Study Desk

"For you said, ‘The lands of Israel and Judah will be ours. We will take possession of them. What do we care that the Lord is there!'

Therefore, as surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord , I will pay back your angry deeds with my own. I will punish you for all your acts of anger, envy, and hatred. And I will make myself known to Israel by what I do to you.

Then you will know that I, the Lord , have heard every contemptuous word you spoke against the mountains of Israel. For you said, ‘They are desolate; they have been given to us as food to eat!'

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My jealous anger burns against these nations, especially Edom, because they have shown utter contempt for me by gleefully taking my land for themselves as plunder.

"But the mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit for my people—for they will be coming home again soon!

I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived.

But when they were scattered among the nations, they brought shame on my holy name. For the nations said, ‘These are the people of the Lord , but he couldn't keep them safe in his own land!'

Then I was concerned for my holy name, on which my people brought shame among the nations.

For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.

I will give you great harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines.

Then you will remember your past sins and despise yourselves for all the detestable things you did.

Then the surrounding nations that survive will know that I, the Lord , have rebuilt the ruins and replanted the wasteland. For I, the Lord , have spoken, and I will do what I say.

They will never again pollute themselves with their idols and vile images and rebellion, for I will save them from their sinful apostasy. I will cleanse them. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.

I will go to those formerly desolate cities that are now filled with people who have returned from exile in many nations. I will capture vast amounts of plunder, for the people are rich with livestock and other possessions now. They think the whole world revolves around them!'

You will fall in the open fields, for I have spoken, says the Sovereign Lord .

"Then the people in the towns of Israel will go out and pick up your small and large shields, bows and arrows, javelins and spears, and they will use them for fuel. There will be enough to last them seven years!

They won't need to cut wood from the fields or forests, for these weapons will give them all the fuel they need. They will plunder those who planned to plunder them, and they will rob those who planned to rob them, says the Sovereign Lord .

"And I will make a vast graveyard for Gog and his hordes in the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Dead Sea. It will block the way of those who travel there, and they will change the name of the place to the Valley of Gog's Hordes.

It will take seven months for the people of Israel to bury the bodies and cleanse the land.

Everyone in Israel will help, for it will be a glorious victory for Israel when I demonstrate my glory on that day, says the Sovereign Lord .