Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I have sworn with an uplifted hand that surely the nations around you will endure reproach of their own.
Parallel translations
- WEB therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: I have sworn, Surely the nations that are around you, they shall bear their shame.
- KJV Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.
- NKJV Therefore thus says the Lord God: “I have raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame.
- NASB Therefore the Lord God says this: ‘I have sworn that the nations that are around you will certainly endure their insults themselves.
- NLT Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I have taken a solemn oath that those nations will soon have their own shame to endure.
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 swears that the surrounding nations who mocked Israel will themselves bear shame. The reproach will be reversed onto the mockers.
Overview
With a solemn oath—'I have sworn'—God guarantees that the nations who shamed His people will be shamed in turn. This is the just reversal that runs through the prophets: those who exalt themselves over God's people will be humbled. The certainty of God's sworn word assures His people that their vindication is sure and their enemies' triumph short-lived.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 20:5and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt. With an uplifted hand I said to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.’
- Ezek 20:15Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands—
- Jer 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Rev 10:5–6Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven.
- Jer 47:1–7This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.
- Amos 1:1–15These are the words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
- Deut 32:40For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,
- Zeph 2:1–15Gather yourselves, gather together, O shameful nation,
- Ezek 25:1–17Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Jer 25:15–29This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
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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 36:7 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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