שָׁם

Therefore declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries to which they have gone.’

When they return to it, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations.

But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, and there he will die.

But I will spare a few of them from sword and famine and plague, so that in the nations to which they go, they can recount all their abominations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: See, I am against the magic charms with which you ensnare souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms. So I will free the souls you have ensnared like birds.

I will spread My net over him and catch him in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment upon him there for the treason he committed against Me.

When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up their fragrant incense, and poured out their drink offerings.

So I asked them: ‘What is this high place to which you go?’ (And to this day it is called Bamah.)

And I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, where I will enter into judgment with you face to face.

For on My holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, there the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land. There I will accept them and will require your offerings and choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices.

There you will remember your ways and all the deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evils you have done.

…and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.

For this is what the Lord GOD says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations to which they were scattered.

I will restore Egypt from captivity and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom.

The day will be darkened in Tahpanhes when I break the yoke of Egypt and her proud strength comes to an end. A cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity.

Assyria is there with her whole company; her graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword.

Elam is there with all her multitudes around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who went down uncircumcised to the earth below, who once spread their terror in the land of the living. They bear their disgrace with those who descend to the Pit.

Meshech and Tubal are there with all their multitudes, with their graves all around them. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword, because they spread their terror in the land of the living.

Edom is there, and all her kings and princes, who despite their might are laid among those slain by the sword. They lie down with the uncircumcised, with those who descend to the Pit.

All the leaders of the north and all the Sidonians are there; they went down in disgrace with the slain, despite the terror of their might. They lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bear their shame with those who descend to the Pit.

As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.

I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

Because you have said, ‘These two nations and countries will be ours, and we will possess them,’ even though the LORD was there,

And wherever they went among the nations, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave His land.’

But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they had gone.

Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went.

…you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the Israelites out of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.

And on that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea. It will block those who travel through, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.

Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, when I regather them to their own land, not leaving any of them behind after their exile among the nations.

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month—in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been struck down—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He took me there.

So He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze. He was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand.

There was a chamber with a doorway by the portico in each of the inner gateways. There the burnt offering was to be washed.

Then the man said to me, “The north and south chambers facing the temple courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy.

Once the priests have entered the holy area, they must not go out into the outer court until they have left behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they approach the places that are for the people.”

…and He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile My holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and by the funeral offerings for their kings at their deaths.

Then the man brought me through the entrance at the side of the gate into the holy chambers facing north, which belonged to the priests, and he showed me a place there at the far western end

…and said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them into the outer court and transmit holiness to the people.”

And he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple will cook the sacrifices offered by the people.”

Wherever the river flows, there will be swarms of living creatures and a great number of fish, because it flows there and makes the waters fresh; so wherever the river flows, everything will flourish.

In whatever tribe a foreigner dwells, you are to assign his inheritance there,” declares the Lord GOD.