Ezekiel 37:21

Easy-to-Read Version

Tell the people that this is what the Lord God says: ‘I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will gather them from all around and bring them back to their own land.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am going to take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.

Hebrew Names Version
Say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the children of Yisra'el from among the nations, where they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

King James Version
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

English Standard Version
then say to them, Thus says the Lord God : Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.

New American Standard Bible
"And say to them, 'This is what the Lord GOD says: "Behold, I am going to take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

New Century Version
Say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am going to take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.

Amplified Bible
"Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am going to take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

Geneva Bible (1587)
And say vnto them, Thus saith the Lorde God, Beholde, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and wil gather them on euery side, & bring them into their owne land.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

Legacy Standard Bible
And speak to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, "Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;

Berean Standard Bible
you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: 'I will take the Israelites out of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.

Contemporary English Version
and then say: I, the Lord God, will gather the people of Israel and bring them home from the foreign nations where they now live.

Complete Jewish Bible
Then say to them that Adonai Elohim says: ‘I will take the people of Isra'el from among the nations where they have gone and gather them from every side and bring them back to their own land.

Darby Translation
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them from every side, and bring them into their own land:

George Lamsa Translation
And say to them, Thus says the LORD God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations whither they have gone, and will gather them together and bring them into their own land;

Good News Translation
Then tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord , am going to take all my people out of the nations where they have gone, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land.

Lexham English Bible
And speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am taking the Israelites from among the nations to which they went, and I will gather them from everywhere, and I will bring them to their own soil.

Literal Translation
And say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations, there where they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and will bring them into their own land.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and shalt saye vnto them: Thus saieth the LORDE God: beholde I wil take awaye the childre of Israel from amonge the Heithen, vnto whom they be gone, and wil gather them together on euery syde, and bringe them agayne in to their owne londe:

American Standard Version
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

Bible in Basic English
And say to them, These are the words of the Lord: See, I am taking the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will get them together on every side, and take them into their land:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And say unto them: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land;

King James Version (1611)
And say vnto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen whither they be gone, and will gather them on euery side, and bring them into their owne land.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And thou shalt say vnto them, thus sayth the Lorde God: Beholde, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen vnto whom they be gone, and will gather them together on euery side, and bring them againe into their owne lande.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And thou shalt say to them,

English Revised Version
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

World English Bible
Say to them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, where they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thou schalt seie to hem, The Lord God seith these thingis, Lo! Y schal take the sones of Israel fro the myddis of naciouns, to whiche thei yeden forth; and Y schal gadere hem togidere on ech side. And Y schal brynge hem to her lond,

Update Bible Version
And say to them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Look, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations, where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

Webster's Bible Translation
And say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

New English Translation
Then tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the Israelites from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from round about and bring them to their land.

New King James Version
"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;

New Living Translation
And give them this message from the Sovereign Lord : I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will bring them home to their own land from the places where they have been scattered.

New Life Bible
and tell them, ‘The Lord God says, "I will take the people of Israel from the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land.

New Revised Standard
then say to them, Thus says the Lord God : I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Therefore speak thou unto them Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, Lo! myself am going to take the sons of Israel, from among the nations whither they have gone, - And I will gather them from every side, And will bring them in upon their own so;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take of the children of Israel from the midst of the nations whither they are gone: and I will gather them on every side, and will bring them to their own land.

Revised Standard Version
then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all sides, and bring them to their own land;

Young's Literal Translation
and speak thou unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am taking the sons of Israel, From among the nations whither they have gone, And have gathered them from round about, And I have brought them in unto their land.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me again. He said, ¹⁶ "Son of man, get one stick and write this message on it: ‘This stick belongs to Judah and his friends, the people of Israel.' Then take another stick and write on it, ‘This stick of Ephraim belongs to Joseph and his friends, the people of Israel.' ¹⁷ Then join the two sticks together. In your hand, they will be one stick. ¹⁸ "Your people will ask you to explain what that means. ¹⁹ Tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim and his friends, the people of Israel. Then I will put that stick with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick. In my hand, they will become one stick!' ²⁰ "Take the sticks that you wrote on and hold them in front of you. ²¹ Tell the people that this is what the Lord God says: ‘I will gather the people of Israel from among the nations. I will gather them from all around and bring them back to their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in their land among the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over them all. They will no longer be two nations. They will not be split into two kingdoms anymore. ²³ And they will no longer continue to make themselves filthy with their idols and horrible statues or with any of their other crimes. Instead, I will save them from all the places where they have sinned, and I will wash them and make them pure. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²⁴ "‘And my servant David will be the king over them. There will be only one shepherd over all of them. They will live by my rules and obey my laws. They will do the things I tell them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ezekiel 34:13, Ezekiel 36:24, Ezekiel 39:25, Deuteronomy 30:3, Deuteronomy 30:4, Isaiah 11:11-16, Isaiah 27:12, Isaiah 27:13, Isaiah 43:6, Isaiah 49:12, Jeremiah 16:15, Jeremiah 23:3, Jeremiah 23:8, Jeremiah 29:14, Jeremiah 30:3, Jeremiah 30:10, Jeremiah 30:18, Jeremiah 31:8-10, Jeremiah 32:37, Jeremiah 33:7, Jeremiah 33:11, Jeremiah 50:19, Amos 9:14, Amos 9:15, Obadiah 1:17-21, Micah 7:11, Micah 7:12

Reciprocal: Psalms 106:47 - gather Psalms 147:2 - he Isaiah 32:17 - quietness Isaiah 43:5 - I will Isaiah 65:9 - I will Jeremiah 12:14 - and pluck Jeremiah 46:27 - I will save Ezekiel 11:17 - General Ezekiel 20:42 - when I Ezekiel 28:25 - When Ezekiel 37:12 - I will open Ezekiel 37:25 - they shall dwell in Ezekiel 38:8 - into the land Daniel 12:1 - thy people Hosea 11:11 - and I Joel 3:1 - when Obadiah 1:19 - the fields of Ephraim Micah 2:12 - surely assemble Micah 4:6 - and I Zephaniah 3:20 - even John 1:49 - the King Acts 3:19 - when Romans 11:26 - all Ephesians 4:13 - we all

Cross-References

Genesis 9:5
Also, I will demand your blood for your lives. That is, I will demand the life of any person or animal that takes a human life.

Genesis 35:22
Israel stayed there for a short time. While he was there, Reuben slept with Israel's slave woman Bilhah. Israel heard about this, and he was very angry. These are the names of Jacob's twelve sons:

Genesis 42:22
Then Reuben said to them, "I told you not to do anything bad to that boy, but you refused to listen to me. Now we are being punished for his death."

Joshua 10:28
That day Joshua defeated Makkedah. He killed the king and the people in that city. No one was left alive. Joshua did the same thing to the king of Makkedah that he had done to the king of Jericho.

Matthew 10:28
"Don't be afraid of people. They can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul. The only one you should fear is God, the one who can send the body and the soul to be destroyed in hell.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And say unto them, thus saith the Lord God,.... Or, as the Targum,

"thou shalt prophesy to them;''

for what follows is a prophecy of what shall be in the latter day:

behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the Heathen, whither they be gone, or, "from among the Gentiles" b; not only the Chaldeans, where they were carried captives; but from among the nations where they are now dispersed, and among whom they go freely of their own accord from place to place, for the sake of traffic: and this phrase, "whither they be gone", or "are going" c, travelling about from one country to another, better describes the present Jews, and their state, than those in the Babylonian captivity:

and will gather them on every side, or, "round about" d; from the several parts of the world where they are:

and bring them into their own land; the land of Canaan, given by the Lord to their fathers, and to them their posterity, for an inheritance; though now in the possession of others, who, it seems, are not the right owners.

b מבין הגויים "e medio ipsarum gentium", Junius Tremellius "ex gentibus", Starckius; "e [vel] medio gentium", Piscator, Cocceius. c הלכו "ambulant, vel ambulantes sunt". d מסביב "circumquaque", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Starckius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A prophecy of the reunion of Israel and Judah, the incorporation of Israel under one Ruler, the kingdom of Messiah upon earth and in heaven.

Ezekiel 37:16

One stick - So in the marginal reference the names of the tribes had been written on rods or sticks.

For Judah ... - To the house of David had remained faithful, not only Judah, but also Benjamin, Levi, and part of Simeon, and individual members of various tribes 2 Chronicles 11:12-16. Compare the marginal references.

Joseph ... Ephraim - Compare Psalms 78:67; Hosea 5:5 ff “Joseph” is the general name here for the ten tribes, including “Ephraim,” the chief tribe, and his companions. Omit “for” before “all.” “All the house of Israel” is here the ten tribes.

Ezekiel 37:19

In the hand of Ephraim - Because Ephraim was the ruling tribe; the words are contrasted with “in mine hand.”

Ezekiel 37:20

This sign was literally enacted in the presence of the people, not, like some signs, merely in vision (see the Ezekiel 3:1 note).

Ezekiel 37:21

The gathering together of the children of Israel was to take effect in the first place in the return from Babylon, when the distinction of Israel and Judah should cease. The full completion concerns times still future, when all Israel shall come in to acknowledge the rule of Christ.

Ezekiel 37:22

One king - The restoration of Israel to their native soil will lead the way to the coming of the promised King, the Son of David, who will gather into His kingdom the true Israel, all who shall by faith be acknowledged as the Israel of God. The reign of the One King David is the reign of Christ in His kingdom, the Church.

Ezekiel 37:25, Ezekiel 37:26

An enlargement of the promises. The kingdom is to be “forever,” the covenant “everlasting.” This looks forward to the consummation of all God’s promises 1 Corinthians 15:24, 1 Corinthians 15:28.

Ezekiel 37:27

This gives a final blessing reserved for God’s accepted servants. The tabernacle and temple were outward symbols of His presence. The re-erection of the temple by Zerubbabel was the first step to a restoration of the presence of God. The second step was the presence of Christ, first in the flesh, then in His Church, and finally the eternal presence of God and of the Lamb in the New Jerusalem Revelation 21:0.