Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Ezekiel, chapters 35 through 37. Chapter 35 Moreover,
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son
of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and
prophesy against it, and say to it, Thus says
the Lord God. Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against
you. I will stretch out my hand against you and
make you most desolate. I shall lay your cities
waste, and you shall be desolate. Then you shall
know that I am the Lord. Because you have had
an ancient hatred and have shed the blood of
the children of Israel by the power of the sword
at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity
came to an end, therefore as I live, says the
Lord God, I will prepare you for blood, and blood
shall pursue you. Since you have not hated blood,
therefore blood shall pursue you. Thus I will
make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from
it the one who leaves and the one who returns.
And I will fill its mountains with the slain.
On your hills and in your valleys, and in all
your ravines, those who are slain by the sword
shall fall. I will make you perpetually desolate,
and your cities shall be uninhabited. Then you
shall know that I am the Lord. Because you have
said, These two nations and these two countries
shall be mine, and we will possess them. Although
the Lord was there, therefore as I live, says
the Lord God, I will do according to your anger
and according to the envy which you showed in
your hatred against them, and I will make myself
known among them when I judge you. Then you shall
know that I am the Lord. I have heard all your
blasphemies which you have spoken against the
mountains of Israel, saying, They are desolate,
they are given to us to consume. Thus with your
mouth you have boasted against me and multiplied
your words against me. I have heard them. Thus
says the Lord God, Thus says the Lord God, Because
the enemy has said of you, Aha, the ancient heights
have become our possession. Therefore prophesy
and say, Thus says the Lord God, Because they
made you desolate and swallowed you up on every
side, so that you became the possession of the
rest of the nations, and you are taken up by
the lips of talkers and slandered by the people.
Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word
of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the
mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys,
the desolate wastes, and the cities that have
been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery
to the rest of the nations all around. Therefore,
thus says the Lord God, surely I have spoken
in my burning jealousy against the rest of the
nations and against all Edom, who gave my land
to themselves as a possession with wholehearted
joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its
open country. Therefore prophesy concerning the
land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the
hills, the rivers, and the valleys, Thus says
the Lord God, Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy
and my fury, because you have borne the shame
of the nations. Therefore thus says the Lord
God, I have raised my hand in an oath that surely
the nations that are around you shall bear their
own shame. But you, O mountains of Israel, You
shall shoot forth your branches and yield your
fruit to my people Israel, for they are about
to come. For indeed I am for you, and I will
turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.
I will multiply men upon you, all the house of
Israel, all of it, and the cities shall be inhabited
and the ruins rebuilt. I will multiply upon you
man and beast, and they shall increase and bear
young. I will make you inhabited as in former
times and do better for you than at your beginnings.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord. Yes,
I will cause men to walk on you, my people Israel.
They shall take possession of you and you shall
be their inheritance. No more shall you bereave
them of children. Thus says the Lord God, Because
they say to you, you devour men and bereave your
nation of children, therefore you shall devour
men no more nor bereave your nation any more,
says the Lord God. Nor will I let you hear the
taunts of the nations any more, nor bear the
reproach of the peoples any more, nor shall you
cause your nation to stumble any more, says the
Lord God. Moreover, the word of the Lord came
to me, saying, Son of man, when the house of
Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled
it by their own ways and deeds. To me their way
was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary
impurity. Therefore I poured out my fury on them
for the blood they had shed on the land, and
for their idols with which they had defiled it.
So I scattered them among the nations, and they
were dispersed throughout the countries. I judged
them according to their ways and their deeds.
When they came to the nations, wherever they
went, they profaned my holy name, when they said
of them, These are the people of the Lord, and
yet have gone out of his land. But I had concern
for my holy name. which the house of Israel had
profaned among the nations wherever they went.
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says
the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake,
O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake,
which you have profaned among the nations wherever
you went. And I will sanctify my great name,
which has been profaned among the nations, which
you have profaned in their midst. And the nations
shall know that I am the Lord. says the Lord
God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.
For I will take you from among the nations, gather
you out of all countries, and bring you into
your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water
on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse
you from all your filthiness and from all your
idols. I will give you a new heart and put a
new spirit within you. I will take the heart
of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart
of flesh. i will put my spirit within you and
cause you to walk in my statutes and you will
keep my judgments and do them then you shall
dwell in the land that i gave to your fathers
you shall be my people and i will be your god
i will deliver you from all your uncleanness
I will call for the grain and multiply it, and
bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply
the fruit of your trees and the increase of your
fields, so that you need never again bear the
reproach of famine among the nations. Then you
will remember your evil ways and your deeds that
were not good. And you will loathe yourselves
in your own sight for your iniquities and your
abominations. Not for your sake do I do this,
says the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be
ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house
of Israel. Thus says the Lord God, On the day
that I cleanse you from all your iniquities,
I will also enable you to dwell in the cities,
and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate
land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate
in the sight of all who pass by. So they will
say, This land that was desolate has become like
the garden of Eden, and the wasted, desolate,
and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.
Then the nations which are left all around you
shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the
ruined places and planted what was desolate.
I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.
Thus says the Lord God, I will also let the house
of Israel inquire of me to do this for them.
I will increase their men like a flock offered
as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem
on its feast days. So shall the ruined cities
be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall
know that I am the Lord. Chapter 37 The hand
of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in
the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the
midst of the valley. And it was full of bones.
Then he caused me to pass by them all around,
and behold, there were very many in the open
valley, and indeed they were very dry. And he
said to me, Son of man, can these bones live?
So I answered, O Lord God, you know. Again he
said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say
to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Surely
I will cause breath to enter into you, and you
shall live. I will put sinews on you, and bring
flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and
put breath in you, and you shall live. Then you
shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied
as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there
was a noise, and suddenly a rattling, and the
bones came together bone to bone. Indeed, as
I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon
them, and the skin covered them over, but there
was no breath in them. Also he said to me, Prophesy
to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say
to the breath, Thus says the Lord God, Come from
the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these
slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as
he commanded me, and breath came into them, and
they lived, and stood upon their feet an exceedingly
great army. Then he said to me, Son of man, these
bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed
say, Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and
we ourselves are cut off. Therefore prophesy
and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold,
O my people, I will open your graves and cause
you to come up from your graves and bring you
into the land of Israel. Then you shall know
that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves,
O my people, and brought you up from your graves.
I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live,
and I will place you in your own land. Then you
shall know that I the Lord have spoken it and
performed it, says the Lord. Again the word of
the Lord came to me, saying, As for you, son
of man, take a stick for yourself and write on
it, for Judah and for the children of Israel
his companions. Then take another stick and write
on it, for Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for
all the house of Israel his companions. Then
join them one to another for yourself into one
stick, and they will become one in your hand.
And when the children of your people speak to
you, saying, Will you not show us what you mean
by these? Say to them, Thus says the Lord God,
Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which
is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of
Israel, his companions, and I will join them
with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them
one stick, and they will be one in my hand. And
the sticks on which you write will be in your
hand before their eyes. Then say to them, Thus
says the Lord God, Surely I will take the children
of Israel from among the nations, wherever they
have gone, and will gather them from every side
and bring them into their own land. And I will
make them one nation in the land, on the mountains
of Israel, and one king shall be king over them
all. They shall no longer be two nations, nor
shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms
again. They shall not defile themselves any more
with their idols, nor with their detestable things,
nor with any of their transgressions. But I will
deliver them from all their dwelling places in
which they have sinned, and will cleanse them.
Then they shall be my people, and I will be their
God. David my servant shall be king over them,
and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall
also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes,
and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land
that I have given to Jacob my servant, where
your fathers dwelt. And they shall dwell there,
they, their children, and their children's children,
forever. And my servant David shall be their
prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant
of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting
covenant with them. I will establish them and
multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in
their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall
be with them. Indeed, I will be their God. and
they shall be my people. The nations also will
know that I the Lord sanctify Israel when my
sanctuary is in their midst forevermore. I hope
you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did,
and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow
to continue on our journey. God bless you and
have a great day.