9. I am concerned about you. I will look on you with favor. Farmers will plow your ground. They will plant seeds in it.
10. " ' "I will multiply the number of people who live in Israel. The towns will no longer be empty. Their broken-down houses will be rebuilt.
11. I will increase the number of your people and animals. They will have many babies. I will settle people in your towns, just as I did in the past. I will help you succeed more than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
12. " ' "I will let my people Israel walk there again. They will possess you. They will receive you as their own. You will never take their children away from them again." ' "
13. The Lord and King says, "People say to you mountains, 'You destroy people. You let your nation's children be taken away.'
14. But I will not let you destroy people anymore. I will no longer let your nation's children be taken away," announces the Lord and King.
15. "You will not have to listen to the nations laughing at you anymore. People will no longer make fun of you. You will not let your nation fall," announces the Lord and King.
16. Another message came to me from the Lord. He said,
17. "Son of man, the people of Israel used to live in their own land. But they polluted it because of how they acted and the way they lived. To me they were 'unclean' like a woman who was having her monthly period.
18. "They spilled people's blood in the land. They polluted the land by worshiping other gods. So I poured out my burning anger on them.
19. I scattered them among the nations. I sent them to other countries. I judged them based on how they acted and the way they lived.
20. "They treated my name as if it were not holy. They did it everywhere they went among the nations. People said about them, 'They are the Lord's people. But they were forced to leave his land.'
21. I was concerned about my holy name. The people of Israel treated it as if it were not holy. They did it everywhere they went among the nations.
22. "But tell the people of Israel, 'The Lord and King speaks. He says, "People of Israel, I will not take action for your benefit. Instead, I will act for the honor of my holy name. You have treated it as if it were not holy. You did it everywhere you went among the nations.
23. But I will show everyone how holy my great name is. You have treated it as if it were not holy. So I will use you to show the nations how holy I am. Then they will know that I am the Lord," announces the Lord and King.
24. " ' "I will take you out of the nations. I will gather you together from all of the countries. I will bring you back into your own land.