The big picture
After condemning a hostile neighbour, God speaks through Ezekiel to the mountains of Israel, his people's homeland. The land has endured conquest and scorn, but its fields and towns will receive people again. God also recalls why he scattered them: bloodshed and idols had defiled their home. Return will serve his holy name rather than reward their past conduct. He promises cleansing, a new heart, and his Spirit within them. Restored farms and houses will accompany a changed bond with God.
In this chapter
- The Mocked Mountains Hear God’s Answer Ezekiel 36:1-7
Ezekiel must speak to mountains, hills, rivers, valleys, ruined towns, and empty ground.
- Fields and Towns Receive Life Again Ezekiel 36:8-15
The mountains will grow branches and fruit for the people who are nearing their return.
- God Defends the Name His People Dishonoured Ezekiel 36:16-23
God recalls the people's conduct at home as defiling the land, using an image from menstrual ritual impurity.
- Cleansing and a New Heart Enable Obedience Ezekiel 36:24-28
God will gather the people from the nations and bring them home.
- Plentiful Food Does Not Erase Remembered Guilt Ezekiel 36:29-32
God will rescue the people from uncleanness and call for abundant grain.
- Rebuilt Towns Make the Promise Visible Ezekiel 36:33-38
God will cleanse the people and let them live in rebuilt towns.
Central truth
God restores the ruined land and changes his people's hearts for his holy name, while their remembered sins leave no ground for boasting.
Scripture beside the summary
Ezekiel · King James Version · 38Ezekiel 36:1-7
The Mocked Mountains Hear God’s Answer
Ezekiel must speak to mountains, hills, rivers, valleys, ruined towns, and empty ground. Enemies have claimed the old heights and made the land a subject of mockery. God answers in jealous anger against the surrounding nations and Idumea, a hostile neighbouring land. They have seized what he calls his land with contempt and joy. He swears that those neighbours will bear shame themselves. The address treats the ruined landscape as the hearer of a promise. Its emptiness and disgrace will not give outsiders the final word about its future.
In everyday life
A returning allotment holder reads taunts painted on the abandoned gate before the landowner arrives with a plan to restore the plots. The neglected ground has become an object of contempt, but that contempt does not settle its future. They begin removing the damaged sign. God claims and restores a people's homeland, not a private gardening site.
Notice
Ezekiel 36:5 God calls the contested land his own. The neighbours' joyful claim to possess it is therefore answered as an offence against him, not merely against absent residents.
Ezekiel 36:1-7
King James Version1Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:
2Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:
3Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:
4Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith 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 residue of the heathen that are round about;
5Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:
7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.
Ezekiel 36:8-15
Fields and Towns Receive Life Again
The mountains will grow branches and fruit for the people who are nearing their return. God is for the land and will turn towards it. Fields will be ploughed and sown, towns lived in, and ruins rebuilt. People and animals will multiply, with better conditions than at the beginning. The people will inherit the land, which will no longer bear a name for devouring its inhabitants. Shame from surrounding nations will end. The promise reaches the ground's use and reputation together: it will support life instead of being known through repeated loss.
In everyday life
A horticulture student pushes a seed drill along a cleared strip of a once-abandoned community farm. Nearby, workers fit windows into the empty cottages. The field and homes are being prepared together because a settlement needs both food and shelter. God promises his people's return and an end to the land's reproach, not only a restoration project.
Notice
Ezekiel 36:9 God says he is for the land before describing ploughing and sowing. The return of useful work is tied to his changed action towards it, not only human effort.
Ezekiel 36:8-15
King James Version8But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.
9For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye 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 builded:
11And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
12Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men.
13Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations;
14Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord GOD.
15Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 36:16-23
God Defends the Name His People Dishonoured
God recalls the people's conduct at home as defiling the land, using an image from menstrual ritual impurity. Bloodshed and idols brought his anger and their scattering among nations. Abroad, their condition led others to speak of the Lord's people as driven from his land, dishonouring his name. He will act for that name, not because the people deserve restoration. Other nations will know him when he reveals his holiness through them. The promise of return does not deny the cause of exile. It answers the dishonour connected with his people's public condition.
In everyday life
A guild leader restores a neglected training hall after former members misused it and brought the guild's name into contempt. The repair honours the guild's commitment to its craft without declaring the old conduct acceptable. She posts that reason beside the work schedule. God's holy name and covenant people carry a claim no craft association can match.
Notice
Ezekiel 36:22 God explicitly denies that the restoration is for the people's merits. His concern for his name explains why their return is promised after their conduct has been condemned.
Ezekiel 36:16-23
King James Version16Moreover 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 removed woman.
18Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
19And I scattered them among the heathen, 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 heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
21But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
22Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
23And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
Ezekiel 36:24-28
Cleansing and a New Heart Enable Obedience
God will gather the people from the nations and bring them home. He promises clean water to remove the defilement of their idols. A new heart and spirit will replace the heart pictured as stone with one pictured as living flesh. He will put his own Spirit within them and enable obedience to his commands. They will dwell in the land and belong to him as his people. Christians differ in how directly they connect the cleansing water with baptism. Here the water and changed heart belong together within God's promise to make his people clean and responsive.
In everyday life
A rehabilitation gardener replaces a sealed, hardened bed with living soil that can receive water and sustain roots. Fresh seed alone would not have solved the old ground's refusal to absorb what it needed. She waters the opened surface. God gives people a new heart and his Spirit, not a physical soil condition that a gardener can change.
Notice
Ezekiel 36:27 God promises his Spirit within the people and connects that gift to keeping his commands. Return to the land is joined to change within its inhabitants.
Ezekiel 36:24-28
King James Version24For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye 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 an heart of flesh.
27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Ezekiel 36:29-32
Plentiful Food Does Not Erase Remembered Guilt
God will rescue the people from uncleanness and call for abundant grain. Fruit and field crops will increase, ending famine and its shame among other nations. In that renewed plenty, the people will remember their evil ways and loathe what they did. God repeats that he does not act because of their merit. They must be ashamed of the conduct he has named. The promise is not designed to make them feel that the past was harmless. Food, cleansing, and honest memory will coexist in the life he gives back.
In everyday life
A restored cooperative member receives a share of a good harvest. He pauses over the ledger of supplies he once withheld from others. Receiving enough does not make his earlier conduct less wrong. He signs for the share without claiming he earned the renewed welcome. God provides cleansing and plenty for his name, not a cooperative's decision to readmit a member.
Notice
Ezekiel 36:31 Remembering evil comes after promised rescue and abundance. The renewed life does not depend on forgetting the past or calling former acts good.
Ezekiel 36:29-32
King James Version29I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, 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 ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
31Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
32Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.
Ezekiel 36:33-38
Rebuilt Towns Make the Promise Visible
God will cleanse the people and let them live in rebuilt towns. They will farm the land that passers-by saw lying waste. Observers will compare it to Eden, God's garden, and see defended cities full of residents. Remaining neighbours will know that the Lord rebuilds and plants. He will also hear his people's requests and increase them like flocks gathered at Jerusalem, their worship centre, during festivals. Empty towns will fill with people. The chapter closes with a visible answer to the old desolation and a renewed knowledge of who has done it.
In everyday life
The former evacuee walks through her reopened town past planted gardens and lit windows where visitors once photographed empty shells. A neighbour points out children entering the restored school. The change can be seen without a publicity banner. God pledges this rebuilding as his own work and a sign to nations, not merely a successful civic recovery.
Notice
Ezekiel 36:37 God promises to be sought by his people for this increase. His declared intention and their asking appear together, rather than one making the other unnecessary.
Ezekiel 36:33-38
King James Version33Thus saith 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 wastes shall be builded.
34And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
35And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
36Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.
37Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired 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.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Ezekiel 36:1 begins with “Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:”
Where the chapter turns
Ezekiel 36:21 forms a natural hinge: “But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.”
The final note
Ezekiel 36:38 leaves the reader with “As 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…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words LORD, heathen, Israel, land, desolate, house help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- heathen
- The surrounding nations outside the people’s covenant with God.
- corn
- Grain crops generally, rather than maize alone.
- fenced
- Protected by walls or defences, as a fortified town.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
