7. So this is what the Almighty Lord says: I raise my hand and swear that the nations which surround you will be insulted.
8. “‘But you, mountains of Israel, will grow branches and bear fruit for my people Israel. My people will come home soon.
9. I am for you. I will turn to you, and you will be plowed and planted.
10. I will increase the number of people who live on you. All the people of Israel, all of them, will live on you. The cities will be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt.
11. I will increase the number of people and animals that live on you. They will grow and become many. I will let people live on you as in the past, and I will make you better off than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
12. I will bring people, my people Israel, to you. They will take possession of you, and you will be their inheritance. You will no longer take their children away from them.
13. “‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: People say that you devour your people and take the children away from your nation.
14. So you will no longer devour your people or take the children away from your nation, declares the Almighty Lord.
15. I will no longer let you hear the insults from the nations. You will no longer suffer the disgrace of the people. You will never again take the children away from your own nation, declares the Almighty Lord.’ ”
16. The Lord spoke his word to me. He said,
17. “Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they dishonored it by the way they lived and by everything they did. Their ways were as unclean as a woman’s menstrual period.
18. So I poured out my fury on them because they poured out blood on the land and they dishonored the land with their idols.
19. I forced them into other nations, and they became scattered among the nations. I judged them based on the way that they lived and based on everything that they had done.
20. But wherever they went among the nations, they dishonored my holy name. People said about them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, yet they had to leave his land.’