Ezekielchapter 36

A.The mountains of Israel mocked by the nationsvv. 1-7

1 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD. 2 This is what the Lord GOD says: Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,’ 3 therefore prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Because they have made you desolate and have trampled you on every side, so that you became a possession of the rest of the nations and were taken up in slander by the lips of their talkers, 4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and abandoned cities, which have become a spoil and a mockery to the rest of the nations around you. 5 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Surely in My burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who took My land as their own possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, so that its pastureland became plunder. 6 Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel and tell the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I have spoken in My burning zeal because you have endured the reproach of the nations. 7 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I have sworn with an uplifted hand that surely the nations around you will endure reproach of their own.

B.Branches and fruit for my people, and soonvv. 8-15

8 But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and bear fruit for My people Israel, for they will soon come home. 9 For behold, I am on your side; I will turn toward you, and you will be tilled and sown. 10 I will multiply the people upon you—the house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. 11 I will fill you with people and animals, and they will multiply and be fruitful. I will make you as inhabited as you once were, and I will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 12 Yes, I will cause My people Israel to walk upon you; they will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will no longer deprive them of their children. 13 For this is what the Lord GOD says: Because people say to you, ‘You devour men and deprive your nation of its children,’ 14 therefore you will no longer devour men or deprive your nation of its children, declares the Lord GOD. 15 I will no longer allow the taunts of the nations to be heard against you, and you will no longer endure the reproach of the peoples or cause your nation to stumble, declares the Lord GOD.”

C.Not for your sake, but for my holy namevv. 16-23

16 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17 “Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. Their behavior before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman’s impurity. 18 So I poured out My wrath upon them because of the blood they had shed on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. 19 I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered throughout the lands. I judged them according to their ways and deeds. 20 And wherever they went among the nations, they profaned 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 had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they had gone. 22 Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went. 23 I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes.

D.Clean water, a new heart, and a new spiritvv. 24-32

24 For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. 25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. 28 Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful, and I will not bring famine upon you. 30 I will also make the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field plentiful, so that you will no longer bear reproach among the nations on account of famine. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD—let it be known to you. Be ashamed and disgraced for your ways, O house of Israel!

E.Cities rebuilt and the waste land like the garden of Edenvv. 33-38

33 This is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be resettled and the ruins to be rebuilt. 34 The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through. 35 Then they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations around you that remain will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was destroyed, and I have replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it. 37 This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock. 38 Like the numerous flocks for sacrifices at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

The mountains of Israel are addressed directly, because the enemy claimed the ancient high places for his own.

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The mountains of Israel are addressed directly, because the enemy claimed the ancient high places for his own. They will shoot forth branches and yield fruit to a people at hand to come; cities inhabited, waste places built, and God doing better for them than at their beginnings. But the reason is stripped of flattery: they had profaned his holy name among the nations: 'I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name.' Then the new covenant in its clearest Old Testament form: 'I will sprinkle clean water upon you… A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you' (36:25-27), the passage behind Jesus' 'ye must be born anew.'

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.

Context

Prophecy · Ezekiel — Ezekiel overview

A. 1–7 The mountains of Israel mocked by the nations
B. 8–15 Branches and fruit for my people, and soon
C. 16–23 Not for your sake, but for my holy name
D. 24–32 Clean water, a new heart, and a new spirit
E. 33–38 Cities rebuilt and the waste land like the garden of Eden

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Ezekiel 366 verses
- Ezekiel 36:3therefore prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Because they have made you desolate and have trampled you on every side, so that you became a possession of the rest of the nations and were taken up in slander by the lips of their talkers,
- Ezekiel 36:10I will multiply the people upon you—the house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
- Ezekiel 36:22Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went.
- Ezekiel 36:32It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD—let it be known to you. Be ashamed and disgraced for your ways, O house of Israel!
- Ezekiel 36:33This is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be resettled and the ruins to be rebuilt.
- Ezekiel 36:34The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through.
- Read Ezekiel 36 →
Ezekiel 345 verses
- Ezekiel 34:13I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the settlements of the land.
- Ezekiel 34:26I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season—showers of blessing.
- Ezekiel 34:27The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and delivered them from the hands that enslaved them.
- Ezekiel 34:28They will no longer be prey for the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not consume them. They will dwell securely, and no one will frighten them.
- Ezekiel 34:29And I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations.
- Read Ezekiel 34 →
Jeremiah 334 verses
- Jeremiah 33:8And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me.
- Jeremiah 33:9So this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it.
- Jeremiah 33:12This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks.
- Jeremiah 33:24“Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation.
- Read Jeremiah 33 →
Ezekiel 204 verses
- Ezekiel 20:5and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt. With an uplifted hand I said to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.’
- Ezekiel 20:9But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were living, in whose sight I had revealed Myself to Israel by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
- Ezekiel 20:41When I bring you from the peoples and gather you from the lands to which you have been scattered, I will accept you as a pleasing aroma. And I will show My holiness through you in the sight of the nations.
- Ezekiel 20:43There you will remember your ways and all the deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evils you have done.
- Read Ezekiel 20 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Hebrews 103 verses
- Hebrews 10:21and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
- Hebrews 10:22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
- Hebrews 10:37For, “In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.
- Read Hebrews 10 →
Ezekiel 393 verses
- Ezekiel 39:7So I will make My holy name known among My people Israel and will no longer allow it to be profaned. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
- Ezekiel 39:24I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and transgressions, and I hid My face from them.
- Ezekiel 39:29And I will no longer hide My face from them, for I will pour out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Read Ezekiel 39 →
Lamentations 22 verses
- Lamentations 2:4He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.
- Lamentations 2:15All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
- Read Lamentations 2 →
Micah 72 verses
- Micah 7:8Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
- Micah 7:14Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
- Read Micah 7 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.