WELS Through my Bible in Three Years

Ezekiel 40:48 – 41:26 (EHV)

48 Next he brought me to the vestibule of the temple building. [1] He measured each doorpost of the vestibule: five cubits [2] on either side. The width of the gate was ⎣fourteen cubits. [3] The sides of the gate were⎦ three cubits [4] on either side. [5] 49 The length of the vestibule was twenty cubits, and its width was eleven cubits. [6] One entered it by ten [7] steps, and there were pillars by the doorposts, one on either side.

1 Then he brought me to the outer room of the sanctuary [8] and measured the doorposts, six cubits [9] wide on either side. This was the width of the Tent. [10] 2 The width of the entrance was ten cubits, [11] and the side walls of the entrance were five cubits [12] on either side. Then he measured the outer room’s length, forty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits. [13]

3 Then he entered the inner room of the sanctuary [14] and measured the doorposts of its entrance, two cubits, and the width of the entrance was six cubits, and the side walls of the entrance were seven cubits on either side. [15] 4 He measured its length, twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits, [16] the same as the width of the outer room. Then he said to me, “This is the Holy of Holies.”

5 Next he measured the wall of the temple building. It was six cubits thick, and the width of each side room was four cubits. The side rooms [17] ran all around the temple. 6 The side rooms were stacked on top of one another, in three stories, with thirty rooms in each story. The floors of the side rooms rested on ledges attached to the wall of the temple all the way around, so that the supports for the rooms would not cut into the temple wall itself. 7 The side rooms all around the temple became wider as one went up from story to story, because their supporting ledges in the wall of the temple ascended like steps. Therefore, the width of the interior of the attached structure increased as one went up from the lowest story to the highest by way of the middle story. [18]

8 I saw a raised platform all around the temple that served as a foundation for the side rooms. The terrace built on this foundation, measured by a full rod, was six long cubits tall. [19] 9 The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits. The open area [20] between the side rooms attached to the temple 10 and the other rooms on the other side of the inner courtyard was twenty cubits wide [21] all around the temple. 11 There were entrances into the side rooms from the open area, one entrance on the north side, one on the south. The width of the terrace [22] bordering the open area was five cubits all around. [23]

12 The building [24] on the far side of the restricted area [25] on the western side of the temple was seventy cubits wide. [26] The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits. [27]

13 Then he measured the temple building. Its length was one hundred cubits. [28] The restricted area and the building with its walls also had a length of one hundred cubits. 14 The width of the area in front of the temple, including the restricted areas east of the temple, was one hundred cubits as well. 15 He also measured the length of the building facing the restricted area at the rear of the temple, along with its balconies on either side. It was one hundred cubits.

The outer and inner rooms of the sanctuary, [29] the vestibules of the courtyard, 16 the thresholds, and the windows with slanting frames, as well as the balconies around the three sides, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all the way around, from the floor to the upper windows, and the windows were covered with lattices. [30] 17 The paneling extended up to the space above the entrance, both in the inner and outer sanctuary. On all the walls all around, in both the inner and outer sanctuary, there were geometric patterns, [31] 18 carved cherubim, and decorations like palms. There was a palm decoration between each cherub and its neighbor. Each cherub had two faces: 19 the face of a man turned toward the palm on one side and the face of a lion turned toward the palm on the other side. They were carved all around the whole temple. 20 From the floor up to the space above the entrance, cherubim and palms were carved, even on the walls of the outer room of the sanctuary. [32] 21 As for the outer room of the sanctuary, its doorposts were square, and the front of the Holy of Holies had the same design.

22 The altar was made of wood, three cubits high. Its length was two cubits, and its width was two cubits. [33] Its corners, its base, [34] and its sides were also of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”

23 Both the outer room of the sanctuary and the Holy of Holies had double doors. 24 The doors had two leaves apiece, two folding leaves—two for one door and two leaves for the other door. 25 Carved on the doors of the outer room there were cherubim and palm decorations, like those carved on the walls. Outside there was a wooden canopy in front of the vestibule. 26 There were also windows narrowing toward the inside and palm decorations on both side walls of the vestibule. The side rooms of the temple also had canopies.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ezekiel 40:1-47 (EHV)

1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, [2] on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me there. 2 In visions of God, he brought me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. On the south side there was a structure that resembled a city. 3 When he brought me there, I saw a man who looked as if he were made of bronze. In his hand he had a linen cord and a measuring rod. He was standing by the gatehouse.

4 The man said to me, “Son of man, watch carefully, listen carefully, and pay attention to [3] everything that I am about to show you, because you were brought here so that I could show it to you. Report everything you see to the house of Israel.”

5 I saw a wall [4] all the way around the temple compound. In the man’s hand was the measuring rod, six cubits long (using the long cubit). [5] When he measured the thickness of the structure, it was one rod thick, and its height was one rod.

6 Then he approached the gatehouse [6] that was on the east side of the temple compound and went up its steps. He measured the threshold of the gate. It was one rod deep. [7] 7 Each guardroom [8] was one rod wide and one rod deep. Between the guardrooms, the walls were five cubits thick, [9] and the threshold of the gate of the vestibule [10] on the inner side of the gatehouse was one rod deep. 8 ⎣He measured the vestibule on the inner side of the gatehouse. It was one rod.⎦ [11]

9 He measured the vestibule of the gatehouse, which was eight cubits, [12] and its gateposts were two cubits. The vestibule of the gatehouse was located at the inner end of the gateway. 10 Inside the east gatehouse, there were three guardrooms on either side of the entry. All three were the same size, and the gateposts on either side were also the same size. 11 Then he measured the width of the entry into the gateway. It was ten cubits, and the length of the gateway was thirteen cubits. [13] 12 There was a barrier in front of the guardrooms, one cubit wide, on both sides of the passage. Each guardroom was six cubits square. [14]

13 Next he measured the passageway through the gatehouse, from the outside edge of the ceiling of one guardroom to the outside edge of the ceiling opposite it. The total width was twenty-five cubits. [15] The doorways to the guardrooms were facing each other on each side of the passageway. 14 He determined that the measurement of the gateposts was sixty cubits, [16] and the courtyard all around the gateway reached to the gateposts. [17] 15 From the front of the outer entrance of the gateway to the outside edge of the vestibule on the inner side of the gateway was fifty cubits. [18] 16 The guardrooms and their doorposts had openings on all sides. The openings were slits that were narrower toward the inside of the gate, and likewise, the vestibule had openings that narrowed toward the inside all the way around. [19] The doorposts had decorations like palm trees.

17 Then he brought me into the outer courtyard. There were rooms and a pavement constructed all the way around the courtyard. Thirty rooms faced the pavement. [20] 18 The pavement ran along the sides of the gates. The pavement was as wide as the length of the gatehouse. This was the lower pavement. 19 He measured the width of the pavement from the inside edge of the outer gatehouse to the outside edge of the inner courtyard. It measured one hundred cubits [21] on the east and on the north sides of the temple.

20 There was a gateway leading into the outer courtyard on the north side. The man measured its length and its width. 21 Its guardrooms, three on each side, its gateposts, and its vestibule had the same measurements as the first gatehouse, fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 22 The entry, the vestibule, and its palm decorations also had the same measurements as those of the gatehouse facing east. From outside the temple compound one could enter the gate by seven steps, and the vestibule of the gateway was straight ahead at the inner end of the gateway.

23 A gateway into the inner courtyard was opposite the outer gatehouse (the same as on the east side), and he measured from the outer gate to the inner one opposite it. The distance was one hundred cubits. [22]

24 Next, he led me toward the south, and there also was a gatehouse on the south side of the temple compound. He measured its gateposts and its vestibule, and the measurements were like the others. 25 It and its vestibule had openings all around like the openings of the others. Its length was fifty cubits and its width was twenty-five cubits. 26 It had seven steps going up to it, and its vestibule was straight ahead of them at the opposite end of the gateway, and it had palm decorations on either side on its gateposts. 27 The inner courtyard also had a gateway facing south. He measured from one gate to the other toward the south. It was one hundred cubits.

28 Then he brought me into the inner courtyard through its south gate. [23] He measured this gatehouse on the south side of the inner courtyard. Its measurements were like those of the previous gatehouses. 29 Its guardrooms, gateposts, and vestibule had the same measurements as the others. Both the gatehouse and the vestibule had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

30 There were vestibules on each side of the inner courtyard. They were twenty-five cubits long and five cubits wide. [24] 31 The vestibule of the inner gatehouse faced the outer courtyard. There were palm decorations on its gateposts, and its stairway had eight steps.

32 Next he brought me into the inner courtyard through the gate facing east. He measured the gatehouse, and its dimensions were the same as the others. 33 Its guardrooms, gateposts, and vestibule were the same size as the others. It and its vestibule had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 34 Its vestibule faced the outer court, and there were palm decorations on its gateposts on either side. Its stairs had eight steps.

35 Then he brought me to the north gatehouse and measured it. It had the same measurements as the others. 36 This was also true of its guardrooms, its gateposts, and its vestibule. It had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 37 Its vestibule faced the outer courtyard, and there were palm decorations on its gateposts on either side. Its stairway had eight steps.

38 There was a room with a door, next to the gateposts at each of the inner gateways, [25] where they washed the burnt offering. [26]

39 Inside the vestibule of the gateway, on each side, there were two tables upon which to slaughter the whole burnt offering, the sin offering, and the restitution offering. 40 Next to the outside wall of the vestibule, as one goes toward the entrance of the north gateway, there were two more tables. Next to the other outside wall of the vestibule of the gateway were two more tables. 41 That is, there were four tables on one side and four on the other side of the gateway—eight tables on which they were to slaughter the sacrifices.

42 Four more tables for the burnt offering were made of hewn stone. They were one and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one cubit high. On them they placed the instruments with which they slaughtered the burnt offering and the other sacrifices. 43 Double-pronged hooks, each a handbreadth [27] long, were fastened to the building all around, but the meat for the sacrifice was placed on the tables.

44 Just outside of the inner gateway, in the inner courtyard, were two rooms, [28] one beside the north gate, which faced south, and the other beside the south [29] gate, which faced north. 45 He said to me, “This room that faces south is for the priests who guard the temple, 46 and the room that faces north is for the priests who guard the altar. They are descendants of Zadok, the only Levites who may approach the Lord to minister to him.”

47 Then he measured the courtyard. [30] It was one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide [31]—a square. The altar was in front of the temple.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ezekiel 39 (EHV)

1 Now you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say this.

This is what the Lord says to you. I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshek, and Tubal. 2 I will turn you around. I will show you the way. I will lead you up from the remotest regions of the north, and I will bring you against the mountains of Israel. 3 But there I will knock your bow out of your left hand, and I will make your arrows fall from your right hand. 4 On the mountains of Israel you will fall—you, all your troops, and the peoples who are with you. I will give you as food to scavenging birds of every kind and to the wild animals. 5 In the open country you will fall, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 6 I will also send fire on Magog and on those who live in security on the coastlands. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

7 I will make my holy name known among my people Israel. I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore, and the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 8 It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken. 9 Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out and set the weapons on fire and burn the small shields and large shields, bows and arrows, clubs and spears. They will use them as firewood for seven years. 10 They will not take wood from the open country or gather it from the forests because they will use the weapons as firewood. They will loot those who looted them and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord God.

11 On that day I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, in the valley used by those who travel east toward the sea, [1] and it will block the way for travelers. There they will bury Gog and all his horde and call it the Valley of Gog’s Horde. 12 The house of Israel will spend seven months burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land of Israel will join in burying them, and it will bring honor to them on that day when I display my glory, declares the Lord God. 14 In addition, they will assign men to work full-time, passing through the land together with others, to bury those who are left on the surface of the ground in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months, they will still be searching. 15 Whenever those who pass through the land see a human bone, they will set up a marker beside it until the burial squad has buried it in the Valley of Gog’s Horde. 16 So the name of a city there will be Hamonah. [2] In this way they will cleanse the land.

17 This is what the Lord God says to you, son of man. Speak to the birds, to every winged creature, and to all the wild animals. Tell them this.

Assemble yourselves and come. From all around gather yourselves to my sacrificial meal, which I am preparing for you as a sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel. You will eat meat and drink blood. 18 You will eat the meat of warriors and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, like rams and lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fattened animals from Bashan. 19 You will eat fat until you are full and drink blood until you are drunk from my sacrificial meal, which I have prepared for you. 20 At my table you will be filled with horses and charioteers, with warriors and soldiers of every kind, declares the Lord God.

21 In this way I will establish my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see my justice which I have carried out and my hand which I have laid upon them. 22 The house of Israel will know from that day forward that I am the Lord, their God. 23 Then the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile because of their guilt, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their rebellion, and I hid my face from them.

25 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. Now I will bring about the restoration of Jacob. I will have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. 26 They will bear their shame and all the unfaithfulness that they displayed toward me, even when they lived securely in their own land with no one to make them afraid. 27 When I bring them back from the nations and gather them from the lands of their enemies, I will show myself to be holy among them in the sight of many nations. 28 They will know that I am the Lord their God, because, even though I sent them into captivity among the nations, I also gathered them again to their own land, and I will never again leave any of them there in captivity. 29 Nor will I ever hide my face from them again, because I will have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ezekiel 38 (EHV)

1 The word of the Lord came to me.

2 Son of man, set your face against Gog from the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, [1] Meshek, and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say this.

This is what the Lord God says. I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshek, and Tubal. [2] 4 I will turn you around. I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will bring you out with your entire army, horses and horsemen, all of them magnificently arrayed, a vast horde [3] armed with body shields and hand shields, all of them wielding swords. 5 Persia, Cush, and Libya [4] are with them, all of them with hand shields and helmets, 6 also Gomer and all its troops, Beth Togarmah from the remotest regions of the north and all its troops—many peoples will be with you. 7 Ready yourself. Prepare yourself, you and your whole horde that is gathered around you, and keep watch over them. 8 After many days you will be summoned to come together. In the latter years you will invade a land that was restored from the ravages of the sword, whose population had been gathered from among many peoples, back to the mountains of Israel, which had been lying in ruins for a long time. Its population had been brought out from among the peoples, and all of them were now living securely. 9 You will come up like a devastating storm. You will come up like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.

10 This is what the Lord God says. On that day plans will come into your mind, and you will plot an evil scheme. 11 You will say, “I will go up against a land of unwalled villages. I will attack the peaceful people who live in security, all of them living without walls, with neither bars nor gates. 12 I will attack in order to seize spoils and carry off plunder, to assault resettled ruins and to attack people returned from the nations, people who are acquiring livestock and other property, people who live at the center [5] of the earth.”

13 Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all its leaders [6] will say to you, “Have you come to seize spoils? Have you gathered your horde to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and other property, to seize a large amount of spoils?”

14 Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say this to Gog. This is what the Lord God says. On that day, when my people Israel are dwelling securely, you will be aware of that, won’t you? 15 So you will come from your place, from the remotest regions of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. 16 You will come up against my people Israel like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days this will happen. I will bring you against my land so that the nations will know me when I use you to reveal myself as holy in front of their eyes, O Gog.

17 This is what the Lord God says. Are you the one I spoke about in earlier days through my servants, the prophets of Israel? In those days didn’t they prophesy for many years that I would bring you against Israel? 18 On that day when Gog comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, my wrath will be evident on my face. 19 In my zeal and the fire of my fury, I have spoken. I swear that there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel on that day. 20 All of these will quake in my presence: the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the animals in the open country, every creeping thing that creeps on the ground, and every human being on the face of the earth. The mountains will be overthrown. The hillside terraces will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 I will summon against Gog a sword upon all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 I will judge him with plague and with bloodshed. I will rain down torrential rain, hailstones, and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many peoples who are with him. 23 In this way I will show myself to be great, and I will show myself to be holy, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ezekiel 37 (EHV)

1 The hand of the Lord was upon me. He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, which was full of bones. 2 He had me pass through them and go all over among them. There were very many on the valley floor, and they were very dry.

3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these dry bones live?” [1] I answered, “Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’”

5 This is what the Lord God says to these bones.

I am about to make breath [2] enter you so that you will live. 6 I will attach tendons to you. I will put flesh back on you. I will cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I was prophesying there was a noise, a rattling, as the bones came together, one bone connecting to another. 8 As I watched, tendons were attached to them, then flesh grew over them, and skin covered them. But there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the wind. [3] Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind that this is what the Lord God says. From the four winds, come, O wind, and breathe into these slain so that they may live.”

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me. Breath entered them, and they came back to life. They stood on their feet, a very, very large army.

11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up. Our hope is lost. We have been completely cut off.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them that this is what the Lord God says. My people, I am going to open your graves and raise you up from your graves and bring you back to the soil of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. I will settle you on your own land, and you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.”

15 The word of the Lord came to me.

16 Now you, son of man, take one piece of wood and write on it: “Belonging to Judah and belonging to the people of Israel associated with him.” Then take another piece of wood and write on it: “Belonging to Joseph, Ephraim’s piece of wood, and the whole house of Israel associated with him.” 17 Then hold one piece of wood close to the other to make a single board for yourself, so that they are one in your hand.

18 When your countrymen say to you, “Won’t you tell us what you mean by these things?” 19 you tell them, “This is what the Lord God says. I am going to take the piece of wood which is in the hand of Ephraim, which is for Joseph and for the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will attach it to the piece of wood for Judah. In this way I will make them one board, so that they will be one in my hand.” 20 The boards on which you will write should be in your hand in front of their eyes.

21 Then say this to them. This is what the Lord God says. I am going to take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from all around, and I will bring them to their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king for all of them. Never again will they be two nations, and never again will they be divided into two kingdoms. 23 Never again will they defile themselves with their filthy idols, with their disgusting practices, and with all their rebellious actions. I will save them from all their backsliding by which they have sinned, [4] and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

24 My servant David will be King over them, and they will all have one Shepherd. They will follow my ordinances and be conscientious about keeping my statutes. 25 They will live on the land I gave my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live there permanently—they, their children, and their grandchildren—and my servant David will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them, and I will multiply them and set my sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My Dwelling Place will be over them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy when my holy place is in their midst forever.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ezekiel 36:16-38 (EHV)

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 by their actions. To me their conduct was as unclean as the blood of a woman’s period. 18 So I poured out my wrath on them because of the blood they had poured on the ground and because of the filthy idols [1] with which they had defiled it, 19 and I scattered them among the nations so that they were dispersed among the countries. On the basis of their conduct and their actions I judged them. 20 Then when they came to the various nations, they profaned my holy name when people said about them, “These are the people of the Lord, but they had to leave his land.” 21 So I was concerned about my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the various nations to which they had come.

22 Therefore, say this to the house of Israel. This is what the Lord God says. I am about to act, O house of Israel, not for your sake, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you have gone. 23 I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when I reveal myself as holy in front of their eyes through you. 24 I will take you from among the nations. I will gather you from all the lands, and I will bring you to your own soil. 25 I will sprinkle purifying water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurity and from all your filthy idols.

26 Then I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my Spirit within you and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will carefully observe my ordinances. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your impurity. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful. I will not bring famine upon you. 30 I will increase the fruit on the trees and the produce in the fields, so that you will never again suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves on account of your guilty deeds and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I am about to act, declares the Lord God. Let this be known to you! Be ashamed and embarrassed because of your ways, O house of Israel.

33 This is what the Lord God says. On the day that I cleanse you from all your guilty deeds, I will resettle your cities, and the ruins will be rebuilt. 34 The desolate land will be cultivated instead of remaining desolate in the sight of every passerby. 35 People will say, “This land that was devastated has become like the Garden of Eden, and the cities that were ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.” 36 Then the nations that remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the places that were destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.

37 This is what the Lord God says. I will also allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them. I will multiply them so their people are like flocks. 38 Like flocks consecrated for sacrifice, like the flocks of Jerusalem on its festival days, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ezekiel 35:1 – 36:15 (EHV)

1 The word of the Lord came to me. 2 Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it. 3 Say this to it.

This is what the Lord God says. I am against you, Mount Seir. I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolate wasteland. 4 I will make your cities ruins, and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

5 Because you cherished an ancient hatred and turned the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of their final punishment, 6 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will subject you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you. Because you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. 7 I will make Mount Seir a desolate wasteland and cut off from it all those who flee from it and want to return. [1] 8 I will fill its mountains with its slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your streambeds, those who have been run through by the sword will fall. 9 I will make you desolate forever, and your cities will not be re-inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

10 Because you said, “These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them, even though the Lord was there,” 11 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will treat you as you deserve for your anger and for your jealousy which you held against these two nations in your hostility, and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. 12 Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the contemptuous statements that you uttered against the mountains of Israel: “They have been devastated and given to us for food.” 13 With your mouth you made proud boasts against me and heaped up arrogant words against me. I have heard it myself. 14 This is what the Lord God says. While the whole world celebrates, I will make you a desolation. 15 Because you celebrated when you took possession of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I deal with you. Mount Seir, you will be desolate, along with all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

1 Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say this.

Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.

2 This is what the Lord God says.

Because the enemy said about you, “Aha! At last! The ancient heights have become our possession,” 3 you are to prophesy and say, “This is what the Lord God says.”

Because they have devastated and crushed you from all sides, so that you would become the possession of the rest of the nations and a subject of people’s gossip and slander, 4 therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. This is what the Lord God says to the mountains, hills, valleys, ravines, desolate ruins, and abandoned cities, which have become a source of plunder and are subjected to ridicule by the rest of the nations all around.

5 So, this is what the Lord God says. Without fail, in my fiery zeal I am speaking against the rest of the nations and against all of Edom, because they took my land as their own with whole-hearted glee and deep-seated contempt, and they occupied its pastureland. 6 Therefore, prophesy about the land of Israel and say to the mountains, hills, valleys, and ravines: This is what the Lord God says. In my zeal and wrath I am speaking because you have endured the taunts of the nations.

7 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. I swear with an uplifted hand that the nations all around you will endure taunts against them. 8 But you, O mountains of Israel, will shoot forth your branches and bear your fruit for my people Israel, because they will soon come back. 9 Yes, I am on your side. I will look on you with favor, and your land will be cultivated and planted. 10 I will multiply people for you, for the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be resettled and the ruins rebuilt. 11 I will multiply both people and animals on you. They will multiply and be fruitful. I will resettle you as you were in earlier times and do more good for you than I did when you began. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 12 I will cause people, my people Israel, to walk over you. They will take possession of you. You will become their inheritance, and never again will you deprive them of their children.

13 This is what the Lord God says. Because some people say to you, “You devour your people and keep on depriving your nations [2] of their children,” 14 therefore, you will no longer devour your people or deprive your nations of their children, declares the Lord God. 15 No longer will I let you hear the taunts of the nations or endure the scorn of the peoples. Never again will you deprive your nations of their children, declares the Lord God.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ezekiel 34 (EHV)

1 The word of the Lord came to me.

2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds that this is what the Lord God says.

Woe to you, shepherds of Israel, who have been shepherding for themselves. Aren’t shepherds supposed to shepherd for the benefit of the sheep? 3 You eat the fat. [1] You wear the wool. You slaughter the fattened ones—but you do not shepherd the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak. You have not healed the sick. You have not bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays, and you have not searched for the lost. Instead you have abused them with force and with violence. 5 So they scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep scattered and 6 wandered all over the mountains and on every high hill. Over the face of the whole earth, my flock was scattered, with no one looking for them and no one searching for them.

7 Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. 8 As surely as I live, declares the Lord God, because my flock has become plunder, and because my flock has become food for all the wild animals, because they have no shepherd and my shepherds did not concern themselves about my flock, but the shepherds took care of themselves instead of taking care of my flock, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.

10 This is what the Lord God says. I am against the shepherds. Watch! I will remove my flock from their hand. I will remove them from taking care of the sheep, and no longer will those shepherds take care of themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, so that they will no longer be food for them.

11 For this is what the Lord God says. Here I am. I myself will seek the welfare of my flock and carefully search for them. 12 As a shepherd searches for his flock when his sheep that were with him have been scattered, so I will search for my flock and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own soil. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the settlements of the land. 14 I will lead them into good pasture, and their grazing land will be on the high mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and they will pasture on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will shepherd my flock. I myself will let them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured. I will strengthen the weak. I will destroy the fat and the strong, and I will shepherd them with justice.

17 What about you, my flock? This is what the Lord God says. I am going to judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. 18 Isn’t it enough for you that you feed on the good pasture? Must you trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? Isn’t it enough that you drink the clear water? Must you muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Then my flock has to feed on what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have muddied. 20 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them. I myself am going to judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep. 21 Because you have shoved them with your side and shoulder and butted all the weak ones with your horns, until you scattered them abroad, 22 I will save my flock so that they will not become plunder anymore. In this way I will judge between one sheep and another.

23 Then I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he will tend them. My servant David will tend them, and he will be their shepherd. 24 I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be the prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken. 25 Then I will establish a covenant of peace with them, and I will rid the land of wild animals, so they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.

26 I will make them and the area around my hill a blessing. I will send the rain showers down in their season. They will be showers of blessing. 27 The trees in the field will yield their fruit, and the earth will yield its produce. They will be secure on their own land and know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 No more will they be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in security, with no one to make them afraid. 29 I will establish for them farmland famous for its crops, so that they will no longer be carried off by famine that is taking place in the land. They will no longer bear the scorn of the nations. 30 They will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. 31 You are my flock of sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and you are my people, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ezekiel 33 (EHV)

1 The word of the Lord came to me. 2 Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say this to them.

When I bring a sword against a land, and the people of the land appoint one man from their midst as their watchman, 3 and that man sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the ram’s horn to warn the people, 4 then if anyone who hears the sound of the ram’s horn does not heed the warning, and as a result the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the ram’s horn, but he did not take warning, so his own blood is on him. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life.

6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming but does not blow the ram’s horn, and as a result the people are not warned, then if the sword comes and takes one of them away, that man has been taken away because of his own guilt, but I will also hold the watchman responsible for his blood.

7 But I have appointed you, son of man, to be a watchman for the house of Israel. So whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you are to warn them from me. 8 When I say to a wicked man, “Wicked man, you shall surely die,” if you do not speak to warn the wicked man against his way, that wicked man will die because of his guilt, but I will also hold you responsible for his blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die because of his guilt, but you will have saved your life.

10 So you, son of man, say the following to the house of Israel.

This is what you people are saying: “Certainly our rebellion and our sins weigh us down, and because of them we are rotting away. How then can we live?” 11 Say to them, “As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from their way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why should you die, O house of Israel?”

12 So you, son of man, also say this to your countrymen.

The righteousness of a righteous man will not save him on the day that he rebels, and the wickedness of a wicked man will not cause him to stumble on the day that he turns away from his wickedness. Likewise, a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day that he sins.

13 When I say about the righteous man, “He will surely live,” but he then trusts in his own righteousness and does unrighteous things, all of his righteous acts will no longer be remembered, and he will die because of [1] the unrighteous things he does.

14 Or when I say to the wicked man, “You will surely die,” and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness— 15 if that wicked man returns the collateral paid to him for a loan, returns what he has stolen, walks in the laws that lead to life, and so avoids doing unrighteous things—he will surely live. He will not die. 16 All of the evil acts he committed will not be remembered against him. Since he has practiced justice and righteousness, he will certainly live.

17 Yet, your countrymen are saying, “The Lord’s way is not fair,” although it is actually their way that is not fair. 18 When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and does unrighteous things, he will die in them. 19 But when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live through them. 20 So, even though you say, “The Lord’s way is not fair,” I will judge each one of you according to his own ways, O house of Israel.

21 In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, [2] on the fifth day of the month, a refugee from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen.” 22 Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the survivor came, and the Lord had opened my mouth, so by the time the refugee came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer unable to speak.

23 The word of the Lord came to me.

24 Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, “Abraham was only one man, and he took possession of the land. We are many, and certainly the land has been given to us as a possession.”

25 Therefore, say this to them. This is what the Lord God says. You eat meat with the blood still in it. You raise your eyes to your filthy idols. You shed blood, and still you think you will possess the land? 26 You depend on your sword. You commit abominations. Each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife, and still you think you will possess the land?

27 This is what you are to say to them. This is what the Lord God says. As I live, those who are in the ruins will fall by the sword, and I will give anyone in the open country to the wild animals to eat, and those in strongholds and caves will die by the plague. 28 I will make the land a desolate wasteland. Its arrogant strength will cease, and the mountains of Israel will be so desolate that no one will travel through them. 29 Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I make the land a desolate wasteland because of all the abominable things they have committed.

30 What about you, son of man? Your countrymen, who are talking with each other about you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses, say to one another, each one to a neighbor, “Come now and hear what the word is that is coming from the Lord.” 31 They come to you as a group on behalf of the people, [3] and they sit in front of you as if they were my people. They listen to your words but refuse to act on them, because they prefer to use their mouths for obscene talk, and their hearts pursue their wrongful gain. 32 You see, to them you are like someone who sings erotic songs with a beautiful voice, who is an excellent musician. So they listen to your words, but they are not obeying them. 33 But when this comes—and come it will—they will know that a prophet has been among them.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Psalms 89:38-52 (EHV)

38 But you have rejected, you have cast off,

52 Blessed be the Lord forever!

Amen and Amen.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

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