Ezekiel 36:3

therefore prophesy and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Because they have made you desolate and have trampled you on every side, so that you became a possession of the rest of the nations and were taken up in slander by the lips of their talkers,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God commands Ezekiel to prophesy to the mountains of Israel, responding to the enemy's declaration that the ancient heights have been seized as possession.

The words — The Hebrew imperative הִנָּבֵא (hi.na.Ve') commands "prophesy," introduced by לָ/כֵן (la./Khen) meaning "therefore," while יַ֣עַן (Ya.'an) establishes the causal clause "because."

The thread — The pattern of land becoming spoil and mockery to surrounding nations appears in Psalms 44:13, Jeremiah 18:16, and Lamentations 2:15.

Why it lands — The text records that national desolation and slander by neighboring nations serves as the stated reason for God's impending declaration, requiring the reader to trace the link between external humiliation and divine speech.

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

לָכֵן֙la./Khen<to>/ therefore הִנָּבֵ֣אhi.na.Ve'prophesy וְאָמַרְתָּ֔ve./'a.mar.Taand/ you will say כֹּ֥הkohthus אָמַ֖ר'a.Marhe says אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai[the] Lord יְהוִ֑הYah.wehYahweh יַ֣עַןYa.'anbecause בְּיַ֡עַןbe./Ya.'anby/ cause שַׁמּוֹת֩sha.mOtto desolate וְשָׁאֹ֨ףve./sha.'Ofand/ to crush אֶתְכֶ֜ם'et./Khem<obj.>/ you מִסָּבִ֗יבmi./sa.Vivfrom/ round about לִֽהְיוֹתְכֶ֤םli/h.yot./Khemto/ be/ you מֽוֹרָשָׁה֙mo.ra.Shaha possession לִשְׁאֵרִ֣יתli/sh.'e.Ritof/ [the] rest of הַגּוֹיִ֔םha./go.Yimthe/ nations וַתֵּֽעֲל֛וּva./te.'a.Luand/ you have been taken up עַל־'al-on שְׂפַ֥תse.Fata lip of לָשׁ֖וֹןla.Shona tongue וְדִבַּת־ve./di.bat-and/ [the] whispering of עָֽם׃'Am[the] people

King James Version

Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:

Cross-references

Psalms 44:13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
Jeremiah 18:16 They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
Lamentations 2:15 All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
Leviticus 26:43 For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.
Deuteronomy 28:37 You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
1 Kings 9:7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.
Job 30:1 “But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs.
Psalms 35:15 But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.
Psalms 35:25 Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up!”
Psalms 61:1 For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. Of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer.