8
"But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come.
9
For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.
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I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
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I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
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Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you bereave them of children."
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Thus says the Lord God: "Because they say to you, 'You devour men and bereave your nation of children,'
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therefore you shall devour men no more, nor bereave your nation anymore," says the Lord God.
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Nor will I let you hear the taunts of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to stumble anymore," says the Lord God.' "
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Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
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"Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity.
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Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it.
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So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds.
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When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name--when they said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land.'
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But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.
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"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God: "I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.
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And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord," says the Lord God, "when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.
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For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.
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Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
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I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
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I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
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Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.