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Ezekiel 36: A New Heart and a New Spirit

The Lord will restore the mountains of Israel and renew his people from within, cleansing them and giving a new heart and his own Spirit.

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Ezekiel 36 (WEB)

1 You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear Yahweh’s word.

2 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because the enemy has said against you, Aha! and, The ancient high places are ours in possession;

3 therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;

4 therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around;

5 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.

6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations:

7 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: I have sworn, Surely the nations that are around you, they shall bear their shame.

8 But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come.

9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn into you, and you shall be tilled and sown;

10 and I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built;

11 and I will multiply on you man and animal; and they shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited after your former estate, and you will do better than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

12 Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no more henceforth bereave them of children.

13 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because they say to you, You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;

14 therefore you shall devour men no more, neither bereave your nation any more, says the Lord Yahweh;

15 neither will I let you hear any more the shame of the nations, neither shall you bear the reproach of the peoples any more, neither shall you cause your nation to stumble any more, says the Lord Yahweh.

16 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

17 Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings: their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.

18 Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols;

19 and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.

20 When they came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of Yahweh, and are gone out of his land.

21 But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, where they went.

22 Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went.

23 I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, says the Lord Yahweh, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

24 For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

26 I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

27 I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.

28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

29 I will save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.

30 I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.

31 Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

32 Nor for your sake do I this, says the Lord Yahweh, be it known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.

33 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built.

34 The land that was desolate shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all who passed by.

35 They shall say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.

36 Then the nations that are left around you shall know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate: I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.

37 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock.

38 As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.

Summary

In contrast to the desolation of Mount Seir, the Lord now prophesies blessing to the mountains of Israel. Though the surrounding nations mocked and seized God's land, the mountains will once again shoot out branches and bear fruit for the returning people; the cities will be inhabited, the ruins rebuilt, and the land made more fruitful than before. But God makes the deeper reason plain: he acts not for Israel's sake but for the sake of his holy name, which his people profaned among the nations. He will vindicate the holiness of his great name by gathering them from the nations and bringing them home. Then comes the heart of the chapter and one of the clearest promises of the new covenant: he will sprinkle clean water on them to cleanse them from all their filthiness and idols, give them a new heart and a new spirit, take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh, and put his own Spirit within them so that they walk in his ways. This inward transformation, not mere outward reform, is the hope of the gospel—fulfilled in Christ, who cleanses us and pours out the Spirit so that God's people become his own and he becomes their God.

Key Figures

  • Yahweh (the LORD) — The God who restores the land for the sake of his holy name and renews his people from within, cleansing them and giving a new heart and his Spirit.
  • The mountains of Israel — The desolate land, mocked and plundered by the nations, that God promises to make fruitful, inhabited, and rebuilt, better than at its beginning.
  • The house of Israel — God's people who profaned his name among the nations, to be gathered home, cleansed from idols, and given a new heart and a new spirit.
  • The Holy Spirit — God's own Spirit, whom he promises to put within his people so they will walk in his statutes and keep his ordinances from the heart.

Key Verse

Ezekiel 36:26 (WEB)

I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

Lessons Learned

  • God's faithfulness to his own name secures the restoration of his people.
  • Real change must come from a renewed heart, not merely improved behavior.
  • Only God can replace a heart of stone with a heart of flesh.
  • The gift of God's own Spirit enables his people to walk in his ways.
  • God acts for the honor of his name. “I don’t do this for your sake… but for my holy name” (Ezekiel 36:22, WEB). Our restoration rests on God's commitment to his own glory, not our worthiness.
  • God cleanses what we cannot. “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean” (Ezekiel 36:25, WEB). Forgiveness and purity are God's gift, poured out from above.
  • God gives a new heart. “I will take away the stony heart… and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26, WEB). True transformation is a new heart, not just new habits.
  • God puts his Spirit within us. “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27, WEB). The indwelling Spirit empowers the obedience God requires.
  1. Why does God promise to restore the mountains of Israel after the desolation described earlier?
  2. What reason does God repeatedly give for acting—and why does that matter?
  3. What is the difference between a “heart of stone” and a “heart of flesh” (36:26)?
  4. How does the promise of God's Spirit within his people change the way they can obey?
  5. Where do you need God to soften a hard place in your heart and renew you by his Spirit?
  1. After the dark oracle against Edom, God turns to comfort his people: the very mountains that were plundered and mocked will be made fruitful, rebuilt, and inhabited again (36:8-11). The reversal shows that God's last word over his people is restoration, not ruin.
  2. God says plainly he acts “for my holy name” (36:22-23), not because Israel deserves it. This matters because it grounds our hope in God's unchanging character rather than our performance; the same grace shines in the gospel, where God saves sinners to the praise of his glory.
  3. A heart of stone is hard, unfeeling, and unresponsive to God; a heart of flesh is soft, alive, and able to love and obey him (36:26). The promise is that God does what we cannot—he replaces the unresponsive heart itself, the deepest kind of change there is.
  4. Without the Spirit, the law could command but not empower. God promises to put his Spirit within them so that they “walk in my statutes” from the inside out (36:27). This is the new-covenant hope realized at Pentecost and in every believer, where the indwelling Spirit makes obedience the fruit of a renewed heart.
  5. This is a gentle personal-application question. Invite members to bring to God, even silently, the hardened or unresponsive places in their hearts and to ask for his cleansing and his Spirit. Close in hope: the God who promised a new heart fulfills it in Christ, and he is faithful to complete the work he begins.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.