Chapter 36
Restoration of the Land.[a] 1 Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord God, The enemy has gloated over you, saying: “Aha! These ancient heights have become our possession.”
3 In reply, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: Since you have been ravaged and hounded from all sides, and thus have become the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people’s gossip and slander, 4 therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God and what the Lord God says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the deserted towns which have been plundered and have become a source of ridicule to the surrounding nations.
5 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: With seething jealousy I am speaking against the rest of the nations, and against the whole of Edom, who, with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, took my country as their possession so that they might plunder its pastures.
6 Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys: Thus says the Lord God: I am speaking with jealous fury because you have been forced to endure the insults of the nations. 7 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I raise my hand and swear that the nations all around you will have to endure insults.
8 As for you, mountains of Israel, you shall grow branches and bear fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon return home. 9 Behold, I am coming to you. It is to you that I shall turn. You will be tilled and sown, 10 and I will multiply your population, that of the whole house of Israel. The towns will again be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt.
11 Furthermore, I will settle large numbers of human beings and animals upon you. They will multiply and be fruitful, and I will make you as populous as in your former times. Moreover, I will make you more prosperous than ever before. Thus you will know that I am the Lord. 12 I will cause my people Israel to tread your soil once again. They will possess you, and you will be their heritage. Never again will they be left childless.
13 Thus says the Lord God: Because it has been said of you, “You are a land that devours people, and you bereave your nation of children,” 14 therefore, you will no longer devour people or make your nation childless, says the Lord God. 15 I will never again let you hear the taunts of the nations; no longer will you be forced to endure the insults of the peoples; no longer will your people be deprived of their children, says the Lord God.
16 Restoration of the People.[b]This word of the Lord was addressed to me: 17 Son of man, when the people of the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it with their conduct and their deeds. In my eyes, their conduct was like the uncleanness of a woman during her menstrual period.
18 Therefore, I poured out my wrath upon them because of the blood that they had shed upon the land, and because of their idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them throughout the nations, and they were dispersed in many lands. I passed sentence on them in accordance with their conduct and their deeds.
20 But whenever they came to the nations, they profaned my holy name, so that the people there would say about them, “These are the people of the Lord, yet they have been banished from his land.” 21 However, I have relented because of my concern about my holy name which the house of Israel has profaned among the nations where they have gone.
22 Therefore, say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am acting, but for the sake of my holy name which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. 23 I intend to prove the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. Thus, the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I will display my holiness in their sight.
24 I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the foreign lands, and I will bring you back to your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from everything that defiles you. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
26 I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you. I will remove from your body a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh in its place. 27 I will put my Spirit in you and make you follow my statutes and my ordinances.
28 Then you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, but I shall be your God. 29 I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will command the grain to be abundant and not allow any famine to afflict you. 30 I will make abundant the fruit of the trees and the crops in your fields, so that you will never have to suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
31 Then you will remember your evil conduct and your wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and your abominable deeds. 32 I assure you that it is not for your sake that I am doing all this, says the Lord God. Let that be clearly understood. Be ashamed and feel intense disgrace for your conduct, O house of Israel.
33 Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I cleanse you from all your sins, I will repopulate your towns, and your ruins will be rebuilt. 34 The wasteland will be cultivated instead of being a desolate sight to all who walk past it.
35 People will say, “The land that was desolate is now like the Garden of Eden, and the towns that were once in ruins, desolate wastelands, are now inhabited once again and fortified.” 36 Then the neighboring nations that are still left around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt what was destroyed and replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.
37 Thus says the Lord God: I also will allow the house of Israel to persuade me to do this for them: I shall increase their numbers like a flock. 38 Like the flocks of sacrificial sheep in Jerusalem on its appointed feasts, so shall the formerly ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 36:1 These two chapters, which at first sight are like what we have already read, convey the very heart of the Book of Ezekiel, for they give his vision of reality and sum up his theology, that is, his idea of God, of the Lord’s relationship with human beings and with his people, of the vocation of Israel, and of the destiny of the nations.
- Ezekiel 36:16 We reach here the high point of the revelation given through Ezekiel. God’s work consists in removing humanity from sin and making it one with himself as the center. This is truly grace, such that this work of God is essentially unmerited. It completely renews the links between God and his people or, better, between God and humanity (see Ezek 16:60; 37:26; Jer 31:31-34; Isa 54:10). The prophet sees the renewal taking the form of a grandiose liturgy in which cleansing water pours from the temple, which is God’s house and the center of worship (see Ezek 47:1-13). Humanity will then emerge from this liturgy with a new heart, a feeling heart; it will have a new spirit and share in the very Spirit of God. There could not be a more attractive prefiguration of Christian baptism.