A prophecy about Yahweh bringing his people back to Israel

1You human, prophesy about the mountains in Israel. Say to them, “You mountains in Israel, listen to what Yahweh says.

2This is what Yahweh the Lord says: Your enemies happily said about you, ‘Aha! The mountains in Israel that have existed for a long time have become ours!’ ”

3Therefore prophesy about those mountains and say, “This is what Yahweh the Lord declares: Armies of other nations attacked you [DOU] from every direction, with the result that your land became abandoned, and people of other nations occupied you, and they spoke maliciously about you and slandered you.

4Therefore, you mountains in Israel, listen to this message from me. I, Yahweh the Lord, have something to say to the hills and mountains, to the ravines and valleys, to the deserted ruins and towns whose valuable possessions have been taken and their people ridiculed by the people of other nations around them. This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare: I am very angry [DOU] with the people of Edom and other nations; they have forced you Israeli people to endure them insulting you.

7Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: Lifting up my arm, I solemnly declare that the people of the nations that are around you will also endure being insulted.

8But I say to you mountains in Israel that huge crops of fruit will grow on your trees for my Israeli people, because they will soon return home from Babylonia.

9I ◄am concerned about/will take care of► you, and I will bless you. I will enable farmers to plow the ground and plant seed there.

10I will cause the number of people who live on you mountains and everywhere else in Israel to greatly increase. People will live in the towns and rebuild houses where there are now only ruins.

11I will cause the number of people and domestic animals to increase. People will have many children [IDM, DOU]. I will enable people to live there like they did previously, and I will enable them to prosper like they did before. Then you will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have the power to do what I say that I will do.

12I will enable my Israeli people to walk through your mountains. They will own you; you will be their permanent possession. Never again will their children die.

13This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say to you: People say that only a small amount of food is produced on your mountains, and as a result the people of Israel die from hunger.

14Therefore, I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that no longer will that happen.

15No longer will the people of other nations ridicule you; no longer will they laugh at you; no longer will the armies of other nations conquer you. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have declared that it will happen.”

16Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

17“You human, when the Israeli people were living in their own land, they ◄defiled it/caused it to become unacceptable to me► by the things that they did. I considered that their behavior was disgusting, like [SIM] the rags/cloths that women use during their monthly menstrual periods.

18So I severely punished [MTY] them, because they had murdered [MTY] many people and because they had defiled the land by worshiping idols there.

19I caused them to be scattered among many nations [DOU]. I punished [MTY] them like they deserved to be punished because of their very evil behavior [DOU].

20And wherever they went among those nations, they caused my reputation [MTY] to be disgraced. What has happened is that the people in those countries said about the Israeli people, ‘They belong to Yahweh, but they were forced to leave the land that he gave to them.’

21But I was concerned about my reputation, which the people of Israel had disgraced among the nations to which they were forced to go.

22Therefore, say to the Israeli people, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: You Israeli people, it is not for your sake that I am going to do these things. Instead, it is for the sake of my sacred reputation, which you have disgraced among the nations to which you were forced to go.

23I will show that my reputation is sacred, a reputation which you have disgraced among the nations to which you were forced to go. And when I show the nations that I am holy, the people of those nations will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.

24What I will do is to bring you back from those nations. I will gather you from all the countries to which you were forced to go, and bring you back to your own land.

25It will be as though [MET] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and then you will be clean. I will cause you to be cleansed from everything that has defiled you, and I will cause you to stop worshiping idols.

26I will give you a completely new way of thinking [IDM]. I will enable you to stop being stubborn [IDM], and I will enable you to obey me from your inner beings [IDM].

27I will put my Spirit within you and enable you to carefully obey all my laws [DOU].

28You will again live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.

29I will free you from all your disgraceful behavior. I will cause your grain to be plentiful, and I will not send a famine to you again.

30I will cause your fruit trees to produce plenty of fruit and your ground to produce plenty of good crops, with the result that you will no longer be ridiculed by the people of other nations because of your not having enough food.

31When that happens, you will think about your previous evil behavior and wicked deeds, and you will ◄be very displeased with/hate► yourselves for your sins and the detestable things that you did.

32But I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that I want you to know that it is not for your sake that I will do those things. You Israeli people ought to be ashamed of your behavior.

33This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: At the time that I forgive you for all the sins that you have committed, I will enable you to live in your towns again and to build houses where there are now only ruins.

34People who walk through your country will see that your land is again cultivated instead of ◄being desolate/having nothing growing in it►.

35They will say, “This land that was ruined has become very fertile/productive like [SIM] the garden of Eden! The cities that were piles of ruins, empty and destroyed, now have walls around them, and people live in those cities.”

36When that happens, the people in the nations that are around you that still exist will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have enabled you to rebuild what was destroyed, and to again plant crops in the fields that had nothing growing in them. I, Yahweh, have said that it will happen, and I will cause it to happen.

37This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: Again I will heed what you Israeli people are pleading for me to do for you. I will cause your people to be as numerous as your sheep,

38as numerous as the flocks of sheep that will be needed for offerings in Jerusalem during your regular festivals. The cities that are now ruined will be filled with people, and then you will know that I, Yahweh the Lord, have the power to do what I say that I will do.’”