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Ezekiel 36

1 - You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, "You mountains of Israel, hear The LORD's word.
2 - Thus says the Lord God: 'Because the enemy has said against you, "Aha!" and, "The ancient high places are ours in possession!"'
3 - therefore prophesy, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "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;"
4 - therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord the LORD 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;
5 - therefore thus says the Lord God: "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."'
6 - Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations."
7 - Therefore thus says the Lord God: "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.
9 - For, behold, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be tilled and sown.
10 - I 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.
11 - I 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 The LORD.
12 - Yes, 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 - "'Thus says the Lord God: "Because they say to you, 'You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;'
14 - therefore you shall devour men no more, and not bereave your nation any more," says the Lord God.
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 God.'"
16 - Moreover The LORD'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.
18 - Therefore 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.
19 - I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their deeds.
20 - When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, 'These are The LORD's people, and have left his land.'
21 - But 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, 'Thus says the Lord God: "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.
23 - I 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 The LORD," says the Lord God, "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.
25 - 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 - I 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.
27 - I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them.
28 - You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God.
29 - I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.
30 - I 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.
32 - I don't do this for your sake," says the Lord God. "Let it be known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel."
33 - "'Thus says the Lord God: "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.
34 - The land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being a desolation in the sight of all who passed by.
35 - They will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.'
36 - Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, The LORD, have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate. I, The LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it."
37 - "'Thus says the Lord God: "For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock.
38 - As 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 The LORD.'"
Ezekiel Images and Notes

The Book of Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:17-19 - Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Ezekiel 28:6-10 - Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of [them that are] slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I [am] God? but thou [shalt be] a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 43:1-4- Afterward he brought me to the gate, [even] the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice [was] like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. And [it was] according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, [even] according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions [were] like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect [is] toward the east.

The Old Testament - A Brief Overview

Bible Survey - Ezekiel
Hebrew Name - Yehezqel "God is strength"
Greek Name - Iezekiel (Greek form of the Hebrew)
Author - Ezekiel (According to Tradition)
Date - 595 BC Approximately
Theme - The final restoration of Israel
Types and Shadows - In Ezekiel Jesus is the son of man

The First Day. Light.

Summary of The Book of Ezekiel

Ezekiel prophesied to the the Jewish captives in Babylon. The Babylonians had invaded Judah three times and each time they took prisoners back to Babylon. The first invasion was in 607 BC and Daniel was taken as a captive to Babylon. The second invasion was in 597 BC and Ezekiel was taken as a captive to Babylon, and in 586 BC Jerusalem was destroyed and all the survivors were taken as captives to Babylon. Ezekiel was married to a beautiful woman who was "the desire of his eyes" and God told him but his beloved wife was going to die on the very same day that Jerusalem was to be destroyed. As a sign to the Jews is a cure was commanded not to mourn his wife's death. He was to prepare himself as God had prepared himself for the death of his beloved city (Ezekiel 24:15-22). God spoke many prophecies through Ezekiel using words, parables, visions, and similitudes (strange things to point to something greater). Ezekiel also prophesied about the false shepherds in Jerusalem and God said that he will be the true Shepherd Messiah and there will be a future outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a re-gathering of Israel in the land. Ezekiel also predicted the downfall of those nations that were hostile to Judah. Ezekiel 16 is probably the most remarkable chapter concerning the love of God for his people in spite of their continuing idolatry. - The above text is � Rusty Russell - Bible History Online and must be sourced for use on a website.

"Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you," says the Lord GOD. "But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it." Ezekiel 16:14-15

The prophet Ezekiel taken captive during the time when the Babylonians began their captivity of Judah during the time of the reign of king Jehoichin, which was about 11 years before Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. Ezekiel was one of the Jewish captives who was brought to the land of Babylon and settled on the banks of the river Chebar. While he was by this river and the "land of the Chaldeans" he had a prophetic vision and received his call to be a prophet to the people in exile. This all happened in the fourth month of the "fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity" (595 BC). There is one interesting note that Ezekiel makes when he mentions that he married a woman in the land of Babylon and had a house, and that he lost his wife on the very day that the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem took place. Something else that is interesting is that the prophecies of Ezekiel address the Jews in Jerusalem and the events taking place over there, as though he was in Jerusalem, but he was actually in Babylon.

According to Jewish tradition Ezekiel was murdered in Babylon by a Jewish prince whom Ezekiel accused of idolatry, Ezekiel was supposedly buried on the banks of the Euphrates River.

The major divisions within the book of Ezekiel reveal the purpose of this ministry. In the first half of the book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1-33) Judah is accused of breaking all of God's commandments, and they are warned by God that they will be destroyed if they persist in their sins. After Ezekiel's announcement of Jerusalem's destruction the book of Ezekiel focuses on an entirely different subject, which is one of comfort and encouragement to the heartbroken Jews.

The contents of the book may be analyzed further as follows :

Outline of the Book of Ezekiel

I. Israel's sin and impending judgment, uttered before the final captivity (Ezekiel 1-24).

1) Biographical information concerning Ezekiel, including a note as to his personal situation and a description of his call to the prophetic ministry (Ezekiel 1-3 ).
2 ) The siege of Jerusalem portrayed in four symbolical acts (Ezekiel 4-7 ). In the first of these, Ezekiel evidently drew a picture of a city under siege, indicating that this was soon to be the condition of Jerusalem. After this, Ezekiel lay on his side for a great number of days, announcing that the nation was to be punished for its sins. By eating an inferior type of food which had been cooked on animal dung, Ezekiel predicted the famine which would accompany the siege. In the final act, Ezekiel shaved his head, burning his hair, striking it with a sword and scattering it to the winds, indicating the fate of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 6 and 7 contain additional oracles concerning Israel's sin and imminent doom.
3 ) Visions of idolatry in Jerusalem and the resultant judgment and destruction of that city (Ezekiel 8-11).
4 ) Further prophecies against Jerusalem (Ezekiel 12-24). This section contains a rebuke of false prophets and hypocrites (Ezekiel 12-14), a repeated emphasis on the certainty and necessity of punishment (Ezekiel 15-17), a discussion of retribution and responsibility and a reassertion of God's love toward sinners (Ezekiel 18), a lamentation or dirge over the rulers of Judah (Ezekiel 19) and final warnings before the complete destruction of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 20-24).

II. Prophecies against the nations of Am-mon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon and Egypt (Ezekiel 25-32).

III. Prophecies concerning the restoration of Israel, uttered after the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

1 ) A discussion of the responsibility of the people to respond to the call of the prophet (Ezekiel 33: 1-20).
2 ) The announcement of the fall of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 33:21-33).
3 ) A contrast between the leadership of the faithless shepherds ( kings) of Judah and Israel and the true shepherd who was to come (Ezekiel 34).
4 ) The doom of Edom (Ezekiel 35).
5 ) The vision of the valley of dry bones, symbolizing the resurrection of the remnant of Israel (Ezekiel 36-37).
6 ) The prophecy of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38-39 ).
7 ) The rebuilt Temple (Ezekiel 40-48).

The First Day. Light.

Ezekiel Resources

The Divided Kingdom
The Northern Kingdom of Israel
The Southern Kingdom of Judah
The Assyrian Captivity
The Babylonian Captivity
The Return From Babylon
The Prophets
The Messiah

The Book of Ezekiel

More About the Book of Ezekiel
Ezekiel in the Picture Study Bible
Timeline of the Ancient World
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