Chronological

A Prophecy Against Edom

35 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, ³ and say to it, Thus says the Lord God: I am against you, O Mount Seir, and I will stretch out My hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste. ⁴ I will lay your cities waste, and you shall become a desolation. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

⁵ Because you have had a perpetual hatred and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the punishment of the end, ⁶ therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will prepare you for bloodshed, and bloodshed shall pursue you. Since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you. ⁷ Thus I will make Mount Seir a desolation and a waste, and cut off from it the one who passes through and the one who returns. ⁸ I will fill its mountains with its slain men. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your rivers, they shall fall who are slain with the sword. ⁹ I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ Because you have said, “These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess them,” whereas the Lord was there, ¹¹ therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will treat you according to your anger and according to your envy, which you have showed out of your hatred against them. And I will make Myself known among them when I have judged you. ¹² Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are laid desolate. They are given to us to consume.” ¹³ Thus with your mouth you have boasted against Me and have multiplied your words against Me. I have heard them. ¹⁴ Thus says the Lord God: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation. ¹⁵ As you rejoiced at the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You shall be a desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

A Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel

36 As for 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 God: Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha! Even the ancient high places are our possession,” ³ therefore, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: For good reason they have made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side so that you might become a possession to the rest of the nations, and you have been taken up on the lips of talkers and are an infamy of the people. ⁴ Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the rest of the nations that are all around; ⁵ therefore thus says the Lord God: Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who have arrogated My land into their possession with the joy of all their hearts and with a spiteful soul, to cast it out for a prey. ⁶ Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Thus says the Lord God: I have spoken in My jealousy and in My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations. ⁷ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I have lifted up My hand that surely the nations who are about you shall themselves bear their invectives.

⁸ But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit for My people Israel. For they shall come soon. ⁹ For I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. ¹⁰ And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it. And the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built. ¹¹ And I will multiply man and beast upon you. And they shall increase and bring forth fruit. And I will settle you as you were before and do better to you than at the beginning. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹² Indeed, I will cause men to walk upon you, My people Israel, and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children.

¹³ Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, “You are a devourer of men and have bereaved your nation of children,” ¹⁴ therefore you shall devour men no more or bereave your nation of children anymore, says the Lord God. ¹⁵ Nor will I cause men to hear in you the invectives of the nations anymore, nor shall you bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to fall anymore, says the Lord God.

The Restoration of Israel

¹⁶ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁷ Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their way was before Me as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore I poured My fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land and for their idols with which they had polluted it. ¹⁹ And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries. According to their ways and according to their deeds, I judged them. ²⁰ When they entered the nations, where they went, they profaned My holy name, because they said of them, “These are the people of the Lord and have gone out of His land.” ²¹ But I had pity for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

²² Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³ I will vindicate the sanctity of My great name which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified among you before their eyes.

²⁴ For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. ²⁶ Also, I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ²⁸ You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you will be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will also save you from all your uncleanness. And I will call for the grain and increase it and lay no famine upon you. ³⁰ I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field so that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you shall remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. ³² Not for your sake am I doing this, says the Lord God, let it be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated 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 you to dwell in the cities, and the waste places shall be built. ³⁴ The desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all who pass by. ³⁵ They shall say, “This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. And the waste and desolate and ruined cities have become fenced and inhabited.” ³⁶ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I the Lord have built the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I the Lord have spoken it, and I 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 As the flock for sacrifices, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, ² and He caused me to pass among them all around. And there were very many in the open valley. And they were very dry. ³ He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”

⁴ Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you so that you live. ⁶ And I will lay sinews upon you and will grow back flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you so that you live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise and a shaking. And the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ When I looked, the sinews and the flesh grew upon them, and the skin covered them. But there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the wind; prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain so that they live.” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are cut off completely.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Pay attention, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves. ¹⁴ And I shall put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I the Lord have spoken and performed it, says the Lord.”

Israel and Judah Unite

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: ¹⁶ Moreover, son of man, take one stick and write on it: “For Judah and for the sons of Israel his companions.” Then take another stick and write on it, “For Joseph the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions.” ¹⁷ Then join them to one another into one stick so that they become one in your hand.

¹⁸ When the sons of your people speak to you, saying, “Will you not show us what you mean by these things?” ¹⁹ say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick; and they shall be one in My hand. ²⁰ The sticks on which you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. ²¹ Say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land. ²² And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all. And they shall be two nations no more, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore. ²³ Nor shall they defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned and will cleanse them. So they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ David My servant shall be king over them. And they all shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes and do them. ²⁵ They shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived. And they shall dwell in it, they and their sons and their son’s sons forever. And My servant David shall be their prince forever. ²⁶ Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them and will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ²⁷ My tabernacle also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their God and they shall be My people. ²⁸ The nations shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.