“You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: You mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh.
This is what the Lord Yahweh says: Because the enemy has said against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The ancient high places are ours in possession,’
therefore prophesy, and say: This is what the Lord Yahweh says: Because, yes, because they have made you desolate and crushed you from every side so that you became a possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the subject on the lips of talkers and the evil report of the people,
therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: This is what the Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken and that have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations that are all around you;
Therefore this is what the Lord Yahweh says: Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who have taken my land as a possession for themselves with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, so that its pastureland became plunder.
Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys: This is what the Lord Yahweh says: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have suffered the insults of the nations,
therefore this is what the Lord Yahweh says: I myself have lifted up my hand and sworn, saying: Surely the nations that are around you, they will suffer their shame.
But you, mountains of Israel, you will shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home.
For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be tilled and sown;
and I will multiply people on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities will be inhabited, and the waste places will be built,
and I will multiply on you people and animals, and they will increase and be fruitful, and I will cause you to be inhabited as you once were, and will do better for you than at your beginnings, and you will know that I am Yahweh.
Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel, and they will take possession of you and you will be their inheritance, and you will no more henceforth bereave them of children.
This is what the Lord Yahweh says: Because they say to you, ‘You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation,’
therefore you will devour men no more, nor bereave your nation any more, says the Lord Yahweh,
nor will I let you hear any more the shame of the nations, nor will you bear the reproach of the peoples any more, nor will you cause your nation to stumble any more, says the Lord Yahweh.”
The Lord's Concern for His Holy Name
Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
“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 like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.
Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood that they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols,
and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their way and according to their deeds I judged them.
When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, ‘These are the people of Yahweh, and yet they had to go out of his land.’
But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
I Will Put My Spirit Within You
Therefore tell the house of Israel: This is what the Lord Yahweh says: I do not do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.
I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them, and the nations will know that I am Yahweh, says the Lord Yahweh, when I show myself to be holy through you before their eyes.
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.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit inside you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh.
I will put my spirit inside you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my ordinances and do them.
You will live in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you will be my people and I will be your God.
I will save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.
I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the increase of the fields so that you will no longer suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
Then you will remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and for your abominations.
It is not for your sake that I will do this, says the Lord Yahweh, let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.
This is what the Lord Yahweh 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.
The land that was desolate will be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the eyes of all who passed by.
They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’
Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, Yahweh, have rebuilt the ruined places, and replanted what was desolate; I, Yahweh, have spoken it and I will do it.
This is what the Lord Yahweh says: For this also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: I will increase them—the people—like a flock of sheep.
Like the flock for sacrifice, like the flock in Jerusalem at her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of people, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”