September 8, 2009

Ezekiel 35-37:28
Ezekiel 35

1Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me saying,
2"Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it
3and say to it, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,
"Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir,
And I will stretch out My hand against you
And make you a desolation and a waste.
4"I will lay waste your cities
And you will become a desolation.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.
5"Because you have had everlasting enmity and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of the punishment of the end,
6therefore as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "I will give you over to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you.
7"I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation and I will cut off from it the one who passes through and returns.
8"I will fill its mountains with its slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain by the sword will fall.
9"I will make you an everlasting desolation and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
10"Because you have said, 'These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them,' although the LORD was there,
11 therefore as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "I will deal with you according to your anger and according to your envy which you showed because of your hatred against them; so I will make Myself known among them when I judge you.
12"Then you will know that I, the LORD, have heard all your revilings which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, 'They are laid desolate; they are given to us for food.'
13"And you have spoken arrogantly against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; I have heard it."
14'Thus says the Lord GOD, "As all the earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation.
15"As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you You will be a desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD."'

Ezekiel 36

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'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because the enemy has spoken against you, 'Aha!' and, 'The everlasting heights have become our possession,'
3therefore prophesy and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "For good reason they have made you desolate and crushed you from every side, that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations and you have been taken up in the talk and the whispering of the people."'"
4'Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities which have become a prey and a derision to the rest of the nations which are round about,
5therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey."
6'Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have indured the insults of the nations.'
7"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, 'I have sworn that surely the nations which are around you will themselves endure their insults.
8'But you, O mountains of Israel, you will put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come.
9'For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown.
10'I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt.
11'I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly and will treat you better than at the first. Thus you will know that I am the LORD.
12'Yes, I will cause men--My people Israel--to walk on you and possess you, so that you will become their inheritance and never again bereave them of children.'
13"Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because they say to you, "You are a devourer of men and have bereaved your nation of children,"
14therefore you will no longer devour men and no longer bereave your nation of children,' declares the Lord GOD.
15"I will not let you hear insults from the nations anymore, nor will you bear disgrace from the peoples any longer, nor will you cause your nation to stumble any longer," declares the Lord GOD.'"
16Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,
17"Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.
18"Therefore I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols.
19"Also I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the lands According to their ways and their deeds I judged them.
20"When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, 'These are the people of the LORD; yet they have come out of His land.'
21"But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
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 about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.
23"I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.
24"For I willtake you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.
25"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27"I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
28"You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
29"Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you.
30"I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.
31"Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations.
32"I am not doing this for your sake," declares the Lord GOD, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!"
33'Thus says the Lord GOD, "On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt.
34"The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by.
35"They will say, 'This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.'
36"Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it."
37'Thus says the Lord GOD, "This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock.
38"Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am the LORD."'"

Ezekiel 37

1The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.
2He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry.
3He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know."
4Again He said to me, "(Prophesy over these bones and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.'
5"Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.
6'I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.'"
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.
9Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they (come to life."'"
10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished We are completely cut off.'
12"Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.
13"Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.
14"I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.'"
15The word of the LORD came again to me saying,
16"And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, 'For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.'
17"Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.
18"When the sons of your people speak to you saying, 'Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?'
19 say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand."'
20"The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
21"Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;
22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms.
23"They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.
24"My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have (one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them.
25"They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever.
26"I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever.
27"My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.
28"And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever."'"