Our Father Speaks Hope to the Mountains
36 1 And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel: Mountains of Israel, hear our Father's word. 2 The Sovereign Father says: Because the enemy said of you, "Aha! The ancient heights are now ours," 3 therefore prophesy and say: The Sovereign Father says: Because they made you desolate and trampled you from every side, so you became the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of gossip and slander of the people, 4 therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Father. The Sovereign Father says this to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, the desolate ruins and abandoned cities that became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around: 5 therefore the Sovereign Father says: In my burning jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations and all Edom, who with wholehearted joy and total contempt claimed my land as theirs, to plunder its pasture. 6 So prophesy about the land of Israel; say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys: The Sovereign Father says: I have spoken in my jealousy and wrath, because you have borne the nations' insults. 7 So the Sovereign Father says: I have raised my hand in oath—the nations around you will bear their own insults. 8 But you, mountains of Israel, will put out branches and bear fruit for my people Israel, for they are about to come home. 9 For I am for you; I will turn toward you, and you will be tilled and sown. 10 I will multiply people on you—the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be settled and the ruins rebuilt. 11 I will multiply people and animals on you; they will increase and be fruitful. I will settle you as in former days and do you more good than at first. Then you will know I am your Father. 12 I will make people walk on you—my children Israel; they will possess you, you will be their inheritance, and you will never again make them childless.
13 The Sovereign Father says: Because they tell you, "You devour people and rob your nation of children," 14 therefore you will no longer devour people or bereave your nation of children, declares the Sovereign Father. 15 I'll no longer let you hear the nations' insults; you'll no longer bear the peoples' disgrace or make your nation stumble, declares the Sovereign Father.
16 The word of our Father came to me, saying:
17 Son of man, when Israel's house lived on their own land, they made it unclean by their ways and deeds. Their way before me was like a woman's menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my anger on them for the blood they shed on the land and because they made it unclean with their idols. 19 I scattered them among the nations, dispersed through the lands; I judged them by their ways and deeds. 20 But among the nations they went to, they desecrated my holy name, since it was said of them, 'These are the LORD's people, yet they left his land.' 21 But I cared about my holy name, which Israel's people had desecrated among the nations they went to.
22 So tell the house of Israel: The Sovereign Father says: I am not about to act for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you desecrated among the nations you went to. 23 I will make my great name holy—desecrated among the nations, which you desecrated among them. Then the nations will know I am the Father, declares the Sovereign Father, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.
24 I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of 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 keep my ordinances and do them. 28 You will live in the land I gave your fathers; you will be my children, and I your Father. 29 I will save you from all your impurities. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine on you. 30 I will multiply tree fruit and field crops, so you never again suffer famine's disgrace among the nations.
31 Then you will remember your evil ways and deeds that were not good, and you will hate yourselves for your sins and detestable things. 32 I am not acting for your sake, declares the Sovereign Father—know this. Be ashamed and disgraced for your ways, house of Israel.
33 Sovereign Father says: When I make you clean from all your sins, I will resettle the cities and rebuild the ruins. 34 The desolate land will be farmed, instead of lying waste before all who pass by. 35 They will say, 'This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, demolished cities are now fortified and inhabited.' 36 Then the nations that remain around you will know that I, the Father, rebuilt what was torn down and replanted the wasteland. I, your Father, have spoken and will do it.
37 The Sovereign Father says: This too I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: I will multiply their people like a flock. 38 Like the flock for offerings, like Jerusalem's flock at her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities fill with flocks of people. Then they will know I am your Father.
