Ezekiel 36:27-38

36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; ¹  I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes ²  and carefully observe my regulations. ³  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. ⁴  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. 36:30 I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 36:31 Then you will remember your evil behavior ⁵  and your deeds which were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds. 36:32 Understand that ⁶  it is not for your sake I am about to act, declares the sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and embarrassed by your behavior, O house of Israel.

36:33 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will populate the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt. 36:34 The desolate land will be plowed, instead of being desolate in the sight of everyone who passes by. 36:35 They will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited.” 36:36 Then the nations which remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken – and I will do it!’

36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: ⁷  I will multiply their people like sheep. ⁸  36:38 Like the sheep for offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem ⁹  during her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

¹ tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.

² 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.

³ tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.

⁴ sn This promise reflects the ancient covenantal ideal (see Exod 6:7).

⁵ tn Heb “ways.”

⁶ tn Heb “Let it be known.”

⁷ tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”

⁸ sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”

⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.