Ezekiel 36:28
in Ezekiel 36Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
KJV
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
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This verse in Ezekiel 36
Commentary
11 notes on this verseYe shall be my people - Wholly given up to me in body, soul, and spirit. And I will be your God - To fill you with love, joy, peace, meekness, gentleness, longsuffering, fidelity and goodness, to occupy your whole soul, and gratify your every desire.
This site's exposition
cause you to walk in My statutes
on Ezekiel 36:27-28
“I will put My Spirit within you” completes what the new heart begins, an indwelling that produces obedience from within. The covenant formula that closes the unit, “you will be My people, and I will be your God”, echoes Leviticus 26:12. Land and people are held in the one promise.
This site's exposition
the land that I gave your forefathers
The forefathers are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom the land was promised by oath in Genesis. The new heart and spirit of verses 26 and 27 are joined to a return to that same land. At 37:25 the promise names Jacob.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 16 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, the house of Israel have dwelt (or dwells) in their own land, and they have defiled it with their ways and their idols: according to the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity, their way has become before me.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Ye shall dwell - Observe: then, and not before, are these promises to be fulfilled to the house of Israel. And I will be your God - This is the foundation of the top-stone of a believer's happiness.
But, one way or other, God will make all his favourites to know and own that it is his grace, and not their goodness, his mercy, and not their merit, that made them so; and that therefore not unto them, not unto them, but unto him, is all the glory due. (2.) They must repent of the sin of their own evil ways.
It is not, "If you will be my people, I will be your God" (though it is very true that we cannot expect to have God to be to us a God unless we be to him a people), but he has chosen us, and loved us, first, not we him; therefore the condition is of grace, is by promise, as well as the reward; not of merit, not of works: " You shall be my people;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
): You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. God will, in bringing them back to it, have an eye not to any merit of theirs, but to the promise made to the fathers; for therefore he gave it to them at first, Deut. vii. Therefore he is gracious, because he has said that he will be so.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And ye shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers,....
The prophet had been ordered to set his face towards the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them, ch. vi. Then God was coming forth to contend with his people; but now that God is returning in mercy to them he must speak good words and comfortable words to these mountains,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Ye shall be my people - (Compare 2Co 6:16-18; Heb 8:10. The writers of the New Testament appropriated these and similar phrases of the Old Testament to the Church of Christ. Between the restoration of the Jews (the first step) there are many steps toward the end - the spread of Christ’s Church throughout the world, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the acknowledgment of the true God - which justify men in looking forward to a time when the Gospel shall be preached in all the world, and the earth become the kingdom of God in a fuller sense than it has ever yet been. But all these are “steps.” Our prophecies look beyond all this to a new heaven to a new earth, and to a new Jerusalem Rev 21:3.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וִישַׁבְתֶּ֣ם | vishavtem | and you will dwell | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| בָּאָ֔רֶץ | baaretz | in the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| נָתַ֖תִּי | natati | I gave | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לַאֲבֹֽתֵיכֶ֑ם | laavoteikhem | to ancestors your | H1 → | 1212 times |
| וִהְיִ֤יתֶם | vihyitem | and you will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לִי֙ | li | for me | ||
| לְעָ֔ם | leam | <into> a people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וְאָ֣נֹכִ֔י | veanokhi | and I | H595 → | |
| אֶהְיֶ֥ה | ʾehyeh | I will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לָכֶ֖ם | lakhem | for you | ||
| לֵאלֹהִֽים׃ | lelohim | <into> God | H430 → | 2601 times |
וִישַׁבְתֶּ֣םand you will dwell
vishavtemH3427 →1079 times
בָּאָ֔רֶץin the land
baaretzH776 →2504 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
נָתַ֖תִּיI gave
natatiH5414 →2011 times
לַאֲבֹֽתֵיכֶ֑םto ancestors your
laavoteikhemH1 →1212 times
וִהְיִ֤יתֶםand you will become
vihyitemH1961 →3559 times
לִי֙for me
li
לְעָ֔ם<into> a people
leamH5971 →1873 times
וְאָ֣נֹכִ֔יand I
veanokhiH595 →
אֶהְיֶ֥הI will become
ʾehyehH1961 →3559 times
לָכֶ֖םfor you
lakhem
לֵאלֹהִֽים׃<into> God
lelohimH430 →2601 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 31:33“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 11:19–20
And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 24:7
I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Corinthians 3:3
It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on…
- Hebrews 10:16
“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”
- Hebrews 8:10
For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And…
- Ezekiel 11:19–20
Through
Jeremiah 32:38They will be My people, and I will be their God.
it leads to
- Revelation 21:7
The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 21:7
Through
Ezekiel 37:27My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.
it leads to
- Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will…
- Revelation 21:3
Through
Ezekiel 37:23They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or detestable images, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse…
it leads to
- Revelation 21:3–4
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will…
- Revelation 21:3–4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies14
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.