey them. ²⁵ And they will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live in it forever. And My servant David will be their leader forever. ²⁶ I will make a peace agreement with them, one that lasts forever. I will bring good to them and make them many in number. And I will set My holy place among them forever. ²⁷ I will live with them, and will be their God, and they will be My people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I am the Lord Who makes Israel holy, when My holy place is among them forever.”’”