therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around;
Parallel Translations
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therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around;
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Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;
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therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD: Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains and to the hills, to the streams and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are round about;
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 36:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 11:11 but the land that you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the sky,
- Ezekiel 34:28 They will no more be a prey to the nations, neither will the animals of the earth devour them; but they will dwell securely, and no one will make them afraid.
- Psalms 79:4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.
- Ezekiel 36:1 You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear Yahweh’s word.
- Ezekiel 36:6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.”
- 2 Chronicles 36:17-21 Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand. All the vessels of God’s house, great and small, and the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. They burned God’s house, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels. He carried those who had escaped from the sword away to Babylon, and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
- Isaiah 6:11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste,
- Isaiah 24:1-12 Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants. It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest. The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish. The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases. They will not drink wine with a song. Strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it. The confused city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying in the streets because of the wine. All joy is darkened. The mirth of the land is gone. The city is left in desolation, and the gate is struck with destruction.
- Isaiah 64:10-11 Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you is burned with fire. All our pleasant places are laid waste.
- Jeremiah 25:9-13 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. “It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” says Yahweh, “for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever. I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.
- Jeremiah 29:10 For Yahweh says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
- Ezekiel 6:3 and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: “Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places.
- Ezekiel 6:14 I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”
- Ezekiel 36:33-35 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places will be built. The land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being a desolation in the sight of all who passed by. They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 36:4 Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the…
Eze 36:4 Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that [are] round about;
Ver. 4. Therefore thus saith the Lord God to the mountains.] For men there were hardly any left, or not very fit to be dealt with. See Eze 36:1.
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Which became a prey.] To those man eaters, {Eze 36:3} qui diruerunt et devoraverunt, who did eat up God’s people as they ate bread, {Psa 14:4} making themselves merry with their misery.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain To the hills: now is added a particular of…
To the hills: now is added a particular of hills, valleys, &c., whereas before only the mountains were mentioned, but by them the whole land was understood; and to assure them thereof, all parts are here particularly mentioned: all that the enemy wasted shall be repaired, all that he took away shall be restored in kind, and those he derided shall be vindicated; their estates repaired, cities rebuilt and filled, their credit and honour cleared and vindicated. Their deliverance should be complete and full.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of…
Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord,.... As in Eze 36:1, here repeated to raise and quicken their attention to what was about to be said to them:
thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken; before only the mountains are spoken to, though the whole land was included; here the several particulars are given, which describe the whole, and which suffered in the calamity, and the inhabitants that dwelt in them or near them; who only can be supposed to hear the word of the Lord, though places are only mentioned, because of the great depopulation of them:
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which became a prey and derision to the residue of the Heathen that are round about; to the Tyrians, Philistines, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites; who mocked the Jews, rejoicing at their destruction by the king of Babylon, and seized upon as a prey to themselves what he left: or these are the residue of the Heathens round about Judea; who remained after the judgments threatened were executed on the above nations, foretold in chapters twenty five and twenty six, see Eze 36:36.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Therefore - thus saith the Lord God…
Verse 4. Therefore - thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, c.] They shall neither possess mountain nor valley, hill nor dale, fountain nor river for though in my justice I made you desolate, yet they shall not profit by your disasters. See Eze 36:5-7.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Inanimate creatures are addressed, to imply that the creature…
Inanimate creatures are addressed, to imply that the creature also, as it were, groans for deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:19-21) [POLANUS]. The completeness of the renewed blessedness of all parts of the land is implied.
derision-- (Psa 79:4).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The rivers (or, channels, bottoms, dales) were the watercourses,…
The rivers (or, channels, bottoms, dales) were the watercourses, wadies, or ravines through which mountain streams flowed, as in Eze_35:8; and the residue of the heathen were the surrounding nations that had mocked Israel in her degradation, and were then profiting by her fall. (comp. Psa_79:4)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
This continues the message that Yahweh tells Ezekiel to speak to the mountains of Israel. The message is for all of the people of Israel.
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General Information:
It may be helpful to use a verse bridge here, as the UDB does, to arrange the text in a more logical order. (See: Verse Bridges)
listen to the word of the Lord Yahweh
"listen to the message of the Lord Yahweh"
the uninhabited desolations
The abstract noun "desolations" can be stated as "desolate cities." AT: "the desolate cities which have no people living in them" (See: Abstract Nouns)
the forsaken cities
This can be stated in active form. AT: "the cities that people have left behind" (See: Active or Passive)
that have become plunder
"that enemies have stolen from"
a subject of mocking for the other nations that surround them
"that the other, surrounding nations mock"
in the fire of my fury
This speaks of Yahweh's fury as if it were a fire. Yahweh loves Israel very much, so he becomes jealous and angry when other nations mock it. AT: "because of my intense jealousy" or "because of my very strong anger" (See: Metaphor)
against Edom and all
"and against all of Edom"
had both joy in their heart and disdain in their spirit, as they seized my land
Here "heart" and "spirit" represent a person's inner being. The ideas of having joy and disdain can be expressed with the verbs "rejoiced" and "despised." AT: "who despised the people of Israel and rejoiced while they took my land" (See: Metonymy)
Behold!
The word "Behold" here adds emphasis to what follows. AT: "Indeed!"
In my fury and in my anger
The words "fury" and "anger" mean basically the same thing. Together they emphasize the intensity of his anger. AT: "Because I am extremely angry" (See: Doublet)
you have borne the insults of nations
"other nations have insulted you" or "other nations have mocked you"
translationWords
desolate
forsake
mock
nation
fire
Edom
joy
heart
spirit
seize
anger
declare
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.