EZK 34-36 edits/corrections

26-EZK.usfm

@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@
 
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 \v 4 I, Yahweh, make this promise to you: Your altars will be destroyed, and the places where you worship idols will all be broken into pieces. I, Yahweh, promise that I will be sure that the Israelite people will be put to death where they worshiped their idols.  
-\v 5 The dead bodies of the Israelite people will be lying in front of their idols; and their bones will be scattered around their altars.  
+\v 5 The dead bodies of the Israelite people will be lying in front of their idols, and their bones will be scattered around their altars.  
   
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 \v 6 Wherever you live, your towns will be ruined and the places where idols were worshiped on the hilltops will be smashed. Your idols will be completely smashed, your altars for burning incense will be destroyed, and everything that you own will become a pile of ruins.   
@@ -2371,12 +2371,12 @@
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 \v 1 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
-\v 2 "Son of man, speak my message against the leaders of Israel. They should be taking care of my people, like shepherds take care of their flocks. Say to them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, have to tell them: 'You shepherds of Israel, terrible things will happen to you because you take care only of yourselves. You should certainly take care of my sheep.
+\v 2 "Son of man, speak my message against the leaders of Israel. They should be taking care of my people, like shepherds take care of their flocks. Say to them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, have to tell them: 'You shepherds of Israel, terrible things will happen to you because you only take care of yourselves. You should certainly take care of my sheep.
 \v 3 But you are like shepherds who eat the fat sheep, who slaughter the best animals for their wool. You are not real shepherds at all.
 
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 \v 4 You have not taken care of the sick sheep; you have paid no attention to those who are wounded. You have not looked for the sheep who have wandered off. You rule over them with force and violence.
-\v 5 Because you did not take care of them, my people have wandered away like sheep. And while they are scattered, wild animals attack and kill them, and then eat their flesh.
+\v 5 Because you did not take care of them, my people have wandered away like sheep. And while they are scattered, wild animals attack and kill them and then eat their flesh.
 \v 6 My people wander like sheep all over the high hills and mountains. They are scattered all over the earth, and no one is searching for them.
 
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@@ -2391,7 +2391,7 @@
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 \v 11 I, the Lord Yahweh, tell you leaders that I myself will search for my sheep and take care of them.
-\v 12 As a shepherd takes care of his sheep, I will rescue my people from all the places to which you scattered them, when disasters struck them and they were afraid.
+\v 12 As a shepherd takes care of his sheep, I will rescue my people from all the places to which you scattered them when disasters struck them and they were afraid.
 \v 13 I will bring them back from those countries and gather them together again in their own land. I will lead my sheep to good pastureland on the hills of Israel, in the ravines, and in the villages of Israel.
 
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@@ -2407,8 +2407,8 @@
 
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-\v 20 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say to you: I myself will judge between those of you who are like the fat sheep and the rest of my people, those who are like the thin sheep.
-\v 21 You who are like strong sheep, with your shoulders and buttocks you have shoved the others away. You butted them with your horns, until you chased them all away from the good pastureland.
+\v 20 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say to you: I myself will judge between those of you who are like the fat sheep and the rest of my people—those who are like the thin sheep.
+\v 21 You who are like strong sheep, with your shoulders and buttocks you have shoved the others away. You butted them with your horns until you chased them all away from the good pastureland.
 
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 \v 22 But I will rescue my people, and you will no longer steal from them. I will judge between one person and another.
@@ -2417,7 +2417,7 @@
 
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-\v 25 I will make a covenant with the people of Israel. I will promise to give them peace. I will promise to get rid of all the wild animals in Israel, in order that my people may live safely, even in the wilderness and in the forests.
+\v 25 I will make a covenant with the people of Israel. I will promise to give them peace. I will promise to get rid of all the wild animals in Israel so that my people may live safely, even in the wilderness and in the forests.
 \v 26 I will bless them, and I will bless all the region close to Mount Zion, where they will worship me in my temple. I will bless them by sending them rain showers at the right season; they will be showers to bless them.
 \v 27 The fruit trees will produce fruit, and the ground will produce crops. And my people will live safely in their land. When I rescue them from people who made them slaves, they will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.
 
@@ -2439,12 +2439,12 @@
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 \v 4 I will destroy your cities, and everyone will leave them. When that happens, you will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.
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-\v 5 You have always been enemies of the Israelite people. You rejoiced when they experienced a great disaster, when their enemies attacked them, when I was punishing them most severely for the sins that they had committed.
+\v 5 You have always been enemies of the Israelite people. You rejoiced when they experienced a great disaster when their enemies attacked them when I was punishing them most severely for the sins that they had committed.
 \v 6 Therefore, I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that as surely as I am alive, I will allow your enemies to slaughter you. They will attack you again and again. You enjoyed watching other people die, so I will slaughter you.
 
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 \v 7 I will therefore make everyone leave Mount Seir, and I will destroy anyone who enters it or leaves it.
-\v 8 I will cause your mountains to be filled with the corpses of those who have been killed. The corpses of those whom your enemies have killed will lie on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines.
+\v 8 I will cause your mountains to be filled with the dead bodies of those who have been killed. The dead bodies of those whom your enemies have killed will lie on your hills, in your valleys, and in all of your ravines.
 \v 9 I will cause your land to be forever without people. No one will live in your towns again. When that happens, you will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.
 
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@@ -2453,7 +2453,7 @@
 \v 11 Therefore, I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that as surely as I am alive, I will punish you for being angry with my people, for envying them, and for hating them. And when I punish you, I will make sure that the Israelites know that it is I who have punished you.
 
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-\v 12 Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have heard all the disgusting things that you have said about the land of Israel; you said that the land was ruined, and that you could capture it for yourselves.
+\v 12 Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have heard all the disgusting things that you have said about the land of Israel; you said that the land was ruined and that you could capture it for yourselves.
 \v 13 You insulted me; I heard everything that you said about me.
 
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@@ -2464,18 +2464,18 @@
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 \v 1 Yahweh said to Ezekiel, "Son of man, give a message to the hill country and mountains in Israel just as if they were people. Tell them to listen to my message for them.
-\v 2 This is it: The enemies of Israel, those peoples who live nearby, are now very happy, because they are saying that Jerusalem has been destroyed, so the ancient mountains of Israel will now belong to them.
-\v 3 So you, Ezekiel, must tell the mountains of Israel what I, the Lord Yahweh, am saying to them: 'Armies of other nations attacked you from every direction, and everyone has left you. Those foreign armies are now in your land. They have spoken very maliciously about your people, the Israelites, and have told all kinds of lies about them.
+\v 2 This is it: The enemies of Israel, those peoples who live nearby, are now very happy because they are saying that Jerusalem has been destroyed, so the ancient mountains of Israel will now belong to them.
+\v 3 So you, Ezekiel, must tell the mountains of Israel what I, the Lord Yahweh, am saying to them: 'Armies of other nations attacked you from every direction, and everyone has left you. Those foreign armies are now in your land. They have spoken very maliciously about your people the Israelites and have told all kinds of lies about them.
 
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-\v 4-6 Therefore, you mountains of Israel, listen to this message from me. I, Yahweh the Lord, have something to say to you, the hills and mountains, and to you, the ravines and valleys, and to you, the towns and cities which the enemy burned down, where no one is living any longer, from where the enemy has taken everything valuable, and whose people the peoples all around are mocking. "This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare: I am very angry with the people of Edom and the other peoples; they have insulted your Israelite people and happily taken all their land as pastures. So Ezekiel must speak for me to you, the land of Israel, mountains and hills, valleys and ravines: I, Yahweh the Lord, am very angry because the enemy has insulted you.
+\v 4-6 Therefore, you mountains of Israel, listen to this message from me. I, Yahweh the Lord, have something to say to you, the hills and mountains, and to you, the ravines and valleys, and to you, the towns and cities that the enemy burned down where no one is living any longer, from where the enemy has taken everything valuable, and whose people the peoples all around are mocking. "This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare: I am very angry with the people of Edom and the other peoples; they have insulted your Israelite people and happily taken all of their land as pastures. So Ezekiel must speak for me to you, the land of Israel, mountains and hills, valleys and ravines: I, Yahweh the Lord, am very angry because the enemy has insulted you.
 
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-\v 7 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: I solemnly declare I will shame the people of the nations that are around you.
+\v 7 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: I solemnly declare that I will shame the people of the nations around you.
 
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-\v 8 But I say to you mountains of Israel that huge crops of fruit will grow on your trees for my Israelite people, because they will soon return home from Babylonia.
+\v 8 But I say to you mountains of Israel that huge crops of fruit will grow on your trees for my Israelite people because they will soon return home from Babylonia.
 \v 9 I will work to help you, and I will be kind to you. I will enable farmers to plow the ground and plant seed in you.
 
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@@ -2485,19 +2485,19 @@
 
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-\v 13 I, Yahweh the Lord, am telling you mountains this: It is true that people have said they could not grow many crops on you, and so they died from hunger.
+\v 13 I, Yahweh the Lord, am telling you mountains this: It is true that people have said they could not grow many crops on you, so they died from hunger.
 \v 14 But that will no longer happen.
 \v 15 No longer will the other peoples ridicule you mountains. No longer will they laugh at you; no longer will you mountains make your nation suffer defeat. I, the Lord Yahweh, am telling you this myself.'"
 
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 \v 16 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
-\v 17 "Son of man, when the Israelite people were living in their own land, they defiled it by the things that they did. They made it unacceptable to me. I considered that their behavior was as disgusting as the rags that women use during their monthly menstrual periods.
-\v 18 So I severely punished them, because they had murdered many people and because they had worshiped idols there. They made their entire land unacceptable to me.
+\v 17 "Son of man, when the Israelite people were living in their own land, they defiled it by the things they did. They made it unacceptable to me. I considered that their behavior was as disgusting as the rags women use during their monthly menstrual periods.
+\v 18 So I severely punished them because they had murdered many people and because they had worshiped idols there. They made their entire land unacceptable to me.
 
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 \v 19 So I made their enemies scatter them into other lands. I punished them as they deserved to be punished because they had done so many evil things.
-\v 20 Wherever they went among those lands, they caused other people to mock me, when they should have honored me. Those people have been saying, 'The Israelites belong to Yahweh, but he was not strong enough to protect them. They had to leave the land that he had given to them.'
+\v 20 Wherever they went among those lands, they caused other people to mock me when they should have honored me. Those people have been saying, 'The Israelites belong to Yahweh, but he was not strong enough to protect them. They had to leave the land he had given to them.'
 \v 21 The people of Israel had disgraced me among the peoples to which they had to go, but I deserve that those peoples worship me instead.
 
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@@ -2512,7 +2512,7 @@
 
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 \v 26 I will give you a completely new way of thinking. I will enable you to stop being stubborn, and I will enable you to obey me from your inner beings.
-\v 27 I will put my Spirit within you and enable you to carefully obey all my laws.
+\v 27 I will put my Spirit within you and enable you to carefully obey all of my laws.
 \v 28 You will again live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.
 
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@@ -2523,12 +2523,12 @@
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 \v 32 But I, the Lord Yahweh, tell you this: It is not for your sake that I will do those things. You Israelite people ought to be ashamed of your behavior.
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-\v 33 I, the Lord Yahweh, also tell you this: At the time that I cleanse you from all the sins that you have committed, I will enable you to live in your cities again and to build houses where there are now only ruins.
-\v 34 People who walk through your country will see that you are once again cultivating your land, and that your people are living in it again.
+\v 33 I, the Lord Yahweh, also tell you this: At the time that I cleanse you from all the sins you have committed, I will enable you to live in your cities again and to build houses where there are now only ruins.
+\v 34 People who walk through your country will see that you are once again cultivating your land and that your people are living in it again.
 
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 \v 35 Then they will say, "This land that was ruined has become very fertile, like the garden of Eden. The cities that were piles of ruins, empty and destroyed, now have houses around them, and people are living in those cities."
-\v 36 When that happens, the people who are still left in the lands that are around you will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have enabled you to rebuild what was destroyed, and to again plant crops in the fields that had nothing growing in them. I, Yahweh, have said that it will happen, and I will cause it to happen.
+\v 36 When that happens, the people who are still left in the lands around you will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have enabled you to rebuild what was destroyed and to again plant crops in the fields that had nothing growing in them. I, Yahweh, have said that it will happen, and I will cause it to happen.
 
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-\v 18 When your fellow Israelites ask you, 'What does this action mean?',
+\v 18 When your fellow Israelites ask you, 'What does this action mean?'
 \v 19 tell them, 'This is what the Lord Yahweh says: One of the pieces of wood in Ezekiel's hand represents Israel and all the tribes of Israel. I am joining it to the piece of wood that represents Judah, to form one stick in his hand.'
 \v 20 Then, Son of man, hold up the pieces of wood that you have written on, in order that the people can see them.