Chronological

Chapter 35^[a]

Against Edom. ¹ This word of the Lord came to me: ² Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it. ³ Say to it: Thus says the Lord God:

¹⁰ Because you said, “These two nations and the two lands will be mine, and we will take possession of them,” even though I, the Lord, was there, ¹¹ therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will act with the same anger and jealousy that you showed in your hatred for them, and I will make myself known among you when I judge you.

¹² You will know that I, the Lord, have heard of all the contemptible things you have uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They have been laid waste and have been given to us to devour.” ¹³ You made insolent remarks about me and showed no restraint in your insults, and I have heard them.

¹⁴ Thus says the Lord God: I will make you a desolate wasteland, and the entire earth will rejoice. ¹⁵ As you were unable to conceal your joy over the devastation of the heritage of the house of Israel, so will I treat you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir, you and all of Edom. Thus, they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 36

Restoration of the Land.^{[b] 1} Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord God, The enemy has gloated over you, saying: “Aha! These ancient heights have become our possession.”

³ In reply, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: Since you have been ravaged and hounded from all sides, and thus have become the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people’s gossip and slander, ⁴ therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God and what the Lord God says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the deserted towns which have been plundered and have become a source of ridicule to the surrounding nations.

⁵ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: With seething jealousy I am speaking against the rest of the nations, and against the whole of Edom, who, with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, took my country as their possession so that they might plunder its pastures.

⁶ Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys: Thus says the Lord God: I am speaking with jealous fury because you have been forced to endure the insults of the nations. ⁷ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I raise my hand and swear that the nations all around you will have to endure insults.

⁸ As for you, mountains of Israel, you shall grow branches and bear fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon return home. ⁹ Behold, I am coming to you. It is to you that I shall turn. You will be tilled and sown, ¹⁰ and I will multiply your population, that of the whole house of Israel. The towns will again be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt.

¹¹ Furthermore, I will settle large numbers of human beings and animals upon you. They will multiply and be fruitful, and I will make you as populous as in your former times. Moreover, I will make you more prosperous than ever before. Thus you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will cause my people Israel to tread your soil once again. They will possess you, and you will be their heritage. Never again will they be left childless.

¹³ Thus says the Lord God: Because it has been said of you, “You are a land that devours people, and you bereave your nation of children,” ¹⁴ therefore, you will no longer devour people or make your nation childless, says the Lord God. ¹⁵ I will never again let you hear the taunts of the nations; no longer will you be forced to endure the insults of the peoples; no longer will your people be deprived of their children, says the Lord God.

¹⁶ Restoration of the People.^[c]This word of the Lord was addressed to me: ¹⁷ Son of man, when the people of the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it with their conduct and their deeds. In my eyes, their conduct was like the uncleanness of a woman during her menstrual period.

¹⁸ Therefore, I poured out my wrath upon them because of the blood that they had shed upon the land, and because of their idols with which they had defiled it. ¹⁹ I scattered them throughout the nations, and they were dispersed in many lands. I passed sentence on them in accordance with their conduct and their deeds.

²⁰ But whenever they came to the nations, they profaned my holy name, so that the people there would say about them, “These are the people of the Lord, yet they have been banished from his land.” ²¹ However, I have relented because of my concern about my holy name which the house of Israel has profaned among the nations where they have gone.

²² Therefore, say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am acting, but for the sake of my holy name which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. ²³ I intend to prove the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. Thus, the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I will display my holiness in their sight.

²⁴ I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the foreign lands, and I will bring you back to your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from everything that defiles you. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.

²⁶ I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you. I will remove from your body a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh in its place. ²⁷ I will put my Spirit in you and make you follow my statutes and my ordinances.

²⁸ Then you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, but I shall be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will command the grain to be abundant and not allow any famine to afflict you. ³⁰ I will make abundant the fruit of the trees and the crops in your fields, so that you will never have to suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

³¹ Then you will remember your evil conduct and your wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and your abominable deeds. ³² I assure you that it is not for your sake that I am doing all this, says the Lord God. Let that be clearly understood. Be ashamed and feel intense disgrace for your conduct, O house of Israel.

³³ Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I cleanse you from all your sins, I will repopulate your towns, and your ruins will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The wasteland will be cultivated instead of being a desolate sight to all who walk past it.

³⁵ People will say, “The land that was desolate is now like the Garden of Eden, and the towns that were once in ruins, desolate wastelands, are now inhabited once again and fortified.” ³⁶ Then the neighboring nations that are still left around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt what was destroyed and replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.

³⁷ Thus says the Lord God: I also will allow the house of Israel to persuade me to do this for them: I shall increase their numbers like a flock. ³⁸ Like the flocks of sacrificial sheep in Jerusalem on its appointed feasts, so shall the formerly ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 37

Vision of the Dry Bones.^{[d] 1} The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he carried me away by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley that was full of bones. ² He made me walk among them in every direction so that I would be aware how great was the number of these bones on the floor of the valley, and they were exceedingly dry.

³ He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I replied, “Lord God, only you can know that.” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I am going to cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will put sinews on you and cause flesh to grow over you and cover you with skin. I will put breath within you, and you will live, and you will know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ Therefore, I prophesied as I had been commanded to do, and as I was prophesying, I heard a noise, a sound of rattling, as the bones came together, bone uniting with bone. ⁸ As I watched, sinews and flesh grew upon the bones, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the Spirit. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe into these slain so that they may live.” ¹⁰ I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the Spirit entered into them. They came to life and stood on their feet, an immense army.

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They continue to say, ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope has vanished, and we are cut off completely.’ ¹² Therefore, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: My people, I am going to open your graves and raise you up from them and bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from them, O my people. ¹⁴ When I put my Spirit within you, you will live, and I will resettle you on your own soil. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and I have done this, says the Lord.’ ”

¹⁵ Union of the Two Sticks.^[e] This word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶ Son of man, take a stick and write on it: “Judah and those Israelites associated with him.” Then take another stick and write on it: “Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.” ¹⁷ Then join the two sticks together so that they form one stick in your hand.

¹⁸ When your countrymen say to you, “Will you not tell us what you mean by this?” ¹⁹ say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in Ephraim’s hand, and of the tribes of Israel loyal to him, and I will join it to the stick of Judah. I will make them a single stick instead of two, and they shall be one in my hand.

²⁰ When the sticks upon which you have written are held up in your hand for everyone to see, ²¹ say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I will take the Israelites from the nations among which they have been exiled. I will gather them from every side and bring them back to their land.

²² I will unify them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over them all. Never again will they be two separate nations, nor will they be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and their loathsome images or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all of their sins of apostasy that they have committed, and I will cleanse them. Thus, they will be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ My servant David will be their king, and they all will have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be scrupulous in obeying my statutes. ²⁵ They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and my servant David will be their prince forever.

²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace with them, and I will bless and multiply them and establish my sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷ I will make my dwelling with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel when I establish my sanctuary among them forevermore.