Israel
Ezekiel 36:33-38
Ezekiel · ~586 BC · Status: Future · Confidence: 60%
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.”
King James Version · the opening — all 6 verses are below
Israel's agricultural restoration as a sign of divine blessing, nations acknowledging God when the land blooms.
Read the whole passage — all 6 verses (KJV)
36:33Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.
36:34And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
36:35And 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.
36:36Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.
36:37Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
36:38As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Fulfillment References
Amos 9:13-14 Isaiah 35:1-2 Revelation 22:2
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalAfter cleansing His people, God makes the desolate land 'like the garden of Eden,' the cities inhabited and the flocks multiplied, 'that they may know that I the LORD have built the ruined places.' The restoration of Eden's abundance points beyond any earthly renewal to the new creation, where the tree of life bears fruit (Rev. 22:2). The God who rebuilds and replants is the one God, restoring all things in Christ.
JewishThe promise that the cleansed land will be transformed to Edenic fruitfulness, the ruined cities rebuilt and filled; restoration as a new creation.
CatholicThe Edenic restoration read as a sign of the renewal of creation God accomplishes, consummated in the new heavens and earth.
ProtestantThe land restored to Eden-like abundance — literal for dispensationalists, a type of the new creation for others.
AcademicThe 'like the garden of Eden' motif links restoration to primeval creation; the recognition formula closes the unit.
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