Bible Strands
Ezekiel 36:35
Then they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text records a future declaration by surrounding observers regarding the restored land of Israel. This announcement follows the period of agricultural cultivation and urban rebuilding described in the immediate context.
The words — `ha.ne.sha.Mah` (desolated) and `gan-'E.den` (garden of Eden) anchor the transformation from ruin to fertility. `ve.'a.me.Ru` (and they will say) introduces the public testimony that follows the visible change.
The thread — The Edenic restoration motif appears in Isaiah 51:3 and Joel 2:3, where divine comfort turns wilderness into Edenic fertility. Jeremiah 33:9 does not share this garden theme, focusing instead on the city bringing renown and glory to God.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that visible restoration follows spoken divine commitment. It requires the reader to trace the shift from desolation to habitation as evidence of fulfilled promise rather than human effort.
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
King James Version
And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.
- Jeremiah 33:9 So this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it.
- Joel 2:3 Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame scorches. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland—surely nothing will escape them.
- Psalms 58:11 Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
- Genesis 13:10 And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
- Psalms 64:9 Then all mankind will fear and proclaim the work of God; so they will ponder what He has done.
- Psalms 126:2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
- Ezekiel 37:13 Then you, My people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.
- Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.