Ezekiel 36:35
in Ezekiel 36Then 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.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.
KJV
And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
⋯
This verse in Ezekiel 36
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis land that was desolate by sin, is become like the garden of Eden by righteousness - Satan’s blast is removed; God’s blessing has taken place.
This site's exposition
I cleanse you from all your iniquities
on Ezekiel 36:33-36
Cleansing precedes rebuilding in the order the verses give it, and the desolate land becomes “like the garden of Eden”. That is the strongest image of restored blessing the Hebrew Bible has, naming the place forfeited at the beginning as the standard the end recovers. The recognition formula lands a final time in the unit, now heard by “the nations around you that remain”, witnesses rather than participants in what is done.
This site's exposition
like the garden of Eden
Isaiah 51:3 makes the same promise, that the LORD will make Zion's wilderness like Eden. The speakers here are the passers-by of verse 34, reporting what they see. Fortified cities mean safety as well as numbers.
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 Awakening3 voices
And they shall say,....
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,
They shall say, "See what a blessed change here is, how this land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, the desert turned again into a paradise," Note, God has honours in reserve for his people to be crowned with sufficient to counterbalance the contempt they are now loaded with, and in them he will be honoured.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Eden--as Tyre (the type of the world powers in general: so Assyria, a cedar "in the garden of God, Eden," Eze 31:8, 9), in original advantages, had been compared to "Eden, the garden of God" (Eze 28:13), from which she had fallen irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, is to be as "the garden of Eden" (Isa 51:3), and is to be so unchangeably.
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאָמְר֗וּ | veameru | and people will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הָאָ֤רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| הַלֵּ֙זוּ֙ | halezu | this | H1977 → | |
| הַנְּשַׁמָּ֔ה | haneshamah | <the> desolated | H8074 → | 86 times |
| הָיְתָ֖ה | hayetah | it has become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּגַן־ | kegan- | like [the] garden of | H1588 → | 42 times |
| עֵ֑דֶן | ʾeden | Eden | H5731 → | 16 times |
| וְהֶעָרִ֧ים | vehearim | and the cities | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| הֶחֳרֵב֛וֹת | hechorevot | <the> wasted | H2720 → | |
| וְהַֽנְשַׁמּ֥וֹת | vehanshamot | and <the> desolated | H8074 → | 86 times |
| וְהַנֶּהֱרָס֖וֹת | vehaneherasot | and <the> broken down | H2040 → | 43 times |
| בְּצוּר֥וֹת | betzurot | [are] fortified | H1219 → | |
| יָשָֽׁבוּ׃ | yashavu | they have remained | H3427 → | 1079 times |
וְאָמְר֗וּand people will say
veameruH559 →5305 times
הָאָ֤רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
הַלֵּ֙זוּ֙this
halezuH1977 →
הַנְּשַׁמָּ֔ה<the> desolated
haneshamahH8074 →86 times
הָיְתָ֖הit has become
hayetahH1961 →3559 times
כְּגַן־like [the] garden of
kegan-H1588 →42 times
עֵ֑דֶןEden
ʾedenH5731 →16 times
וְהֶעָרִ֧יםand the cities
vehearimH5892 →1090 times
הֶחֳרֵב֛וֹת<the> wasted
hechorevotH2720 →
וְהַֽנְשַׁמּ֥וֹתand <the> desolated
vehanshamotH8074 →86 times
וְהַנֶּהֱרָס֖וֹתand <the> broken down
vehaneherasotH2040 →43 times
בְּצוּר֥וֹת[are] fortified
betzurotH1219 →
יָשָֽׁבוּ׃they have remained
yashavuH3427 →1079 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
Psalms 58:11Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
it leads to
- Psalms 67:4
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples justly and lead the nations of the earth. Selah
- Isaiah 3:10
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- Psalms 64:9
Then all mankind will fear and proclaim the work of God; so they will ponder what He has done.
- Psalms 33:18
Surely the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His loving devotion
- Romans 2:5
But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
- Psalms 67:4
Through
Isaiah 51:3For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness…
it leads to
- Isaiah 49:13
Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.
- Isaiah 52:9
Break forth in joy, sing together, O ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.
- Joel 2:3
Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame scorches. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland—surely nothing will escape them.
- Isaiah 49:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies11
About Ezekiel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel and Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.