16. The word of the Lord came to me:
17. Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in its land, they defiled it with their behavior and their deeds. In my sight their behavior was like the impurity of a woman in menstruation.
18. So I poured out my fury upon them for the blood they poured out on the ground and for the idols with which they defiled it.
19. I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through other lands; according to their behavior and their deeds I carried out judgment against them.
20. But when they came to the nations, where they went, they desecrated my holy name, for people said of them: “These are the people of the Lord, yet they had to leave their land.”
21. So I relented because of my holy name which the house of Israel desecrated among the nations to which they came.
22. Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Not for your sake do I act, house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you desecrated among the nations to which you came.
23. But I will show the holiness of my great name, desecrated among the nations, in whose midst you desecrated it. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord—oracle of the Lord God—when through you I show my holiness before their very eyes.
24. I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you back to your own soil.
25. I will sprinkle clean water over you to make you clean; from all your impurities and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
26. I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27. I will put my spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep them.
28. You will live in the land I gave to your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
29. I will deliver you from all your impurities. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful; I will not send famine against you.
30. I will increase the fruit on your trees and the crops in your fields so that you no longer endure reproach from the nations because of famine.
31. Then you will remember your evil behavior and your deeds that were not good; you will loathe yourselves for your sins and your abominations.
32. Not for your sake do I act—oracle of the Lord God. Let this be known to you! Be ashamed and humbled because of your behavior, house of Israel.
33. Thus says the Lord God: When I cleanse you of all your guilt, I will resettle the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt.
34. The desolate land will be tilled—once a wasteland in the eyes of every passerby.
35. They will say, “This once-desolate land has become like the garden of Eden. The cities once ruined, laid waste and destroyed, are now resettled and fortified.”