WEBVTT 00:00:00.999 --> 00:00:03.700 Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:05.740 taking this journey together to read the Bible 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:08.980 in a year. Today's reading is from the book of 00:00:08.980 --> 00:00:14.400 Ezekiel, chapters 35 through 37. Chapter 35 Moreover, 00:00:14.839 --> 00:00:17.760 the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.719 of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:23.460 prophesy against it, and say to it, Thus says 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:26.980 the Lord God. Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:29.870 you. I will stretch out my hand against you and 00:00:29.870 --> 00:00:32.369 make you most desolate. I shall lay your cities 00:00:32.369 --> 00:00:35.210 waste, and you shall be desolate. Then you shall 00:00:35.210 --> 00:00:37.950 know that I am the Lord. Because you have had 00:00:37.950 --> 00:00:40.310 an ancient hatred and have shed the blood of 00:00:40.310 --> 00:00:42.689 the children of Israel by the power of the sword 00:00:42.689 --> 00:00:45.710 at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity 00:00:45.710 --> 00:00:48.509 came to an end, therefore as I live, says the 00:00:48.509 --> 00:00:51.829 Lord God, I will prepare you for blood, and blood 00:00:51.829 --> 00:00:54.509 shall pursue you. Since you have not hated blood, 00:00:54.729 --> 00:00:57.770 therefore blood shall pursue you. Thus I will 00:00:57.770 --> 00:01:00.590 make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from 00:01:00.590 --> 00:01:02.909 it the one who leaves and the one who returns. 00:01:03.210 --> 00:01:05.909 And I will fill its mountains with the slain. 00:01:06.090 --> 00:01:08.930 On your hills and in your valleys, and in all 00:01:08.930 --> 00:01:11.569 your ravines, those who are slain by the sword 00:01:11.569 --> 00:01:14.750 shall fall. I will make you perpetually desolate, 00:01:14.870 --> 00:01:17.629 and your cities shall be uninhabited. Then you 00:01:17.629 --> 00:01:20.349 shall know that I am the Lord. Because you have 00:01:20.349 --> 00:01:23.030 said, These two nations and these two countries 00:01:23.030 --> 00:01:25.959 shall be mine, and we will possess them. Although 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:28.480 the Lord was there, therefore as I live, says 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:31.159 the Lord God, I will do according to your anger 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:34.060 and according to the envy which you showed in 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:36.620 your hatred against them, and I will make myself 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:39.920 known among them when I judge you. Then you shall 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:42.599 know that I am the Lord. I have heard all your 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:44.799 blasphemies which you have spoken against the 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:47.439 mountains of Israel, saying, They are desolate, 00:01:47.620 --> 00:01:50.719 they are given to us to consume. Thus with your 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:53.340 mouth you have boasted against me and multiplied 00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:56.640 your words against me. I have heard them. Thus 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:26.430 says the Lord God, Thus says the Lord God, Because 00:02:26.430 --> 00:02:29.349 the enemy has said of you, Aha, the ancient heights 00:02:29.349 --> 00:02:32.349 have become our possession. Therefore prophesy 00:02:32.349 --> 00:02:35.310 and say, Thus says the Lord God, Because they 00:02:35.310 --> 00:02:38.050 made you desolate and swallowed you up on every 00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:40.610 side, so that you became the possession of the 00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:42.930 rest of the nations, and you are taken up by 00:02:42.930 --> 00:02:45.669 the lips of talkers and slandered by the people. 00:02:46.009 --> 00:02:48.610 Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word 00:02:48.610 --> 00:02:51.289 of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the 00:02:51.289 --> 00:02:54.069 mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys, 00:02:54.229 --> 00:02:57.110 the desolate wastes, and the cities that have 00:02:57.110 --> 00:02:59.889 been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery 00:02:59.889 --> 00:03:02.430 to the rest of the nations all around. Therefore, 00:03:02.490 --> 00:03:05.129 thus says the Lord God, surely I have spoken 00:03:05.129 --> 00:03:07.629 in my burning jealousy against the rest of the 00:03:07.629 --> 00:03:10.990 nations and against all Edom, who gave my land 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:13.770 to themselves as a possession with wholehearted 00:03:13.770 --> 00:03:17.069 joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its 00:03:17.069 --> 00:03:20.759 open country. Therefore prophesy concerning the 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:22.979 land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the 00:03:22.979 --> 00:03:25.800 hills, the rivers, and the valleys, Thus says 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:28.639 the Lord God, Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:31.719 and my fury, because you have borne the shame 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:34.020 of the nations. Therefore thus says the Lord 00:03:34.020 --> 00:03:37.599 God, I have raised my hand in an oath that surely 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.599 the nations that are around you shall bear their 00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:43.689 own shame. But you, O mountains of Israel, You 00:03:43.689 --> 00:03:46.449 shall shoot forth your branches and yield your 00:03:46.449 --> 00:03:49.349 fruit to my people Israel, for they are about 00:03:49.349 --> 00:03:52.449 to come. For indeed I am for you, and I will 00:03:52.449 --> 00:03:55.189 turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. 00:03:55.430 --> 00:03:58.349 I will multiply men upon you, all the house of 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:01.229 Israel, all of it, and the cities shall be inhabited 00:04:01.229 --> 00:04:04.689 and the ruins rebuilt. I will multiply upon you 00:04:04.689 --> 00:04:07.349 man and beast, and they shall increase and bear 00:04:07.349 --> 00:04:10.599 young. I will make you inhabited as in former 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:13.719 times and do better for you than at your beginnings. 00:04:13.939 --> 00:04:16.759 Then you shall know that I am the Lord. Yes, 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:19.420 I will cause men to walk on you, my people Israel. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:22.240 They shall take possession of you and you shall 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:24.860 be their inheritance. No more shall you bereave 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:28.360 them of children. Thus says the Lord God, Because 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:31.040 they say to you, you devour men and bereave your 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:33.639 nation of children, therefore you shall devour 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:36.279 men no more nor bereave your nation any more, 00:04:36.420 --> 00:04:39.300 says the Lord God. Nor will I let you hear the 00:04:39.300 --> 00:04:41.740 taunts of the nations any more, nor bear the 00:04:41.740 --> 00:04:44.560 reproach of the peoples any more, nor shall you 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:47.160 cause your nation to stumble any more, says the 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:49.660 Lord God. Moreover, the word of the Lord came 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:52.579 to me, saying, Son of man, when the house of 00:04:52.579 --> 00:04:55.360 Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:58.439 it by their own ways and deeds. To me their way 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:01.100 was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary 00:05:01.100 --> 00:05:04.430 impurity. Therefore I poured out my fury on them 00:05:04.430 --> 00:05:07.569 for the blood they had shed on the land, and 00:05:07.569 --> 00:05:10.069 for their idols with which they had defiled it. 00:05:10.230 --> 00:05:12.790 So I scattered them among the nations, and they 00:05:12.790 --> 00:05:15.449 were dispersed throughout the countries. I judged 00:05:15.449 --> 00:05:18.029 them according to their ways and their deeds. 00:05:18.290 --> 00:05:20.670 When they came to the nations, wherever they 00:05:20.670 --> 00:05:23.629 went, they profaned my holy name, when they said 00:05:23.629 --> 00:05:26.509 of them, These are the people of the Lord, and 00:05:26.509 --> 00:05:29.730 yet have gone out of his land. But I had concern 00:05:29.730 --> 00:05:32.259 for my holy name. which the house of Israel had 00:05:32.259 --> 00:05:34.560 profaned among the nations wherever they went. 00:05:34.939 --> 00:05:37.459 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says 00:05:37.459 --> 00:05:40.360 the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake, 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.279 O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, 00:05:43.540 --> 00:05:45.980 which you have profaned among the nations wherever 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:48.680 you went. And I will sanctify my great name, 00:05:48.819 --> 00:05:51.579 which has been profaned among the nations, which 00:05:51.579 --> 00:05:54.220 you have profaned in their midst. And the nations 00:05:54.220 --> 00:05:56.439 shall know that I am the Lord. says the Lord 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:59.540 God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. 00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:02.660 For I will take you from among the nations, gather 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:04.759 you out of all countries, and bring you into 00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:07.439 your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:10.160 on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:12.879 you from all your filthiness and from all your 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.620 idols. I will give you a new heart and put a 00:06:15.620 --> 00:06:18.060 new spirit within you. I will take the heart 00:06:18.060 --> 00:06:20.939 of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart 00:06:20.939 --> 00:06:23.910 of flesh. i will put my spirit within you and 00:06:23.910 --> 00:06:26.790 cause you to walk in my statutes and you will 00:06:26.790 --> 00:06:29.389 keep my judgments and do them then you shall 00:06:29.389 --> 00:06:31.709 dwell in the land that i gave to your fathers 00:06:31.709 --> 00:06:34.529 you shall be my people and i will be your god 00:06:34.529 --> 00:06:37.069 i will deliver you from all your uncleanness 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.079 I will call for the grain and multiply it, and 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:42.579 bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:45.000 the fruit of your trees and the increase of your 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:47.860 fields, so that you need never again bear the 00:06:47.860 --> 00:06:50.439 reproach of famine among the nations. Then you 00:06:50.439 --> 00:06:52.920 will remember your evil ways and your deeds that 00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:55.339 were not good. And you will loathe yourselves 00:06:55.339 --> 00:06:58.620 in your own sight for your iniquities and your 00:06:58.620 --> 00:07:01.699 abominations. Not for your sake do I do this, 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:04.620 says the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:07.560 ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:10.660 of Israel. Thus says the Lord God, On the day 00:07:10.660 --> 00:07:13.019 that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:15.480 I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:18.680 and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:21.720 land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate 00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:24.360 in the sight of all who pass by. So they will 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:27.920 say, This land that was desolate has become like 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:30.519 the garden of Eden, and the wasted, desolate, 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:33.939 and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:37.240 Then the nations which are left all around you 00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:40.300 shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the 00:07:40.300 --> 00:07:43.100 ruined places and planted what was desolate. 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:46.000 I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:48.779 Thus says the Lord God, I will also let the house 00:07:48.779 --> 00:07:51.600 of Israel inquire of me to do this for them. 00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:55.220 I will increase their men like a flock offered 00:07:55.220 --> 00:07:58.800 as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:01.980 on its feast days. So shall the ruined cities 00:08:01.980 --> 00:08:04.699 be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall 00:08:04.699 --> 00:08:10.839 know that I am the Lord. Chapter 37 The hand 00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:13.660 of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in 00:08:13.660 --> 00:08:15.899 the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the 00:08:15.899 --> 00:08:18.220 midst of the valley. And it was full of bones. 00:08:18.540 --> 00:08:21.019 Then he caused me to pass by them all around, 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:23.660 and behold, there were very many in the open 00:08:23.660 --> 00:08:27.000 valley, and indeed they were very dry. And he 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:29.420 said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? 00:08:29.740 --> 00:08:33.419 So I answered, O Lord God, you know. Again he 00:08:33.419 --> 00:08:35.659 said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say 00:08:35.659 --> 00:08:38.600 to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 00:08:38.860 --> 00:08:41.740 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Surely 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:44.559 I will cause breath to enter into you, and you 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.379 shall live. I will put sinews on you, and bring 00:08:47.379 --> 00:08:50.200 flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:52.799 put breath in you, and you shall live. Then you 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:55.679 shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:58.700 as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:01.440 was a noise, and suddenly a rattling, and the 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.419 bones came together bone to bone. Indeed, as 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:07.120 I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:09.720 them, and the skin covered them over, but there 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:12.840 was no breath in them. Also he said to me, Prophesy 00:09:12.840 --> 00:09:15.820 to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:18.779 to the breath, Thus says the Lord God, Come from 00:09:18.779 --> 00:09:21.200 the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:24.200 slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:26.919 he commanded me, and breath came into them, and 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:29.620 they lived, and stood upon their feet an exceedingly 00:09:29.620 --> 00:09:33.159 great army. Then he said to me, Son of man, these 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:35.779 bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed 00:09:35.779 --> 00:09:39.259 say, Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:42.289 we ourselves are cut off. Therefore prophesy 00:09:42.289 --> 00:09:45.370 and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, 00:09:45.370 --> 00:09:48.090 O my people, I will open your graves and cause 00:09:48.090 --> 00:09:50.769 you to come up from your graves and bring you 00:09:50.769 --> 00:09:53.129 into the land of Israel. Then you shall know 00:09:53.129 --> 00:09:55.909 that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, 00:09:56.029 --> 00:09:58.809 O my people, and brought you up from your graves. 00:09:58.950 --> 00:10:01.490 I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, 00:10:01.649 --> 00:10:04.429 and I will place you in your own land. Then you 00:10:04.429 --> 00:10:07.009 shall know that I the Lord have spoken it and 00:10:07.009 --> 00:10:10.799 performed it, says the Lord. Again the word of 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:13.200 the Lord came to me, saying, As for you, son 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.759 of man, take a stick for yourself and write on 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:18.379 it, for Judah and for the children of Israel 00:10:18.379 --> 00:10:21.200 his companions. Then take another stick and write 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:24.460 on it, for Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for 00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:27.100 all the house of Israel his companions. Then 00:10:27.100 --> 00:10:29.899 join them one to another for yourself into one 00:10:29.899 --> 00:10:32.480 stick, and they will become one in your hand. 00:10:33.049 --> 00:10:34.970 And when the children of your people speak to 00:10:34.970 --> 00:10:37.370 you, saying, Will you not show us what you mean 00:10:37.370 --> 00:10:39.870 by these? Say to them, Thus says the Lord God, 00:10:40.149 --> 00:10:42.710 Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which 00:10:42.710 --> 00:10:44.750 is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of 00:10:44.750 --> 00:10:47.429 Israel, his companions, and I will join them 00:10:47.429 --> 00:10:50.230 with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them 00:10:50.230 --> 00:10:53.330 one stick, and they will be one in my hand. And 00:10:53.330 --> 00:10:55.830 the sticks on which you write will be in your 00:10:55.830 --> 00:10:58.940 hand before their eyes. Then say to them, Thus 00:10:58.940 --> 00:11:01.379 says the Lord God, Surely I will take the children 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:04.139 of Israel from among the nations, wherever they 00:11:04.139 --> 00:11:06.740 have gone, and will gather them from every side 00:11:06.740 --> 00:11:09.539 and bring them into their own land. And I will 00:11:09.539 --> 00:11:11.879 make them one nation in the land, on the mountains 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:15.080 of Israel, and one king shall be king over them 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:18.419 all. They shall no longer be two nations, nor 00:11:18.419 --> 00:11:20.480 shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:23.769 again. They shall not defile themselves any more 00:11:23.769 --> 00:11:26.450 with their idols, nor with their detestable things, 00:11:26.710 --> 00:11:29.590 nor with any of their transgressions. But I will 00:11:29.590 --> 00:11:32.029 deliver them from all their dwelling places in 00:11:32.029 --> 00:11:34.250 which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. 00:11:34.370 --> 00:11:37.470 Then they shall be my people, and I will be their 00:11:37.470 --> 00:11:40.929 God. David my servant shall be king over them, 00:11:41.029 --> 00:11:43.590 and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall 00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:46.669 also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, 00:11:46.690 --> 00:11:49.360 and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:52.139 that I have given to Jacob my servant, where 00:11:52.139 --> 00:11:54.480 your fathers dwelt. And they shall dwell there, 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:57.240 they, their children, and their children's children, 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:00.399 forever. And my servant David shall be their 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:03.240 prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:05.580 of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting 00:12:05.580 --> 00:12:08.419 covenant with them. I will establish them and 00:12:08.419 --> 00:12:10.980 multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in 00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:14.299 their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall 00:12:14.299 --> 00:12:17.379 be with them. Indeed, I will be their God. and 00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:20.399 they shall be my people. The nations also will 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:23.639 know that I the Lord sanctify Israel when my 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:32.019 sanctuary is in their midst forevermore. I hope 00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:33.879 you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, 00:12:34.019 --> 00:12:35.980 and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow 00:12:35.980 --> 00:12:38.460 to continue on our journey. God bless you and 00:12:38.460 --> 00:12:39.159 have a great day.