1 "You, Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD.
2 Thus says the Lord GOD: Because the enemy said about you, 'Aha! The ancient heights have become ours to possess,'
3 therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Precisely because they ravaged you and hounded you from all around, so that you became a possession of the rest of the nations, and you have become the talk of gossiping tongues and the slander of the people,
4 therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys, to the desolate wastes and the abandoned cities that have become plunder and a laughingstock to the rest of the nations around them;
5 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: In the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations and against all of Edom, who with wholehearted glee and scorn of soul claimed my land as their possession, so that its pasture would be plunder.
6 So prophesy about the land of Israel and say to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys, Thus says the Lord GOD: See, I have spoken in my jealousy and my wrath, because you have endured the taunts of the nations.
7 So thus says the Lord GOD: I raise my hand and swear that the nations around you will themselves endure their own taunts.
8 "But you, mountains of Israel, will put out your branches and bear your fruit for my people Israel, for they are soon to come home.
9 For I am on your side; I will turn toward you, and you will be plowed and sown.
10 I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, every bit of it; the cities will be lived in and the ruins rebuilt.
11 I will multiply man and beast on you, and they will increase and be fruitful. I will settle you as you were in earlier times and treat you better than at your beginning. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.
12 I will have people walk on you, my people Israel; they will possess you, you will be their inheritance, and you will never again leave them childless.
13 "Thus says the Lord GOD: Because people say to you, 'You devour men and leave your nations childless,'
14 therefore you will no longer devour men or leave your nations childless, declares the Lord GOD.
15 I will no longer let you hear the taunts of the nations; you will no longer bear the scorn of the peoples or make your nations stumble, declares the Lord GOD."
16 The word of the LORD came to me:
17 "Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own soil, they defiled it by their conduct and their deeds; in my sight their conduct was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.
18 So I poured out my wrath on them for the blood they had shed on the land and for the idols with which they had defiled it.
19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the lands; I judged them by their conduct and their deeds.
20 But wherever they went among the nations, they profaned my holy name, because it was said of them, 'These are the LORD's people, yet they had to leave his land.'
21 I was concerned for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
22 "So say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake that I am acting, house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.
23 I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. And the nations shall know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.
24 I will take you out of the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you to your own soil.
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; from all your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 I will put my Spirit within you and make you walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and carry them out.
28 You will live in the land 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 summon the grain and multiply it, and I will not lay famine on you.
30 I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will be disgusted with yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
32 It is not for your sake that I am acting, declares the Lord GOD; be sure of that. Be ashamed and confounded because of your ways, house of Israel.
33 "Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will resettle the cities, and the ruins will be rebuilt.
34 The desolate land will be farmed, instead of lying desolate before the eyes of everyone who passes by.
35 People will say, 'This land that lay desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the cities that were ruined, desolate and torn down are fortified and lived in.'
36 Then the nations left around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was torn down and replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.
37 "Thus says the Lord GOD: This too I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: I will make their men as numerous as a flock.
38 Like the flock for holy offerings, like the flocks of Jerusalem at her appointed feasts, so the ruined cities will be full of flocks of people. Then they shall know that I am the LORD."