Ezekiel 31 to 42

Ezekiel 31

¹In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude:

‘Whom are you like in your greatness?

³Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon

with beautiful branches,

and with a forest-like shade,

of high stature;

and its top was among the thick boughs.

⁴The waters nourished it.

The deep made it to grow.

Its rivers ran all around its plantation.

It sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.

⁵Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field;

and its boughs were multiplied.

Its branches became long by reason of many waters,

when it spread them out.

⁶All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs.

Under its branches, all the animals of the field gave birth to their young.

All great nations lived under its shadow.

⁷Thus it was beautiful in its greatness,

in the length of its branches;

for its root was by many waters.

⁸The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it.

The cypress trees were not like its branches.

The pine trees were not like its branches;

nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.

⁹I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches,

so that all the trees of Eden,

that were in the garden of God, envied it.’

¹⁰“Therefore thus said the Lord GOD: ‘Because he is exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick branches, and his heart is lifted up in his height, ¹¹I will deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He will surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness. ¹²Foreigners, the tyrants of the nations, have cut him off and have left him. His branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. All the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow and have left him. ¹³All the birds of the sky will dwell on his ruin, and all the animals of the field will be on his branches, ¹⁴to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, and don’t set their top among the thick boughs. Their mighty ones don’t stand up on their height, even all who drink water; for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, among the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.’

¹⁵“The Lord GOD says: ‘In the day when he went down to Sheol, I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers. The great waters were stopped. I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. ¹⁶I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit. All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth. ¹⁷They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, who lived under his shadow in the middle of the nations.

¹⁸“‘To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth. You will lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “‘This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel 32

¹In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him,

‘You were likened to a young lion of the nations;

yet you are as a monster in the seas.

You broke out with your rivers,

and troubled the waters with your feet,

and fouled their rivers.’”

³The Lord GOD says:

“I will spread out my net on you with a company of many peoples.

They will bring you up in my net.

⁴I will leave you on the land.

I will cast you out on the open field,

and will cause all the birds of the sky to settle on you.

I will satisfy the animals of the whole earth with you.

⁵I will lay your flesh on the mountains,

and fill the valleys with your height.

⁶I will also water the land in which you swim with your blood,

even to the mountains.

The watercourses will be full of you.

⁷When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens

and make its stars dark.

I will cover the sun with a cloud,

and the moon won’t give its light.

⁸I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you,

and set darkness on your land,” says the Lord GOD.

⁹“I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples,

when I bring your destruction among the nations,

into the countries which you have not known.

¹⁰Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you,

and their kings will be horribly afraid for you,

when I brandish my sword before them.

They will tremble at every moment,

every man for his own life,

in the day of your fall.”

¹¹For the Lord GOD says:

“The sword of the king of Babylon will come on you.

¹²I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of the mighty.

They are all the ruthless of the nations.

They will bring the pride of Egypt to nothing,

and all its multitude will be destroyed.

¹³I will destroy also all its animals from beside many waters.

The foot of man won’t trouble them any more,

nor will the hoofs of animals trouble them.

¹⁴Then I will make their waters clear,

and cause their rivers to run like oil,”

says the Lord GOD.

¹⁵“When I make the land of Egypt desolate and waste,

a land destitute of that of which it was full,

when I strike all those who dwell therein,

then they will know that I am the LORD.

¹⁶“‘“This is the lamentation with which they will lament. The daughters of the nations will lament with this. They will lament with it over Egypt, and over all her multitude,” says the Lord GOD.’”

Also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit. ¹⁹Whom do you pass in beauty? Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised. ²⁰They will fall among those who are slain by the sword. She is delivered to the sword. Draw her away with all her multitudes. ²¹The strong among the mighty will speak to him out of the middle of Sheol with those who help him. They have gone down. The uncircumcised lie still, slain by the sword.

²²“Asshur is there with all her company. Her graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, ²³whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living.

²⁴“There is Elam and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. ²⁵They have made Elam a bed among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are around her, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. He is put among those who are slain.

²⁶“There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude. Their graves are around them, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they caused their terror in the land of the living. ²⁷They will not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the uncircumcised, who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war and have laid their swords under their heads. Their iniquities are on their bones; for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

²⁸“But you will be broken among the uncircumcised, and will lie with those who are slain by the sword.

²⁹“There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, who in their might are laid with those who are slain by the sword. They will lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who go down to the pit.

³⁰“There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain. They are put to shame in the terror which they caused by their might. They lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.

³¹“Pharaoh will see them and will be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword,” says the Lord GOD. ³²“For I have put his terror in the land of the living. He will be laid among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 33

¹The LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman, ³if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and doesn’t heed the warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵He heard the sound of the trumpet and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul. ⁶But if the watchman sees the sword come and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

⁷“So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me. ⁸When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. ⁹Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

¹⁰“You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?”’ ¹¹Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’

¹²“You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. ¹³When I tell the righteous that he will surely live, if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. ¹⁴Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” if he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right, ¹⁵if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity, he will surely live. He will not die. ¹⁶None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.

¹⁷“‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair. ¹⁸When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will even die therein. ¹⁹When the wicked turns from his wickedness and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. ²⁰Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’”

In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been defeated!” ²²Now the LORD’s hand had been on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came; and he had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

²³The LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²⁴“Son of man, those who inhabit the waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, ‘Abraham was one, and he inherited the land; but we are many. The land is given us for inheritance.’ ²⁵Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. So should you possess the land? ²⁶You stand on your sword, you work abomination, and every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. So should you possess the land?”’

²⁷“You shall tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword. I will give whoever is in the open field to the animals to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of the pestilence. ²⁸I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment. The pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that no one will pass through. ²⁹Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment because of all their abominations which they have committed.”’

³⁰“As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes out from the LORD.’ ³¹They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. ³²Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don’t do them.

³³“When this comes to pass—behold, it comes—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Ezekiel 34

¹The LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? ³You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep. ⁴You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor. ⁵They were scattered, because there was no shepherd. They became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered. ⁶My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth. There was no one who searched or sought.”

⁷“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the LORD’s word: ⁸“As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, and my shepherds didn’t search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn’t feed my sheep, ⁹therefore, you shepherds, hear the LORD’s word!” ¹⁰The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against the shepherds. I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep. The shepherds won’t feed themselves any more. I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.”

¹¹“‘For the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹²As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. ¹³I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴I will feed them with good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel. There they will lie down in a good fold. They will feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down,” says the Lord GOD. ¹⁶“I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them in justice.”’

¹⁷“As for you, O my flock, the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? And to have drunk of the clear waters, but must you foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹As for my sheep, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.’

²⁰“Therefore the Lord GOD says to them: ‘Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad, ²²therefore I will save my flock, and they will no more be a prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd. ²⁴I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken it.

²⁵“‘I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land. They will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will cause the shower to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing. ²⁷The tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them. ²⁸They will no more be a prey to the nations, neither will the animals of the earth devour them; but they will dwell securely, and no one will make them afraid. ²⁹I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they will no more be consumed with famine in the land, and not bear the shame of the nations any more. ³⁰They will know that I, the LORD, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD. ³¹You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God,’ says the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel 35

¹Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, ³and tell it, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you. I will make you a desolation and an astonishment. ⁴I will lay your cities waste, and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

⁵“‘“Because you have had a perpetual hostility, and have given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end, ⁶therefore, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will prepare you for blood, and blood will pursue you. Since you have not hated blood, therefore blood will pursue you. ⁷Thus I will make Mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation. I will cut off from it him who passes through and him who returns. ⁸I will fill its mountains with its slain. The slain with the sword will fall in your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses. ⁹I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

¹⁰“‘“Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries will be mine, and we will possess it,’ although the LORD was there, ¹¹therefore, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. ¹²You will know that I, the LORD, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They have been laid desolate. They have been given to us to devour.’ ¹³You have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me. I have heard it.” ¹⁴The Lord GOD says: “When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. ¹⁵As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

Ezekiel 36

¹You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear the LORD’s word. ²The Lord GOD says: ‘Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient high places are ours in possession!”’ ³therefore prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord GOD 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 GOD: The Lord GOD 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 GOD 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 GOD says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” ⁷Therefore the Lord GOD 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 the LORD. 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 GOD 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 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.’”

¹⁶Moreover 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. 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 the LORD’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 GOD 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 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. 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 GOD. “Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.”

³³“‘The Lord GOD 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, 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“‘The Lord GOD 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 the LORD.’”

Ezekiel 37

¹The LORD’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in the LORD’s Spirit, and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. ²He caused me to pass by them all around; and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “Lord GOD, you know.”

⁴Again he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, ‘You dry bones, hear the LORD’s word. ⁵The Lord GOD says to these bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you will live. ⁶I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”’”

⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, there was an earthquake. Then the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’”

¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’ ¹²Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³You will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people. ¹⁴I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’”

The LORD’s word came again to me, saying, ¹⁶“You, son of man, take one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions.’ Then take another stick, and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.’ ¹⁷Then join them for yourself to one another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.

¹⁸“When the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Won’t you show us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand. ²⁰The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.”’ ²¹Say to them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. ²²I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations. They won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. ²³They won’t defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. So they will be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴“‘“My servant David will be king over them. They all will have one shepherd. They will also walk in my ordinances and observe my statutes, and do them. ²⁵They will dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived. They will dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children’s children, forever. David my servant will be their prince forever. ²⁶Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will place them, multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them forever more. ²⁷My tent also will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸The nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forever more.”’”

Ezekiel 38

¹The LORD’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, ³and say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. ⁴I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords; ⁵Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ⁶Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes—even many peoples with you.

⁷“‘“Be prepared, yes, prepare yourself, you, and all your companies who are assembled to you, and be a guard to them. ⁸After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought out of the peoples and they will dwell securely, all of them. ⁹You will ascend. You will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.”

¹⁰“‘The Lord GOD says: “It will happen in that day that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan. ¹¹You will say, ‘I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, ¹²to take the plunder and to take prey; to turn your hand against the waste places that are inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten livestock and goods, who dwell in the middle of the earth.’ ¹³Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its young lions, will ask you, ‘Have you come to take the plunder? Have you assembled your company to take the prey, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’”’

¹⁴“Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and tell Gog, ‘The Lord GOD says: “In that day when my people Israel dwells securely, will you not know it? ¹⁵You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you, and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. ¹⁶You will come up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land. It will happen in the latter days that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me when I am sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes.”

¹⁷“‘The Lord GOD says: “Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸It will happen in that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that my wrath will come up into my nostrils. ¹⁹For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken. Surely in that day there will be a great shaking in the land of Israel, ²⁰so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, all creeping things who creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the surface of the earth will shake at my presence. Then the mountains will be thrown down, the steep places will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. ²²I will enter into judgment with him with pestilence and with blood. I will rain on him, on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, torrential rains with great hailstones, fire, and sulfur. ²³I will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”’

Ezekiel 39

¹“You, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. ²I will turn you around, will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring you onto the mountains of Israel. ³I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand. ⁴You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your hordes, and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to the ravenous birds of every sort and to the animals of the field to be devoured. ⁵You will fall on the open field, for I have spoken it,” says the Lord GOD. ⁶“I will send a fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the islands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

⁷“‘“I will make my holy name known among my people Israel. I won’t allow my holy name to be profaned any more. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸Behold, it comes, and it will be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day about which I have spoken.

⁹“‘“Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs and the spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years; ¹⁰so that they will take no wood out of the field, and not cut down any out of the forests; for they will make fires with the weapons. They will plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them,” says the Lord GOD.

¹¹“‘“It will happen in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it will stop those who pass through. They will bury Gog and all his multitude there, and they will call it ‘The valley of Hamon Gog’.

¹²“‘“The house of Israel will be burying them for seven months, that they may cleanse the land. ¹³Yes, all the people of the land will bury them; and they will become famous in the day that I will be glorified,” says the Lord GOD.

¹⁴“‘“They will set apart men of continual employment who will pass through the land. Those who pass through will go with those who bury those who remain on the surface of the land, to cleanse it. After the end of seven months they will search. ¹⁵Those who search through the land will pass through; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, then he will set up a sign by it, until the undertakers have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog. ¹⁶Hamonah will also be the name of a city. Thus they will cleanse the land.”’

¹⁷“You, son of man, the Lord GOD says: ‘Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal of the field, “Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat meat and drink blood. ¹⁸You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. ¹⁹You shall eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. ²⁰You shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men, and with all men of war,” says the Lord GOD.’

²¹“I will set my glory among the nations. Then all the nations will see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. ²²So the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God, from that day and forward. ²³The nations will know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. ²⁴I did to them according to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions. I hid my face from them.

²⁵“Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Now I will reverse the captivity of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel. I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶They will forget their shame and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they dwell securely in their land. No one will make them afraid ²⁷when I have brought them back from the peoples, gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am shown holy among them in the sight of many nations. ²⁸They will know that I am the LORD their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land. Then I will leave none of them captive any more. ²⁹I won’t hide my face from them any more, for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel 40

¹In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck, in the same day, the LORD’s hand was on me, and he brought me there. ²In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was something like the frame of a city to the south. ³He brought me there; and, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax in his hand and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. ⁴The man said to me, “Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I will show you; for you have been brought here so that I may show them to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”

⁵Behold, there was a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a hand width each. So he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.

⁶Then he came to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up its steps. He measured the threshold of the gate, one reed wide; and the other threshold, one reed wide. ⁷Every lodge was one reed long and one reed wide. Between the lodges was five cubits. The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed.

⁸He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed. ⁹Then he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house.

¹⁰The side rooms of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side. The three of them were of one measure. The posts had one measure on this side and on that side. ¹¹He measured the width of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits; ¹²and a border before the lodges, one cubit on this side, and a border, one cubit on that side; and the side rooms, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. ¹³He measured the gate from the roof of the one side room to the roof of the other, a width of twenty-five cubits, door against door. ¹⁴He also made posts, sixty cubits; and the court reached to the posts, around the gate. ¹⁵From the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits. ¹⁶There were closed windows to the side rooms, and to their posts within the gate all around, and likewise to the arches. Windows were around inward. Palm trees were on each post.

¹⁷Then he brought me into the outer court. Behold, there were rooms and a pavement made for the court all around. Thirty rooms were on the pavement. ¹⁸The pavement was by the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement. ¹⁹Then he measured the width from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north.

²⁰He measured the length and width of the gate of the outer court which faces toward the north. ²¹The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side. Its posts and its arches were the same as the measure of the first gate: its length was fifty cubits, and the width twenty-five cubits. ²²Its windows, its arches, and its palm trees were the same as the measure of the gate which faces toward the east. They went up to it by seven steps. Its arches were before them. ²³There was a gate to the inner court facing the other gate, on the north and on the east. He measured one hundred cubits from gate to gate.

²⁴He led me toward the south; and behold, there was a gate toward the south. He measured its posts and its arches according to these measurements. ²⁵There were windows in it and in its arches all around, like the other windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the width twenty-five cubits. ²⁶There were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them. It had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on its posts. ²⁷There was a gate to the inner court toward the south. He measured one hundred cubits from gate to gate toward the south.

²⁸Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate. He measured the south gate according to these measurements; ²⁹with its lodges, its posts, and its arches, according to these measurements. There were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁰There were arches all around, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide. ³¹Its arches were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts. The ascent to it had eight steps.

³²He brought me into the inner court toward the east. He measured the gate according to these measurements; ³³with its lodges, its posts, and its arches, according to these measurements. There were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁴Its arches were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts on this side and on that side. The ascent to it had eight steps.

³⁵He brought me to the north gate, and he measured it according to these measurements— ³⁶its lodges, its posts, and its arches. There were windows in it all around. The length was fifty cubits and the width twenty-five cubits. ³⁷Its posts were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts on this side and on that side. The ascent to it had eight steps.

³⁸A room with its door was by the posts at the gates. They washed the burnt offering there. ³⁹In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, on which to kill the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. ⁴⁰On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables. ⁴¹Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate: eight tables, on which they killed the sacrifices. ⁴²There were four cut stone tables for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high. They laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice on them. ⁴³The hooks, a hand width long, were fastened within all around. The meat of the offering was on the tables.

⁴⁴Outside of the inner gate were rooms for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate. They faced toward the south. One at the side of the east gate faced toward the north. ⁴⁵He said to me, “This room, which faces toward the south, is for the priests who perform the duty of the house. ⁴⁶The room which faces toward the north is for the priests who perform the duty of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to the LORD to minister to him.” ⁴⁷He measured the court, one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide, square. The altar was before the house.

⁴⁸Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side. The width of the gate was three cubits on this side and three cubits on that side. ⁴⁹The length of the porch was twenty cubits and the width eleven cubits, even by the steps by which they went up to it. There were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

Ezekiel 41

¹He brought me to the nave and measured the posts, six cubits wide on the one side and six cubits wide on the other side, which was the width of the tent. ²The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side. He measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.

³Then he went inward and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits. ⁴He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the nave. He said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

⁵Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side. ⁶The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in each story. They entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported and not penetrate the wall of the house. ⁷The side rooms were wider on the higher levels, because the walls were narrower at the higher levels. Therefore the width of the house increased upward; and so one went up from the lowest level to the highest through the middle level.

⁸I saw also that the house had a raised base all around. The foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits. ⁹The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits. That which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house. ¹⁰Between the rooms was a width of twenty cubits around the house on every side. ¹¹The doors of the side rooms were toward an open area that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits all around.

¹²The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.

¹³So he measured the temple, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long; ¹⁴also the width of the face of the temple, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.

¹⁵He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits from the inner temple, and the porches of the court, ¹⁶the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, opposite the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered), ¹⁷to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure. ¹⁸It was made with cherubim and palm trees. A palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces, ¹⁹so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. It was made like this through all the house all around. ²⁰Cherubim and palm trees were made from the ground to above the door. The wall of the temple was like this.

²¹The door posts of the nave were squared. As for the face of the nave, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple. ²²The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.” ²³The temple and the sanctuary had two doors. ²⁴The doors had two leaves each, two turning leaves: two for the one door, and two leaves for the other. ²⁵There were made on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm trees, like those made on the walls. There was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside. ²⁶There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch. This is how the side rooms of the temple and the thresholds were arranged.

Ezekiel 42

¹Then he brought me out into the outer court, the way toward the north. Then he brought me into the room that was opposite the separate place, and which was opposite the building toward the north. ²Facing the length of one hundred cubits was the north door, and the width was fifty cubits. ³Opposite the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the three stories. ⁴Before the rooms was a walk of ten cubits’ width inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north. ⁵Now the upper rooms were shorter; for the galleries took away from these more than from the lower and the middle in the building. ⁶For they were in three stories, and they didn’t have pillars as the pillars of the courts. Therefore the uppermost was set back more than the lowest and the middle from the ground. ⁷The wall that was outside by the side of the rooms, toward the outer court before the rooms, was fifty cubits long. ⁸For the length of the rooms that were in the outer court was fifty cubits. Behold, those facing the temple were one hundred cubits. ⁹From under these rooms was the entry on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer court.

¹⁰In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were rooms. ¹¹The way before them was like the appearance of the rooms which were toward the north. Their length and width were the same. All their exits had the same arrangement and doors. ¹²Like the doors of the rooms that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.

¹³Then he said to me, “The north rooms and the south rooms, which are opposite the separate place, are the holy rooms, where the priests who are near to the LORD shall eat the most holy things. There they shall lay the most holy things, with the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy. ¹⁴When the priests enter in, then they shall not go out of the holy place into the outer court until they lay their garments in which they minister there; for they are holy. Then they shall put on other garments, and shall approach that which is for the people.”

¹⁵Now when he had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate which faces toward the east, and measured it all around. ¹⁶He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed all around. ¹⁷He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed all around. ¹⁸He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. ¹⁹He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. ²⁰He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, the length five hundred cubits, and the width five hundred cubits, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.