Ezekiel 36:28

Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God addresses the exiled house of Israel immediately after promising to place His Spirit within them to enable obedience. The declaration follows the context of spiritual renewal and precedes promises of physical cleansing and agricultural provision.

The words — The text hinges on וִישַׁבְתֶּם (vi./shav.Tem), literally "and you will dwell," and וִהְיִיתֶם לְעָם (vi/h.Yi.tem le./'Am), literally "and you will become a people." These verbs mark a transition from displacement to settled identity under divine ownership.

The thread — This covenant formula recurs in Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 32:38, and Ezekiel 37:27. Each reference ties the restoration of a people to their land with the mutual recognition of God as their deity.

Why it lands — The passage demands acknowledgment that physical return and spiritual renewal are bound together by covenant. It requires the reader to accept that belonging to God and inhabiting the promised land are simultaneous acts of divine initiative.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וִישַׁבְתֶּ֣םvi./shav.Temand/ you will dwell בָּאָ֔רֶץba./'A.retzin the/ land אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhich נָתַ֖תִּיna.Ta.tiI gave לַאֲבֹֽתֵיכֶ֑םla./'a.vo.tei./Khemto/ ancestors/ your וִהְיִ֤יתֶםvi/h.Yi.temand/ you will becomeלִי֙l/ifor/ meלְעָ֔םle./'Am<into>/ a people וְאָ֣נֹכִ֔יve./'A.no.Khiand/ I אֶהְיֶ֥ה'eh.YehI will becomeלָכֶ֖םla./Khemfor/ youלֵאלֹהִֽים׃le./lo.Him<into>/ God

King James Version

And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
Jeremiah 32:38 They will be My people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 37:27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.
Ezekiel 11:20 so that they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 37:23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or detestable images, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.
Matthew 22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
Revelation 21:7 The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.
Song of Solomon 6:3 I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies.
Jeremiah 30:22 “And you will be My people, and I will be your God.”
Ezekiel 14:11 in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Then they will be My people and I will be their God, declares the Lord GOD.’”