A reading from the book of Ezekiel.

And you, Son of Man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say,

O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord God, because the enemy said of you,

Aha! and the ancient heights have become our possession. Therefore prophesy and say,

thus says the Lord God. Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides

so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil

gossip of the people.

Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God.

Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate

wastes, and the deserted cities, which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the

nations all around. Therefore, thus says the Lord God. Surely I have spoken in my hot jealousy

against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave my land to themselves as a possession, with wholehearted joy and utter

contempt, that they might make its pasture lands a prey. Therefore prophesy concerning the land

of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, thus says the Lord God. Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath,

because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. Therefore, thus says the Lord God,

I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach. But you, O mountains of Israel,

shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home.

For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown, and I will multiply people on you,

the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places rebuilt,

and I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited

as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know

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