Ezequiel 36

BLIVRE · Chapter 36/48

1E tu, filho do homem, profetiza ao os montes de Israel, e dize: Ó montes de Israel, ouvi a palavra do SENHOR.

2Assim diz o Senhor DEUS: Dado que o inimigo disse sobre vós: Ha, ha! Até os antigos lugares altos se tornaram propriedade nossa!

3Portanto profetiza, e dize: Assim diz o Senhor DEUS: Por isso, por terem vos desolado e devorado desde o redor, para que fôsseis possuídos pelo resto das nações, e fostes trazidos aos lábios dos fofoqueiros, à infâmia do povo,

4Por isso, ó montes de Israel, ouvi a palavra do Senhor DEUS: assim diz o Senhor DEUS aos montes e aos morros, às correntes e aos vales, às ruínas, aos lugares devastados, e às cidades abandonadas, que foram saqueadas e escarnecidas pelo resto das nações que há ao redor.

5Por isso assim diz o Senhor DEUS: Certamente no fogo do meu zelo falei contra o resto das nações, e contra todo Edom, que se apropriaram de minha terra por herança, com alegria de todo coração, com desprezo na alma, para que fosse saqueada.

6Portanto profetiza sobre a terra de Israel, e dize aos montes, aos morros, às correntes, e aos vales: Assim diz o Senhor DEUS: Eis que falei em meu zelo e em meu furor, porque levastes sobre vós a humilhação das nações.

7Por isso assim diz o Senhor DEUS: Eu prometo que as nações que estão ao redor de vós levarão sua humilhação sobre si mesmas.

8Porém vós, ó montes de Israel, produzireis vossos ramos, e dareis vosso fruto a meu povo Israel; porque logo virão.

9Porque eis que estou convosco; e me voltarei a vós, e sereis lavrados e semeados.

10E farei multiplicar homens sobre vós, a toda a casa de Israel, a ela toda; e as cidades serão habitadas, e as ruínas serão reedificadas.

11E multiplicarei homens e animais sobre vós; e se multiplicarão, e crescerão; e vos farei habitar como no passado, e vos farei melhor que em vossos princípios; e sabereis que eu sou o SENHOR.

12E farei andar homens sobre vós: o meu povo Israel; e eles te possuirão, e tu lhes serás sua herança, e nunca mais exterminarás seus filhos.

13Assim diz o Senhor DEUS: Dado que dizem de vós: Tu és devoradora de homens, e exterminadora dos filhos de teu povo,

14Por isso, não devorarás mais homens, e nem mais exterminarás os filhos de teus povos, diz o Senhor DEUS.

15E nunca mais te deixarei ouvir a vergonha dos povos, e nunca mais levarás sobre ti a humilhação das nações, nem mais exterminarás os filhos de teu povo, diz o Senhor DEUS.

16E veio a mim a palavra do SENHOR, dizendo:

17Filho do homem, quando a casa de Israel morava em sua terra, eles a contaminaram com seus caminhos e com suas ações; o caminho deles diante de mim foi como imundície de menstruada.

18Por isso derramei minha ira sobre eles, por causa do sangue que derramaram sobre a terra, e por causa de seus ídolos com que a contaminaram.

19E os dispersei pelas nações, e foram espalhados pelas terras; eu os julguei conforme seus caminhos e conforme seus atos.

20E quando chegaram às nações para onde foram, profanaram meu santo nome, pois deles se dizia: Estes são povo do SENHOR, e da terra dele saíram.

21Porém eu [os] poupei em favor a meu santo nome, o qual a casa de Israel profanou entre as nações para onde foram.

22Portanto dize à casa de Israel: Assim diz o Senhor DEUS: Eu não faço [isso] por vós, ó casa de Israel, mas sim por causa de meu santo nome, o qual vós profanastes entre as nações para onde fostes.

23Pois santificarei meu grande nome, que foi profanado entre as nações, o qual vós profanastes no meio delas; e as nações saberão que eu sou o SENHOR, diz o Senhor DEUS, quando eu for santificado em vós, diante de olhos delas.

24Porque eu vos tomarei das nações, e vos ajuntarei de todas as terras, e vos trarei para vossa própria terra.

25Então aspergirei água pura sobre vós, e sereis purificados; eu vos purificarei de todas vossas imundícies, e de todos os vossos ídolos.

26E vos darei um novo coração, e porei um novo espírito dentro de vós; e tirarei de vossa carne o coração de pedra, e vos darei um coração de carne.

27E porei meu Espírito dentro de vós, e farei com que andeis em meus estatutos, guardeis meus juízos, e [os] pratiqueis.

28E habitareis na terra que dei a vossos pais; e vós sereis meu povo, e eu serei vosso Deus.

29E eu vos livrarei de todas as vossas imundícies; e chamarei ao trigo, e o multiplicarei, e não vos darei fome.

30Também multiplicarei o fruto dos árvores, e o produto do campo, para que nunca mais recebais a humilhação da fome entre as nações.

31Então vos lembrareis de vossos maus caminhos, e de vossos atos que não foram bons; e tereis nojo de vós mesmos por vossas maldades, e por vossas abominações.

32Não faço [isto] por vós, diz o Senhor DEUS, notório vos seja; envergonhai-vos e humilhai-vos de vossos caminhos, ó casa de Israel.

33Assim diz o Senhor DEUS: No dia que vos purificar de todas as vossas maldades, então farei as cidades serem habitadas, e as ruínas serão reedificadas.

34E a terra assolada será lavrada, em lugar de ser assolada diante dos olhos de todos os que passavam;

35E dirão: Esta terra que era assolada ficou como o jardim do Éden; e as cidades abandonadas, assoladas e arruinadas estão fortalecidas [e] habitadas.

36Então as nações que restarem ao vosso redor saberão que eu, o SENHOR, reedifico as [cidades] destruídas, e replanto as assoladas; eu, o SENHOR, falei e farei.

37Assim diz o Senhor DEUS: Ainda permitirei serei buscado pela casa de Israel para lhes fazer isto: eu os multiplicarei de pessoas como a ovelhas.

38Tal como as ovelhas santificadas, como as ovelhas de Jerusalém em suas solenidades, assim também as cidades desertas serão cheias de rebanhos de pessoas; e saberão que eu sou o SENHOR.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God promises to restore the mountains of Israel, bringing the people back to the land, cleansing them with pure water, giving them a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone, and making the land flourish once again.

Explanation

After so many chapters of judgment against Israel and its neighboring nations, this is one of the book's first great chapters of full restoration. The promise of sprinkling with clean water (v. 25) as a symbol of spiritual cleansing, together with the new heart and God's own Spirit dwelling within the people (vv. 26-27), forms one of the clearest descriptions in the Old Testament of a deep inward transformation, not merely an outward one. It is worth noting that God states he does this 'not for your sake... but for the sake of my holy name' (v. 22), emphasizing that restoration flows from God's grace and character, not human merit. This passage is foundational for understanding later New Testament promises about a new covenant and a new spiritual birth.

Fun facts

  • The promise of a 'heart of flesh' and a 'new spirit' (v. 26) is cited by Christian theologians as one of the Old Testament's foundations for the concept of the new covenant, a central theme of Jesus' Last Supper (Luke 22:20).
  • The mention of the desolate land becoming 'like the garden of Eden' (v. 35) is one of the rare times the prophets use the image of the original paradise to describe the hope of future restoration.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezequiel 36:1Ezekiel is instructed to prophesy directly to ‘the mountains of Israel’ — the landscape itself is treated as a character, reinforcing that the promised restoration includes the land, not just the people.
  2. Ezequiel 36:2The accusation: the neighboring enemies celebrated having taken possession of ‘the ancient high places,’ Israel’s mountainous region, as though it were already their own inheritance.
  3. Ezequiel 36:3It acknowledges that the nations devoured and laid waste to Israel’s land, making it a byword for gossip and shame among the neighboring peoples.
  4. Ezequiel 36:4A formal summons directed at the whole landscape — mountains, valleys, abandoned cities — to hear the word God is about to announce.
  5. Ezequiel 36:5God declares indignation against the nations, especially Edom, which took Israel’s land with joy and contempt, like someone plundering without remorse.
  6. Ezequiel 36:6It repeats the reason for the divine indignation: the people of Israel bore the shame imposed by the neighboring nations, and that would not go unanswered.
  7. Ezequiel 36:7God swears, using the image of ‘lifting up mine hand’ (a gesture of oath-taking), that the very nations who mocked would bear their own shame.
  8. Ezequiel 36:8After chapters of judgment against the nations, the text turns to speak directly again to ‘the mountains of Israel’ — a poetic device treating the land itself as a character, promising that it would once more be cultivated and inhabited.
  9. Ezequiel 36:9A promise of God’s direct attention to the land: it would be plowed and sown again, a sign of renewed agricultural life after abandonment.
  10. Ezequiel 36:10A promise of repopulation: the cities would be inhabited again and the ruins rebuilt.
  11. Ezequiel 36:11An even broader promise: people and animals would multiply, and things would be better than they had been before the exile.
  12. Ezequiel 36:12The people of Israel themselves would possess the land again as an inheritance, no longer at risk of losing it again.
  13. Ezequiel 36:13It picks up on a negative reputation other nations gave the land: calling it ‘thou land devourest up men,’ perhaps because of its string of wars and disasters.
  14. Ezequiel 36:14A promise to reverse that negative reputation: the land would ‘devour men no more’ among its own inhabitants.
  15. Ezequiel 36:15The conclusion of this first part: an end to humiliation and shame before the other nations, closing the speech addressed to the mountains.
  16. Ezequiel 36:16The formula that opens a new section of the chapter, now explaining the underlying reason behind the whole exile.
  17. Ezequiel 36:17An unusual comparison: the people’s conduct in their own land is described as ritual impurity — the era’s language for something temporarily contaminated, not a judgment on the person being compared.
  18. Ezequiel 36:18The reason for the punishment: violence (shed blood) and idolatry had contaminated the land in God’s eyes.
  19. Ezequiel 36:19That is why the people were scattered among the nations, judged according to the very deeds they had committed.
  20. Ezequiel 36:20Even in exile the problem continued: the nations saw the scattered Jews and wrongly concluded that their God was weak — this ‘profaned’ God’s name among the peoples.
  21. Ezequiel 36:21That is why God decides to act, not because of the people’s merit, but to protect His own reputation before the other nations.
  22. Ezequiel 36:22‘I do not this for your sakes… but for mine holy name’s sake’ is one of the most candid verses in the book: the restoration that follows is not presented as a reward for good behavior, but as something God does for His own reasons.
  23. Ezequiel 36:23The central announcement: God would restore the honor of His own name before the nations, and this would happen through the visible restoration of Israel.
  24. Ezequiel 36:24A concrete promise picking up a theme from earlier chapters: gathering the people scattered among the nations and bringing them back to their own land.
  25. Ezequiel 36:25The promise of clean water, a new heart, and a new spirit repeats the idea already announced in 11:19 — the solution to the people’s constant rebellion is no longer an external law, it is an internal change that the text itself attributes to God’s own initiative, not to human effort.
  26. Ezequiel 36:26One of the most quoted verses in the book: the promise of ‘a new heart,’ exchanging the ‘stony heart,’ hard and unfeeling, for ‘an heart of flesh,’ capable of truly changing.
  27. Ezequiel 36:27God’s ‘spirit’ placed within the people is what would enable this change of behavior, allowing them to follow the commandments in a genuine way.
  28. Ezequiel 36:28The result of the inner change: living in the promised land, with the covenant relationship restored — ‘my people’ on one side, ‘your God’ on the other.
  29. Ezequiel 36:29A promise of material abundance: an end to the former impurities and the guarantee that the people would never lack for grain.
  30. Ezequiel 36:30It reinforces the promised agricultural abundance, doing away once and for all with the shame of famine the people felt before other nations.
  31. Ezequiel 36:31The expected reaction of the people to this restoration: remembering their own past wrongs and feeling genuine shame, out of recognition, not out of punishment.
  32. Ezequiel 36:32It repeats the theme of v.22: the restoration is not the people’s merit, and the shame they would feel looking back at their own past is appropriate.
  33. Ezequiel 36:33It connects the inner purification with the outward restoration: at the same moment of purification, the destroyed cities would be rebuilt.
  34. Ezequiel 36:34The land that had lain desolate would be cultivated again, reversing the image of abandonment described at the very start of the chapter.
  35. Ezequiel 36:35Comparing the restored land to ‘the garden of Eden’ closes a cycle of language already seen in chapters 28 and 31 — the idea of a lost and recovered paradise appears repeatedly in the book as an image of complete restoration.
  36. Ezequiel 36:36Even the neighboring nations would recognize God’s hand rebuilding what had been destroyed — the restoration works as a public testimony.
  37. Ezequiel 36:37The final promise: the people would grow in number, compared to a flock — God shows Himself willing to grant the people’s requests connected to this multiplication.
  38. Ezequiel 36:38The image of ‘the flock of Jerusalem’ at the religious feasts, when the city filled with people and animals, describes how the once-empty cities would be full again.

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