The Babylonian Exile

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy said against you, Aha, and the high places of old for a possession have been to us,

therefore, prophesy, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because, even because, of desolating, And of swallowing you up from round about, For your being a possession to the remnant of the nations, And ye are taken up on the tip of the tongue, And are an evil report of the people.

Therefore, O mountains of Israel, Hear a word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus said the Lord Jehovah, to mountains, and to hills, To streams, and to valleys, And to wastes that are desolate, And to cities that are forsaken, That have been for a prey, And for a scorn, to the remnant of the nations who are round about.

Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Have I not, in the fire of My jealousy, Spoken against the remnant of the nations, And against Edom--all of it, Who gave My land to themselves for a possession, With the joy of the whole heart--with despite of soul, For the sake of casting it out for a prey?

Therefore, prophesy concerning the ground of Israel, And thou hast said to mountains, and to hills, To streams, and to valleys, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I, in My jealousy, and in My fury, I have spoken, Because the shame of nations ye have borne.

Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: I--I have lifted up My hand, Do not--the nations who are with you from round about--they their own shame bear?

And ye, O mountains of Israel, Your branch ye give out, and your fruits ye bear for My people Israel, For they have drawn near to come.

For, lo, I am for you, and have turned to you, And ye have been tilled and sown.

And I have multiplied on you men, All the house of Israel--all of it, And the cities have been inhabited, And the wastes are built.

And I have multiplied on you man and beast, And they have multiplied and been fruitful, And I have caused you to dwell according to your former states, And I have done better than at your beginnings, And ye have known that I am Jehovah.

And I have caused man to walk over you, --My people Israel, And they possess thee, and thou hast been to them for an inheritance, And thou dost add no more to bereave them.

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because they are saying to you: A devourer of men art thou, And a bereaver of thy nations thou hast been,

Therefore, man thou devourest no more, And thy nations thou causest not to stumble any more, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

And I proclaim not unto thee any more the shame of the nations, And the reproach of peoples thou bearest no more, And thy nations stumble not any more, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

`Son of man, The house of Israel are dwelling on their land, And they defile it by their way and by their doings, As the uncleanness of a separated one hath their way been before Me.

And I do pour out My fury upon them For the blood that they shed on the land, And with their idols they have defiled it.

And I scatter them among nations, And they are spread through lands, According to their way, and according to their doings, I have judged them.

And one goeth in unto the nations whither they have gone, And they pollute My holy name by saying to them, The people of Jehovah are these, And from His land they have gone forth.

And I have pity on My holy name, That the house of Israel have polluted among nations whither they have gone in.

Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Not for your sake am I working, O house of Israel, But--for My holy name, That ye have polluted among nations whither ye have gone in.

And I have sanctified My great name, That is profaned among nations, That ye have polluted in your midst, And known have the nations that I am Jehovah, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In My being sanctified in you before your eyes.

And I have taken you out of the nations, And have gathered you out of all the lands, And I have brought you in unto your land,

And I have sprinkled over you clean water, And ye have been clean; From all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, I do cleanse you.

And I have given to you a new heart, And a new spirit I give in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given to you a heart of flesh.