Ezequiel 36

¹ Also thou sonne of man, prophesie vnto the mountaines of Israel, & say, Ye mountaines of Israel, heare the word of the Lord.

² Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because theThat is, the Idumean.enemy had said against you, Aha, even the ancientThat is Jerusalem, which for God's promises was the chief of all the world.high places are ours in possession:

³ Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made [you] desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession to the rest of the nations, and ye are taken up in the lips ofYou are made a matter of talk and derision to all the world.talkers, and [are] an infamy of the people:

⁴ Therefore ye mountaines of Israel, heare the worde of the Lord God, Thus sayth the Lord God to the mountaines & to the hilles, to the riuers, and to the valleys, and to the waste, and desolate places, and to the cities that are forsaken: which are spoyled & had in derision of the residue of the heathen that are round about.

⁵ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who haveThey appointed with themselves to have it, and therefore came with Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem for this purpose.appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all [their] heart, with despiteful minds, 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 saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne theBecause you have been a laughing stock to them.shame of the nations:

⁷ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I haveBy making a solemn oath. {{See Eze_20:5}}lifted up my hand, Surely the nations that [are] about you, they shall bear their shame.

⁸ But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shallGod declares his mercies and goodness toward his Church, who still preserves his, even when he destroys his enemies.shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are soon to come.

⁹ For behold, I come vnto you, & I wil turne vnto you, and ye shalbe tilled and sowen.

¹⁰ And I wil multiply the men vpon you, euen all the house of Israel wholly, & the cities shalbe inhabited, & the desolate places shalbe builded.

¹¹ And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you according to your old estates, and will do better [to you] thanWhich was accomplished under Christ, to whom all these temporal deliverances directed them.at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

¹² Yea, I will cause men to walkThat is, on the mountains of Jerusalem.upon you, [even] my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them [of men].

¹³ Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they say to you, ThouThis the enemies imputed as the reproach of the land, which God did for the sins of the people according to his just judgments.[land] devourest men, and hast bereaved thy nations;

¹⁴ Therefore thou shalt deuoure men no more, neither waste thy people henceforth, sayth the Lord God,

¹⁵ Neither will I cause men to heare in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou beare the reproche of the people any more, neither shalt cause thy folke to fal any more, saith the Lord God.

¹⁶ Moreouer the word of the Lorde came vnto me, saying,

¹⁷ Sonne of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their owne lande, they defiled it by their owne wayes, & by their deedes: their way was before me as the filthinesse of the menstruous.

¹⁸ Wherfore I powred my wrath vpon them, for the blood that they had shed in the land, and for their idoles, wherewith they had polluted it.

¹⁹ And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries for according to their wayes, and according to their deedes, I iudged them.

²⁰ And when they entred vnto the heathen, whither they went, they polluted mine holy Name, when they sayd of them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone out of his land.

²¹ But I had pity for my holyAnd therefore would not permit my Name to be had in contempt, as the heathen would have reproached me, if I had allowed my Church to perish.name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, to which they went.

²² Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not [this] for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for myThis excludes from man all dignity and means to deserve anything by, seeing that God refers the whole to himself and that only for the glory of his holy Name.holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the nations, to which ye went.

²³ And I wil sanctifie my great Name, which was polluted among the heathen, among whome you haue polluted it, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, sayth the Lorde God, when I shalbe sanctified in you before their eyes.

²⁴ For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your owne land.

²⁵ Then will I sprinkle cleanThat is, his spirit by which he reforms the heart and regenerates his. {{See Isa_44:3}}water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

²⁶ A newe heart also will I giue you, and a new spirit wil I put within you, and I will take away the stonie heart out of your body, and I will giue you an heart of flesh.

²⁷ And I will put my spirite within you, and cause you to walke in my statutes, and ye shall keepe my iudgements and do them.

²⁸ And ye shall dwell in the land, that I gaue to your fathers, and ye shalbe my people, & I will be your God.

²⁹ I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for theUnder the abundance of temporal benefits he concludes the spiritual graces.grain, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

³⁰ For I will multiplie the fruite of the trees, & the increase of the fielde, that ye shal beare no more the reproch of famine among the heathen.

³¹ Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that [were] not good, and shallYou will come to true repentance and think yourselves unworthy to be of the number of God's creatures, for your ingratitude against him.lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

³² Be it knowen vnto you that I do not this for your sakes, sayth the Lord God: therefore, O ye house of Israel, be ashamed, and confounded for your owne wayes.

³³ Thus sayth the Lord God, What time as I shall haue clensed you from all your iniquities, I will cause you to dwel in the cities, & the desolate places shalbe builded.

³⁴ And the desolate land shalbe tilled, whereas it lay waste in the sight of all that passed by.

³⁵ For they sayd, This waste land was like the garden of Eden, and these waste & desolate and ruinous cities were strong, and were inhabited.

³⁶ Then the nations that are left around you shallHe declares that it ought not to be referred to the soil or plentifulness of the earth that any country is rich and abundant, but only to God's mercies, as his plagues and curses declare, when he makes it barren.know that I the LORD build the ruined [places, and] plant that which was desolate: I the LORD have spoken [it], and I will do [it].

³⁷ Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be sought of ye house of Israel, to performe it vnto them: I wil encrease them with men like a flocke.

³⁸ As the holy flocke, as the flocke of Ierusalem in their solemne feastes, so shall the desolate cities be filled with flockes of men, and they shal know, that I am the Lord.