The land that was desolate shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all who passed by.
Parallel translations
- KJV And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
- BSB The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through.
- NKJV The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by.
- NASB The desolated land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by.
- NLT The fields that used to lie empty and desolate in plain view of everyone will again be farmed.
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
The once-desolate land will be tilled again instead of lying ruined for passersby to see. God reverses desolation into fruitfulness.
Overview
Land that had become a byword for ruin will be cultivated and productive once more. The reversal testifies to God's restoring power. Such transformation of waste into life pictures the renewal God works in barren hearts through His grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Ezek 6:14I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they will know that I am Yahweh. ’”
- Jer 25:9–11behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
- Deut 29:23–28and that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath;
- 2 Chr 36:21to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
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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 36:34 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
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