The Israelites will live on the mountains_of_Israel again
1‘Son of man, you must prophesy to the mountains_of_Israel. You must say: “Mountains of Israel, you must listen to what the Lord says. 2The Lord God says: Your enemies have talked about you and said: “‘We are happy because those mountains that were there from a long time ago are our mountains now.”’ ”
3That is what the enemies have said. Now you must prophesy and tell them: “The Lord God says: Mountains_of_Israel, the enemies have taken away the people who lived on you. The enemies have attacked you a lot and made you suffer. You belonged to other nations, and they said bad things about you and mocked you. 4Mountains_of_Israel, that is why you must listen to what the Lord says.” ’ The Lord God speaks to the mountains and hills, to the water streams and valleys, to the heaps of stones where no one lives, to the cities where all people are gone and where the enemies have taken everything, and to the cities which other nations laughed at and mocked. 5The Lord God says: ‘Because this happened, I am very angry and I speak to the nations and everyone in Edom. They took my land for their cattle to eat there. They laughed and were happy and they mocked my people.
6That is why you must prophesy about the land_of_Israel. You must talk to the mountains and hills, to the water streams and the valleys, and say to them: “The Lord God says: I am angry and upset because the nations have humiliated you.” ’ 7The Lord God says: ‘I put up my hand and I promise that I will humiliate the people around you.
8But you, mountains_of_Israel, the trees on you will grow branches and fruit for my people, the Israelites, because my people will come back soon. 9Yes, mountains_of_Israel, I am here with you and I will care for you. People will work on you and sow wheat. 10I will make a lot of people live on you. The nation of Israelites will live here. They will build the towns and cities again that are only heaps of stones now, and they will live there. 11I will give you a lot of people and animals that will live on you. They will be fertile and there will be more and more of them. I will give you people to live on you like they did before and I will make everything better for you, better than before. You will know that I am the Lord. 12I will let people walk on you again. My people, the Israelites, will walk on you. They will take you for themselves and you will belong to them. You will never again kill their children.’
13The Lord God says: ‘Mountains_of_Israel, they say that you eat people. They say that you cause your people's children to die. 14That is why I say: You will never again eat people. You will not cause your people's children to die.’ This is what the Lord God said.
I will give you a new heart and a new spirit
15The Lord said: ‘I will stop the other nations who humiliate you. They will not say bad things to you again and your people will not fall again.’
16The Lord talked to me and He said: 17‘Son of man, when the Israelites lived in their land before, they did things that were wrong and they made the land impure. The things that they did were as impure as a woman who is menstruating. 18I became angry and I punished them because they killed people in the land and they made the land impure when they worshipped_idols. 19I chased them all over the world among the other nations and they had to live in other lands. I punished them for the wrong things they did. 20When they were among the other nations, they lived so badly that those people said bad things about Me. They said: “These are the Lord's people, but they had to leave the land that He had given them.” 21The Israelites made my name impure among the nations where they went. They did not respect my name anymore and that made Me very sad.’
I will put my Spirit in you
22‘That is why you must tell the Israelites: “The Lord God says: Israelites, I am going to do something, but I am not doing it to help you. No, I will do it to make my name holy again, because you made my name impure among the nations where you went. 23I will show the nations how holy my great name is, my name that you have made impure among the nations. They will know that I am the Lord when I show them that I am the holy God.” ’ This is what the Lord God said.
24‘I will take you from among the nations. I will take you from all the lands and I will bring you back to your own land. 25I will sprinkle water on you and the water will make you pure. I will take away everything that has made you impure and all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will take the hard heart of stone out of your body and I will give you a soft heart of flesh. 27I will put my Spirit in you and I will make you live as I want. I will cause you to do what I say.
28You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers. You will be my people and I will be your God. 29I will save you from everything that made you impure. I will talk to the wheat and I will make the wheat grow a lot. You will not become hungry again. 30I will tell the trees to have a lot of fruit and there will be a lot of wheat on your lands. You will not be hungry again and the other nations will never mock you again. 31You will remember how badly you lived before and you will remember the things that you did wrong. You will hate yourselves when you think of your sins and the things that you have done that I hate. 32I am doing this, but you must know that it is not because I am thinking of you or because you are good. No, Israelites, you must be ashamed and feel sorry for what you have done.’ This is what the Lord God said.
33The Lord God says: ‘I will purify you and I will forgive all your sins. On that day I will bring people to live in the towns and cities again. They will build the cities again, the cities that are only heaps of stones now. 34They will work on the lands again where people can not live now. People who pass by will never again see the land empty. 35They will say: “No one could have lived in this land before, but it has become like the Garden of Eden now. People have built the strong walls of the town again and they are living in the cities that were destroyed and where no one could live.” 36The nations who are left around you will know that I am the Lord who builds again cities that were destroyed, and who plants trees in the ground where no one could live. This is what I, the Lord, have said, and I will do it.’
37The Lord God says: ‘I will let the Israelites pray to Me and ask Me to bless them so that there will be more and more of them. I will do it, and there will be as many as a flock of sheep. 38They will be like the sheep and goats of the people that belong to Me, like the sheep and goats in Jerusalem when there is a holy feast. The cities that are heaps of stones now will be full of sheep and goats. People will know that I am the Lord.’
