Prophecy of Blessings for Israel

1Also, you son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:

2Thus says the Lord GOD; Because the enemy has said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:

3Therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession unto the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers, and are slandered by the people:

4Therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the rest of the nations that are round about;

5Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, which have given my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with spiteful minds, to cast it out to plunder.

6Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations:

7Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; I have lifted up my hand, Surely the nations that are about you, they shall bear their shame.

8But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are soon to come.

9For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and you shall be tilled and sown:

10And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be built:

11And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you according to your former times, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am the LORD.

12Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no more bereave them of children.

13Thus says the Lord GOD; Because they say unto you, You land devours up men, and has bereaved your nation of children;

14Therefore you shall devour men no more, neither bereave your nation of children any more, says the Lord GOD.

15Neither will I cause men to hear in you the shame of the nations any more, neither shall you bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shall you cause your nation to fall any more, says the Lord GOD.

16Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

17Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.

18Therefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols with which they had polluted it:

19And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.

20And when they entered unto the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and have gone forth out of his land.

21But I had pity because of my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, where they went.

22Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; I do this not for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went.

23And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

24For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

25Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

27And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.

28And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

29I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the grain, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

30And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the nations.

31Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

32Not for your sakes do I this, says the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.

33Thus says the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt.

34And the desolate land shall be tilled, instead of lying desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

35And they shall say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities have become fortified, and are inhabited.

36Then the nations that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD rebuild the ruined places, and replant that which was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.

37Thus says the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.

38As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.