EZEKIEL Chapter 20:30-49 - Judgment And Restoration

Judgment And Restoration

30 'Therefore say to the House of Israel:

'THIS IS WHAT THE SOVEREIGN LORD SAYS:

Will you Defile yourselves the way your fathers did

And Lust after their Vile Images?

31 When you Offer your Gifts--

THE SACRIFICE OF YOUR SONS IN THE FIRE--

You continue to Defile yourselves

With all your Idols to this day.

AM I TO LET YOU INQUIRE OF ME, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL?

32 'YOU SAY, WE WANT TO BE LIKE THE NATIONS,

LIKE THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD,

WHO SERVE WOOD AND STONE.'

But what you have in mind will never happen,

33 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord,

I WILL RULE OVER YOU WITH A MIGHTY HAND

AND OUTSTRETCHED ARM AND OUTPOURING WRATH.

34 I will bring you from the Nations

And gather you from the Countries where you have been Scattered--

WITH A MIGHTY OUTSTRETCHED ARM AND OUTPOURING WRATH.

35 I will bring you into the Desert of the Nations

AND THERE, FACE TO FACE,

I WILL EXECUTE JUDGMENT ON YOU.

36 As I Judged your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt,

So I will Judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord.

37 I will take note of you as you pass under My Staff,

AND I WILL BRING YOU INTO THE BOND OF THE COVENANT.

38 I WILL PURGE YOU OF THOSE WHO REVOLT AND REBEL AGAINST ME.

Although I bring them out of the land where they are living,

Yet they will not enter the land of Israel.

THEN YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD.

39 'As for you, O House of Israel,

THIS IS WHAT THE SOVEREIGN LORD SAYS:

Go and serve your Idols, every one of you!

But afterward you will surely listen to Me

And no longer Profane My Holy Name with your Gifts and Idols.

40 For on My Holy Mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord,

There in the Land the entire House of Israel

Will serve Me, and there I will accept them.

There I will require your Offerings and Choice Gifts,

Along with all your Holy Sacrifices.

I will accept you as Fragrant Incense

WHEN I BRING YOU OUT FROM THE NATIONS

AND GATHER YOU FROM THE COUNTRIES

WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN SCATTERED,

AND I WILL SHOW MYSELF HOLY AMONG YOU

IN THE SIGHT OF THE NATIONS.

42 THEN YOU WILL KNOW I AM THE LORD,

WHEN I BRING YOU INTO THE LAND OF ISRAEL,

THE LAND I HAD SWORN WITH UPLIFTED HAND

TO GIVE TO YOUR FATHERS.

43 There you will remember your Conduct

And all the Actions by which you have Defiled yourselves,

And you will Loathe yourselves for all the Evil you have done.

44 YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD,

When I deal with you for My Name's Sake

And not according to your Evil Ways

And of your Corrupt Practices, O House of Israel,

Declares the Sovereign Lord.'

Prophecy Against The South

45 The Word of the Lord came to me:

'Son of man, set your face toward the South;

Preach against the South;

And Prophesy against the forest of the Southland.

47 Say to the Southern forest:

'HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD.

THIS IS WHAT THE SOVEREIGN LORD SAYS:

I am about to set fire to you,

And it will consume all your trees, both green and dry.

The Blazing Flame will not be quenched,

And every face from south to north will be Scorched by it.

48 Everyone will see that I the Lord have Kindled it;

It will not be quenched.'

49 Then I said, 'Ah, Sovereign Lord!

They are saying of me,

'ISN'T HE JUST TELLING PARABLES?'

(Ezekiel 20: 30-49)