Ezekiel 36:16-38.
Ezekiel 36:16-38 (Good News Translation)
16The LORD spoke to me.
17"Mortal man," he said,
when the Israelites were living in their land, they defiled it
by the way they lived and acted. I regarded their behavior as being as
ritually unclean as a woman is during her monthly period.
18I let them feel the force of my anger because of the
murders they had committed in the land and because of the idols by which
they had defiled it.
19I condemned them for the way they lived and acted, and I
scattered them through foreign countries.
20Wherever they went, they brought disgrace on my holy name,
because people would say,
These are the people of the
LORD, but they had to leave his land.
21That made me concerned for my holy name, since the
Israelites brought disgrace on it everywhere they went.
22Now then, give the Israelites the message that I, the
Sovereign
LORD, have for them: What I am going to do is not for the sake
of you Israelites, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have
disgraced in every country where you have gone.
23When I demonstrate to the nations the holiness of my great
name—the name you disgraced among them—then they will know that I am
the
LORD. I, the Sovereign
LORD, have spoken. I will use you to show the nations that I
am holy.
24I will take you from every nation and country and bring you
back to your own land.
25I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from
all your idols and everything else that has defiled you.
26I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take
away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart.
27I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you
follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you.
28Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You
will be my people, and I will be your God.
29I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will
command the grain to be plentiful, so that you will not have any more
famines.
30I will increase the yield of your fruit trees and your
fields, so that there will be no more famines to disgrace you among the
nations.
31You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you
committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins
and your iniquities.
32Israel, I want you to know that I am not doing all this for
your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing.
I, the Sovereign
LORD, have spoken.
33The Sovereign
LORD says,
When I make you clean from all your sins, I will let you live
in your cities again and let you rebuild the ruins.
34Everyone who used to walk by your fields saw how overgrown
and wild they were, but I will let you farm them again.
35Everyone will talk about how this land, which was once a
wilderness, has become like the Garden of Eden, and how the cities which
were torn down, looted, and left in ruins, are now inhabited and
fortified.
36Then the neighboring nations that have survived will know
that I, the
LORD, rebuild ruined cities and replant waste fields. I, the
LORD, have promised that I would do this—and I will.
37The Sovereign
LORD says,
I will once again let the Israelites ask me for help, and I
will let them increase in numbers like a flock of sheep.
38The cities that are now in ruins will then be as full of
people as Jerusalem was once full of the sheep which were offered as
sacrifices at a festival. Then they will know that I am the
LORD.
God bless you.
16The LORD spoke to me.
17"Mortal man," he said,
when the Israelites were living in their land, they defiled it
by the way they lived and acted. I regarded their behavior as being as
ritually unclean as a woman is during her monthly period.
18I let them feel the force of my anger because of the
murders they had committed in the land and because of the idols by which
they had defiled it.
19I condemned them for the way they lived and acted, and I
scattered them through foreign countries.
20Wherever they went, they brought disgrace on my holy name,
because people would say,
These are the people of the
LORD, but they had to leave his land.
21That made me concerned for my holy name, since the
Israelites brought disgrace on it everywhere they went.
22Now then, give the Israelites the message that I, the
Sovereign
LORD, have for them: What I am going to do is not for the sake
of you Israelites, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have
disgraced in every country where you have gone.
23When I demonstrate to the nations the holiness of my great
name—the name you disgraced among them—then they will know that I am
the
LORD. I, the Sovereign
LORD, have spoken. I will use you to show the nations that I
am holy.
24I will take you from every nation and country and bring you
back to your own land.
25I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from
all your idols and everything else that has defiled you.
26I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take
away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart.
27I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you
follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you.
28Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You
will be my people, and I will be your God.
29I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will
command the grain to be plentiful, so that you will not have any more
famines.
30I will increase the yield of your fruit trees and your
fields, so that there will be no more famines to disgrace you among the
nations.
31You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you
committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins
and your iniquities.
32Israel, I want you to know that I am not doing all this for
your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing.
I, the Sovereign
LORD, have spoken.
33The Sovereign
LORD says,
When I make you clean from all your sins, I will let you live
in your cities again and let you rebuild the ruins.
34Everyone who used to walk by your fields saw how overgrown
and wild they were, but I will let you farm them again.
35Everyone will talk about how this land, which was once a
wilderness, has become like the Garden of Eden, and how the cities which
were torn down, looted, and left in ruins, are now inhabited and
fortified.
36Then the neighboring nations that have survived will know
that I, the
LORD, rebuild ruined cities and replant waste fields. I, the
LORD, have promised that I would do this—and I will.
37The Sovereign
LORD says,
I will once again let the Israelites ask me for help, and I
will let them increase in numbers like a flock of sheep.
38The cities that are now in ruins will then be as full of
people as Jerusalem was once full of the sheep which were offered as
sacrifices at a festival. Then they will know that I am the
LORD.
God bless you.
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