30 Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your afathers, and committing harlotry according to their babominations?
31 For when you offer ayour gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” says the Lord God, “I will bnot be inquired of by you.
32aWhat you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, ‘We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.’
God Will Restore Israel
33 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely with a mighty hand, awith an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you.
34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.
35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there aI will plead My case with you face to face.
36aJust as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,” says the Lord God.
37 “I will make you apass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the bcovenant;
38aI will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but bthey shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
39 “As for you, O house of Israel,” thus says the Lord God: a“Go, serve every one of you his idols—and hereafter—if you will not obey Me; bbut profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols.
40 For aon My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel,” says the Lord God, “there ball the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me; there cI will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your1 sacrifices, together with all your holy things.
41 I will accept you as a asweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles.
42aThen you shall know that I am the Lord, bwhen I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers.
43 And athere you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and byou shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed.
44aThen you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you bfor My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel,” says the Lord God.’ ”
Fire in the Forest
45 Furthermore the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
46a“Son of man, set your face toward the south;1 preach against the south and prophesy against the forest land, the2 South,
And that which cometh into your mind - Ye wish to be naturalized among idolaters, and make a part of such nations. But this shall not be at all; you shall be preserved as a distinct people. Ye shall not be permitted to mingle yourselves with the people of those countries: even they, idolaters as they are, will despise and reject you. Besides, I will change your place, restore your captivity; yet not in mercy, but in fury poured out; and reserve you for sorer evils, Ezekiel 20:34.
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