12. You will know that I am the Lord, whose regulations you didn’t observe and whose case laws you didn’t follow. Instead, you followed the case laws of the nations around you.
13. While I was prophesying, Benaiah’s son Pelatiah dropped dead. I fell on my face, and I wailed and said, "Oh, Lord God! Are you finishing off even the Israelites who are left?"
14. The Lord’s word came to me:
15. Human one, when the people living in Jerusalem said, "They’ve gone far from the Lord, and we’ve been given the land as an inheritance," they were talking about your family, your nearest relatives, the whole house of Israel, all of it.
16. Therefore, say, The Lord God proclaims: Even though I made them go far away among the nations and caused them to scatter throughout the earth, I’ve provided some sanctuary for them in the countries to which they’ve gone.
17. Therefore, say, The Lord God proclaims: I will gather you from the nations, assemble you from the countries where you were scattered, and I will give you Israel’s fertile land.
18. They will enter the land, and they will remove from it all its disgusting and detestable things.
19. I will give them a single heart, and I will put a new spirit in them. I will remove the stony hearts from their bodies and give them hearts of flesh
20. so that they may follow my regulations and carefully observe my case laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
21. As for those whose hearts continue to go after their disgusting and detestable things, I will hold them accountable for their ways. This is what the Lord God says!