1 En jy, mensekind, profeteer tot die berge van Israel en sê: Berge van Israel, hoor die woord van die HERE!
2 So sê die Here HERE: Omdat die vyand ha, ha! oor julle roep; en: Die ewige hoogtes het vir ons 'n besitting geword! --
3 daarom profeteer en sê: So spreek die Here HERE: Omdat, ja, omdat hulle julle van alle kante verwoes en vertrap het, sodat julle vir die oorblyfsel van die nasies 'n besitting kan wees, en julle in opspraak gekom het en deur die mense beskinder is --
4 daarom, o berge van Israel, hoor die woord van die Here HERE. So spreek die Here HERE tot die berge en die heuwels, tot die klowe en die dale, tot die verwoeste puinhope en die verlate stede wat 'n buit en 'n spot geword het vir die oorblyfsel van die nasies wat rondom is --
5 daarom, so sê die Here HERE: Waarlik, in die vuur van my ywer spreek Ek teen die oorblyfsel van die nasies en teen die hele Edom wat my land vir hulleself as besitting bestem het -- in volle vreugde van die hart, met diepste veragting -- sodat die weiveld daarvan 'n buit sou wees.
6 Daarom, profeteer oor die land van Israel, en spreek tot die berge en die heuwels, tot die klowe en die dale: So spreek die Here HERE: Kyk, Ek spreek in my ywer en in my grimmigheid, omdat julle die smaad van die nasies gedra het.
7 Daarom, so sê die Here HERE, hef Ek my hand op: Waarlik, die nasies wat rondom julle is -- hulle sal hul smaad dra.
8 Maar julle, o berge van Israel, sal jul takke gee en jul vrugte dra vir my volk Israel; want hulle koms is naby.
9 Want kyk, Ek kom na julle en wend My na julle toe, en julle sal bewerk en besaai word.
10 En Ek sal mense op julle vermenigvuldig, die hele huis van Israel, almal saam; en die stede sal bewoon en die puinhope opgebou word.
11 Ja, Ek sal mense en diere op julle vermenigvuldig, en hulle sal vermenigvuldig en vrugbaar wees; en Ek sal julle laat bewoon soos in jul voortyd en aan julle weldoen meer as in julle vroeër dae, en julle sal weet dat Ek die HERE is.
12 En Ek sal mense op julle laat loop, my volk Israel; en hulle sal jou in besit neem, en jy sal vir hulle 'n erfenis wees en hulle verder nie meer kinderloos maak nie.
13 So spreek die Here HERE: Omdat hulle vir julle sê: 'n Menseter is jy en een wat sy eie nasie kinderloos maak --
14 daarom sal jy nie meer mense opeet en jou nasie nie meer laat struikel nie, spreek die Here HERE.
15 En Ek sal nie meer teen jou laat hoor die skimp van die nasies nie, en die smaad van die volke sal jy nie meer dra nie; en jy sal jou nasie nie meer laat struikel nie, spreek die Here HERE.
16 Verder het die woord van die HERE tot my gekom en gesê:
17 Mensekind, toe die huis van Israel in hulle land gewoon het, het hulle dit verontreinig met hul wandel en met hul handelinge; hulle wandel was voor my aangesig soos die besoedeling van die maandelikse onreinheid.
18 Daarom het Ek my grimmigheid oor hulle uitgegiet, vanweë die bloed wat hulle in die land vergiet het, terwyl hulle dit met hul drekgode verontreinig het.
19 En Ek het hulle verstrooi onder die nasies en hulle is versprei in die lande; Ek het hulle geoordeel volgens hul wandel en hul handelinge.
20 En toe hulle by die nasies kom waarheen hulle getrek het, het hulle my heilige Naam ontheilig deurdat van hulle gesê is: Hierdie mense is die volk van die HERE, en hulle moes uit sy land uittrek.
21 Toe het dit My ter harte gegaan om my heilige Naam ontwil wat die huis van Israel ontheilig het onder die nasies waar hulle gekom het.
22 Daarom, sê vir die huis van Israel: So spreek die Here HERE: Ek doen dit nie om julle ontwil nie, o huis van Israel, maar ter wille van my heilige Naam wat julle ontheilig het onder die nasies waar julle gekom het.
23 En Ek sal my grote Naam heilig wat onder die nasies ontheilig is, wat julle onder hulle ontheilig het; en die nasies sal weet dat Ek die HERE is, spreek die Here HERE, as Ek My in julle voor hul oë as die Heilige laat ken.
24 En Ek sal julle uit die nasies gaan haal en julle uit al die lande bymekaar laat kom, en Ek sal julle in jul land bring.
25 Dan sal Ek skoon water op julle giet, sodat julle rein kan word; van al jul onreinhede en van al jul drekgode sal Ek julle reinig.
26 En Ek sal julle 'n nuwe hart gee en 'n nuwe gees in jul binneste gee; en Ek sal die hart van klip uit julle vlees wegneem en julle 'n hart van vlees gee.
27 En Ek sal my Gees in jul binneste gee en sal maak dat julle in my insettinge wandel en my verordeninge onderhou en doen.
28 En julle sal woon in die land wat Ek aan jul vaders gegee het; en julle sal vir My 'n volk en Ek sal vir julle 'n God wees.
29 En Ek sal julle verlos van al jul onreinhede; en Ek sal roep na die koring en dit vermenigvuldig, en Ek sal geen hongersnood op julle lê nie.
30 En Ek sal die vrugte van die bome en die opbrings van die veld vermenigvuldig, sodat julle die smaad van hongersnood nie meer hoef te verdra onder die nasies nie.
31 Dan sal julle dink aan jul verkeerde weë en aan jul handelinge wat nie goed was nie; en julle sal vir julleself walglik wees oor jul ongeregtighede en oor jul gruwels.
32 Ek doen dit nie om julle ontwil nie, spreek die Here HERE; laat dit julle bekend wees! Skaam julle en bloos oor jul weë, o huis van Israel.
33 So sê die Here HERE: In die dag as Ek julle reinig van al jul ongeregtighede, sal Ek die stede laat bewoon, en die puinhope sal opgebou word.
34 En die verwoeste land sal bewerk word, in plaas dat dit 'n wildernis is voor die oë van almal wat verbygaan.
35 En hulle sal sê: Hierdie land wat verwoes was, het geword soos die tuin van Eden; en die stede wat in puin gelê het en verwoes en afgebreek was, is versterk en bewoon.
36 Dan sal die nasies weet wat rondom julle oorgebly het, dat Ek, die HERE, opgebou het wat afgebreek was, beplant het wat verwoes was; Ek, die HERE, het dit gespreek en sal dit doen.
37 So sê die Here HERE: Ook dit sal Ek My laat vra deur die huis van Israel om dit vir hulle te doen: Ek sal hulle mense vermenigvuldig soos skape.
38 Soos die geheiligde skape, soos die skape van Jerusalem op sy feestye, so sal die stede wat in puin lê, vol wees van kuddes van mense; en hulle sal weet dat Ek die HERE is.
1 And you, son of man, be a prophet about the mountains of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, give ear to the word of the Lord:
2 This is what the Lord has said: Because your hater has said against you, Aha! and, The old waste places are our heritage, we have taken them:
3 For this cause be a prophet, and say, This is what the Lord has said: Because, even because they have been glad over you and put you to shame on every side, because you have become a heritage for the rest of the nations, and you are taken up on the lips of talkers and in the evil talk of the people:
4 For this reason, you mountains of Israel, give ear to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord has said to the mountains and to the hills, to the streams and to the valleys, to the unpeopled wastes and to the towns where no one is living, from which the goods have been taken and which have been put to shame by the rest of the nations who are round about:
5 For this cause the Lord has said: Truly, in the heat of my bitter feeling I have said things against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who have taken my land as a heritage for themselves with the joy of all their heart, and with bitter envy of soul have made attacks on it:
6 For this cause be a prophet about the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the streams and to the valleys, This is what the Lord has said: Truly, in my bitter feeling and in my wrath I have said these things, because you have undergone the shame of the nations:
7 For this cause the Lord has said, See, I have taken an oath that the nations which are round about you are themselves to undergo the shame which they have put on you.
8 But you, O mountains of Israel, will put out your branches and give your fruit to my people Israel; for they are ready to come.
9 For truly I am for you, and I will be turned to you, and you will be ploughed and planted:
10 And I will let your numbers be increased, all the children of Israel, even all of them: and the towns will be peopled and the waste places will have buildings;
11 Man and beast will be increased in you, and they will have offspring and be fertile: I will make you thickly peopled as you were before, and will do more for you than at the first: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
12 Yes, I will have you walked on by the feet of men, even my people Israel; they will have you for a heritage and you will be theirs, and never again will you take their children from them.
13 This is what the Lord has said: Because they say to you, You, O land, are the destruction of men, causing loss of children to your nation;
14 For this reason you will no longer take the lives of men and will never again be the cause of loss of children to your nation, says the Lord.
15 And I will not let the shaming of the nations come to your ears, and no longer will you be looked down on by the peoples, says the Lord.
16 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
17 Son of man, when the children of Israel were living in their land, they made it unclean by their way and their acts: their way before me was as when a woman is unclean at the time when she is kept separate.
18 So I let loose my wrath on them because of those whom they had violently put to death in the land, and because they had made it unclean with their images:
19 And I sent them in flight among the nations and wandering through the countries: I was their judge, rewarding them for their way and their acts.
20 And when they came among the nations, wherever they went, they made my holy name unclean, when it was said of them, These are the people of the Lord who have gone out from his land.
21 But I had pity for my holy name which the children of Israel had made unclean wherever they went.
22 For this cause say to the children of Israel, This is what the Lord has said: I am doing this, not because of you, O children of Israel, but because of my holy name, which you have made unclean among the nations wherever you went.
23 And I will make holy my great name which has been made unclean among the nations, which you have made unclean among them; and it will be clear to the nations that I am the Lord, says the Lord, when I make myself holy in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you out from among the nations, and get you together from all the countries, and take you into your land.
25 And I will put clean water on you so that you may be clean: from all your unclean ways and from all your images I will make you clean.
26 And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit in you, causing you to be guided by my rules, and you will keep my orders and do them.
28 So that you may go on living in the land which I gave to your fathers; and you will be to me a people, and I will be to you a God.
29 And I will make you free from all your unclean ways: and at my voice the grain will come up and be increased, and I will not let you be short of food.
30 And I will make the tree give more fruit and the field fuller produce, and no longer will you be shamed among the nations for need of food.
31 And at the memory of your evil ways and your wrongdoings, you will have bitter hate for yourselves because of your evil-doings and your disgusting ways, O children of Israel.
32 Not because of you am I doing it, says the Lord; let it be clear to you, and be shamed and made low because of your ways, O children of Israel.
33 This is what the Lord has said: In the day when I make you clean from all your evil-doings I will let the towns be peopled and there will be building on the waste places.
34 And the land which was waste will be farmed, in place of being a waste in the eyes of everyone who went by.
35 And they will say, This land which was waste has become like the garden of Eden; and the towns which were unpeopled and wasted and pulled down are walled and peopled.
36 Then the rest of the nations round about you will be certain that I the Lord am the builder of the places which were pulled down and the planter of that which was waste: I the Lord have said it, and I will do it.
37 This is what the Lord has said: The children of Israel will again make prayer to me for this, that I may do it for them; I will make them increased with men like a flock.
38 Like sheep for the offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem at her fixed feasts, so the unpeopled towns will be made full of men: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.