Book 29 Lamentations of Jeremias (continued 1)
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Nor lose thy nation any more... This whole promise principally relates to the church of Christ, and God's perpetual protection of her: for as to the carnal Jews, they have been removed out of their land these sixteen hundred years.
36:16. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
36:17. Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it with their ways, and with their doings: their way was before me like the uncleanness of a menstruous woman.
36:18. And I poured out my indignation upon them for the blood which they had shed upon the land, and with their idols they defiled it.
36:19. And I scattered them among the nations, and they are dispersed through the countries: I have judged them according to their ways, and their devices.
36:20. And when they entered among the nations whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when it was said of them: This is the people of the Lord, and they are come forth out of his land.
36:21. And I have regarded my own holy name, which the house of Israel hath profaned among the nations to which they went in.
36:22. Therefore thou shalt say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: It is not for your sake that I will do this, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations whither you went.
36:23. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the Gentiles, which you have profaned in the midst of them: that the Gentiles may know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord of hosts, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
36:24. For I will take you from among the Gentiles, and will gather you together out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.
36:25. And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols.
36:26. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh.
36:27. And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them.
36:28. And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
36:29. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for corn, and will multiply it, and will lay no famine upon you.
36:30. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you bear no more the reproach of famine among the nations.
36:31. And you shall remember your wicked ways, and your doings that were not good: and your iniquities, and your wicked deeds shall displease you.
36:32. It is not for your sakes that I will do this, saith the Lord God, be it known to you: be confounded, and ashamed at your own ways, O house of Israel.
36:33. Thus saith the Lord God: In the day that I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, and shall cause the cities to be inhabited, and shall repair the ruinous places,
36:34. And the desolate land shall be tilled, which before was waste in the sight of all that passed by,
36:35. They shall say: This land that was untilled is become as a garden of pleasure: and the cities that were abandoned, and desolate, and destroyed, are peopled and fenced.
36:36. And the nations, that shall be left round about you, shall know that I the Lord have built up what was destroyed, and planted what was desolate, that I the Lord have spoken and done it.
36:37. Thus saith the Lord God: Moreover in this shall the house of Israel find me, that I will do it for them: I will multiply them as a flock of men,
36:38. As a holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts: so shall the waste cities be full of flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Ezechiel Chapter 37
A vision of the resurrection of dry bones, foreshewing the deliverance of the people from their captivity. Juda and Israel shall be all one kingdom under Christ. God's everlasting covenant with the church.
37:1. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me forth in the spirit of the Lord: and set me down in the midst of a plain that was full of bones.
37:2. And he led me about through them on every side: now they were very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceeding dry.
37:3. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou think these bones shall live and I answered: O Lord God, thou knowest.
37:4. And he said to me: Prophesy concerning these bones; and say to them: Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
37:5. Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live.
Spirit... That is, soul, life, and breath.
37:6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to grow over you, and will cover you with skin: and I will give you spirit and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
37:7. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a commotion: and the bones came together, each one, its joint.
37:8. And I saw, and behold the sinews, and the flesh came up upon them: and the skin was stretched out over them, but there was no spirit in them.
37:9. And he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus saith the Lord God: Come, spirit, from the four winds, and blow upon these slain, and let them live again.
37:10. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and the spirit came into them, and they lived: and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
37:11. And he said to me: Son of man: All these bones are the house of Israel: they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off.
37:12. Therefore prophesy, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepulchres, O my people: and will bring you into the land of Israel.
37:13. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my people: