Ezekiel 36:34

The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God speaks through Ezekiel to the exiled Israelites, promising national restoration immediately after describing the cleansing of iniquities and the rebuilding of ruined cities.

The words — The Hebrew תֵּֽעָבֵ֑ד (te'aveḏ) translates literally as "it will be tilled," directly contrasting with the paired terms for abandonment, הַנְּשַׁמָּה (ha-nəšammâ) and שְׁמָמָה (šəmāmâ), which describe a state of desolation.

The thread — The pattern of land desolation and reversal appears in Ezekiel 6:14, Jeremiah 25:9, and Deuteronomy 29:23, where the territory is depicted as a cursed waste or subjected to divine judgment rather than agricultural renewal.

Why it lands — The text states that the abandoned territory will be actively worked and made visible to all travelers, demanding recognition of divine intervention in reversing national ruin.

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

וְהָאָ֥רֶץve./ha./'A.retzand/ the/ land הַנְּשַׁמָּ֖הha./ne.sha.Mah<the>/ desolated תֵּֽעָבֵ֑דte.'a.Vedit will be tilled תַּ֚חַתTa.chatin place of אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherthat הָיְתָ֣הha.ye.Tahit was שְׁמָמָ֔הshe.ma.Maha desolation לְעֵינֵ֖יle./'ei.Neito/ [the] eyes of כָּל־kol-every עוֹבֵֽר׃o.Ver[one who] passes by

King James Version

And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

Cross-references

Ezekiel 6:14 I will stretch out My hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”
Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
Deuteronomy 29:23 All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
2 Chronicles 36:21 So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah.