Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 388
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IMMERSE
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PROPHETS
36:8-26
Sovereign Lord says: I have taken a solemn oath that those nations will
soon have their own shame to endure.
“But the mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit for my
people—for they will be coming home again soon! See, I care about you,
and I will pay attention to you. Your ground will be plowed and your crops
planted. I will greatly increase the population of Israel, and the ruined cit
ies will be rebuilt and filled with people. I will increase not only the people,
but also your animals. O mountains of Israel, I will bring people to live
on you once again. I will make you even more prosperous than you were
before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I will cause my people
to walk on you once again, and you will be their territory. You will never
again rob them of their children.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The other nations taunt you,
saying, ‘Israel is a land that devours its own people and robs them of their
children!’ But you will never again devour your people or rob them of their
children, says the Sovereign Lord. I will not let you hear those other na
tions insult you, and you will no longer be mocked by them. You will not
be a land that causes its nation to fall, says the Sovereign Lord.”
Then this further message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, when
the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by the evil
way they lived. To me their conduct was as unclean as a woman’s men
strual cloth. They polluted the land with murder and the worship of idols,
so I poured out my fury on them. I scattered them to many lands to punish
them for the evil way they had lived. But when they were scattered among
the nations, they brought shame on my holy name. For the nations said,
‘These are the people of the Lord, but he couldn’t keep them safe in his
own land!’ Then I was concerned for my holy name, on which my people
brought shame among the nations.
“Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign
Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing
it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were
scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is—the
name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal
my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord,
then the nations will know that I am the Lord. For I will gather you up
from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your
filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will
give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your
