Ezekiel
Ezekiel 36
1You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear Yahweh’s word. 2The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient high places are ours in possession!” ’ 3therefore prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;” 4therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around; 5therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.” ’ 6Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” 7Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “I have sworn, ‘Surely the nations that are around you will bear their shame.’
8“ ‘ “But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come. 9For, behold, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be tilled and sown. 10I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it. The cities will be inhabited, and the waste places will be built. 11I will multiply man and animal on you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before, and you will do better than at your beginnings. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. 12Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will never again bereave them of their children.”
13“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because they say to you, ‘You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;’ 14therefore you shall devour men no more, and not bereave your nation any more,” says the Lord Yahweh. 15“I won’t let you hear the shame of the nations any more. You won’t bear the reproach of the peoples any more, and you won’t cause your nation to stumble any more,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
16Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 17“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and by their deeds. Their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. 18Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. 19I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their deeds. 20When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, ‘These are Yahweh’s people, and have left his land.’ 21But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
22“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh,” says the Lord Yahweh, “when I am proven holy in you before their eyes.
24“ ‘ “For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. 26I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. 27I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them. 28You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God. 29I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you. 30I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach 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 for your abominations. 32I don’t do this for your sake,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Let it be known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.”
33“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places will be built. 34The land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being a desolation in the sight of all who passed by. 35They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ 36Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate. I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.”
37“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “For this, moreover, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock. 38As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so the waste cities will be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”
Commentary
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What others are saying
4 commentators · 91 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
The prophet had been ordered to set his face towards the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them, Eze 6:2. 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…
When God promised the poor captives a glorious return, in due time, to their own land, it was a great discouragement to their hopes that they were unworthy, utterly unworthy, of such a favour; therefore, to remove that discouragement, God here shows them that…
The people of God might be discouraged in their hopes of a restoration by the sense not only of their unworthiness of such a favour (which was answered, in the foregoing verses, with this, that God, in doing it, would have an eye to his own glory, not to…
John Gill38
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel,.... The land of Judah, which was very mountainous, at least one part of it, called the hill country, Luke 1:39 and now the country being cleared of men through the captivity, and other desolating…
Thus saith the Lord God,.... By the mouth of the prophet, who was bid to prophesy: because the enemy had said against you, aha: rejoicing at the calamity of God's people, particularly the Edomites or Idumeans, as in the preceding chapter; and who are chiefly…
Therefore prophesy and say, thus saith the Lord God,.... Who heard all the enemy said, and knew all their designs and purposes, their schemes and devices: because they have made you desolate; ravaged their country, destroyed their cities, burnt their temple…
Adam Clarke21
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
Prophesy unto the mountains of Israel - This is a part of the preceding prophecy though it chiefly concerns the Jews. In it they are encouraged to expect a glorious restoration, and that none of the evil wishes of their adversaries should take place against…
Because the enemy hath said - The Idumeans thought they would shortly be put in possession of all the strong places of Israel; the ancient high places shall be ours.
Therefore - thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, etc. - They shall neither possess mountain nor valley, hill nor dale, fountain nor river; for though in my justice I made you desolate, yet they shall not profit by your disasters. See Eze 36:5-7.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown29
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
Literally, "Because, even because." swallowed you up--literally, "panted after" you, as a beast after its prey; implying the greedy cupidity of Edom as to Israel's inheritance (Psa 56:1-2). lips of talkers--literally, "lips of the tongue," that is, of the…
Inanimate creatures are addressed, to imply that the creature also, as it were, groans for deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:19-21) [POLANUS]. The completeness of the renewed blessedness of all…
to cast it out for a prey--that is, to take the land for a prey, its inhabitants being cast out. Or the land is compared to a prey cast forth to wild beasts. FAIRBAIRN needlessly alters the Hebrew pointing and translates, "that they may plunder its pasturage."
World English Bible — Public domain