so that they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.
Parallel translations
- WEB that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
- KJV That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
- NKJV that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
- NASB so that they may walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.
- NLT so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God promises a renewed people who will obey Him from the heart, sealed by the covenant formula 'they will be my people, and I will be their God.'
Overview
This climaxes God's promise (vv. 17-20) to give Israel a new, unified heart so they will keep His law. The change is God's gift, not human achievement, anticipating the fuller new-covenant promise of 36:26-27. The covenant bond it secures is fulfilled in Christ, who by His Spirit writes the law on believers' hearts (Heb. 8:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Ezek 14:11in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Then they will be My people and I will be their God, declares the Lord GOD.’”
- Ps 105:45that they might keep His statutes and obey His laws. Hallelujah!
- Jer 30:22“And you will be My people, and I will be your God.”
- Titus 2:11–12For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone.
- Luke 1:6Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.
- Jer 31:33“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
- Ps 119:4–5You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently.
- Rom 16:26but now revealed and made known through the writings of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, in order to lead all nations to the obedience that comes from faith—
- Heb 11:16Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
- Zech 13:9This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”
- 1 Cor 11:2Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.
- Jer 11:4which I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey Me, and do everything I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.’
- Ezek 36:27–28And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.
- Hos 2:23And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
- Ezek 11:12Then you will know that I am the LORD. For you have neither followed My statutes nor practiced My ordinances, but you have conformed to the ordinances of the nations around you.”
- Heb 8:10For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
- Luke 1:74–75deliverance from hostile hands, that we may serve Him without fear,
- Jer 24:7I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.
- Ezek 37:27My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.
- Jer 32:38They will be My people, and I will be their God.
- Ps 119:32I run in the path of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 11:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.