Ezekiel 11:18-20

11:18 “When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 11:19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; 1  I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies 2  and I will give them tender hearts, 3  11:20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. 4 

Ezekiel 36:25-29

36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water 5  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone 6  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 7  36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; 8  I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes 9  and carefully observe my regulations. 10  36:28 Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 11  36:29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it; I will not bring a famine on you.

Ezekiel 37:23

37:23 They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness 12  by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people and I will become their God.

1 tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew mss along with the LXX and other ancient versions read “within them.”

2 tn Heb “their flesh.”

3 tn Heb “heart of flesh.”

4 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).

5 sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

6 sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

7 sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

8 tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.

9 tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.

10 tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.

11 sn This promise reflects the ancient covenantal ideal (see Exod 6:7).

12 tc Heb “their dwellings.” The text as it stands does not make sense. Based on the LXX, a slight emendation of two vowels, including a mater, yields the reading “from their turning,” a reference here to their turning from God and deviating from his commandments. See BDB 1000 s.v. מְשׁוּבָה, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:407.