---
title: "Israel's Regathering and Refining"
category: "theology"
description: "God gathers Israel to the land for His holy name's sake, then cleanses her; refines a remnant through the time of distress for Jacob; and turns the nation to mourn for Jesus, the one they pierced. Ezekiel 36 and Zechariah 12-13, with 1948 weighed carefully."
tags: ["dispensationalism", "tribulation", "ezekiel", "zechariah", "romans", "lang/hebrew", "lang/greek"]
draft: false
primary_passage: "Ezekiel 36:22-28; Zechariah 12:10-13:9"
bible_references: ["Ezekiel 33:21", "Ezekiel 36:22-28", "Ezekiel 36:32", "Ezekiel 37:11-12", "Ezekiel 37:15-22", "Ezekiel 20:34-37", "Zechariah 1:1", "Zechariah 10:8-10", "Zechariah 10:6-7", "Ezekiel 38:8", "Ezekiel 20:38", "Ezra 7:6", "Romans 9:24", "Amos 9:11", "Isaiah 27:9", "John 19:35", "Zechariah 12:10", "Zechariah 13:1", "Zechariah 13:3", "Zechariah 13:7-9", "Amos 9:15", "Isaiah 11:11", "Isaiah 59:20", "Psalm 14:7", "Hosea 1:9-10", "Hosea 5:15", "Deuteronomy 4:30-31", "Jeremiah 30:7", "Daniel 12:1", "Numbers 25:8", "1 Samuel 31:4", "Matthew 24:15-20", "Matthew 26:31", "John 19:37", "Acts 1:6-7", "Acts 15:14-16", "Romans 9:25-26", "Romans 11:26-27", "Romans 11:29", "John 19:34", "Revelation 1:7"]
date_created: 2026-09-26
date_modified: 2026-10-21
ai_provider_models:
  - anthropic/claude-opus-5.5
---

# Israel's Regathering and Refining

In the twelfth year of the exile a fugitive reached Ezekiel in Babylon with four words of news: "The
city has been struck down" (Ezekiel 33:21, ESV). Jerusalem had fallen. The exiles said what anyone
would say: "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off" (Ezekiel 37:11, ESV). God
answered them: "I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring
you into the land of Israel" (37:12, ESV).

**In one sentence:** For His name's sake God gathers Israel to her land, then refines a remnant
through the time of distress for Jacob until they mourn for Jesus, the one they pierced, and are
cleansed.

## Key Takeaways

*(This section follows the [Key Takeaways](https://the-way.lewy.au/about/key-takeaways/) format — see that page for what each part is for.)*

### Types & Prophecy

- **Gathering, then cleansing.** Ezekiel 36:24-27 is a direct prediction with an order in it: God
  brings Israel into her own land (v. 24), then sprinkles clean water, gives a new heart and puts
  His Spirit within (vv. 25-27).
- **The struck shepherd.** "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" (Zechariah 13:7,
  ESV). Jesus quoted it of Himself on the night He was arrested (Matthew 26:31).
- **The pierced one.** Zechariah 12:10 foresees Jerusalem looking "on me, on him whom they have
  pierced." John reads the cross as its fulfilment (John 19:37), and Revelation places the nations'
  mourning at His return (Revelation 1:7).

### Lessons about Jesus

- **Jesus is the shepherd God struck.** Zechariah calls Him "the man who stands next to me"
  (Zechariah 13:7, ESV), and the refining of the remnant follows His striking.
- **Jesus is the one Israel will look on.** The mourning of Zechariah 12:10 is grief for Him, "as one
  mourns for an only child" (ESV).
- **Jesus is most likely the Deliverer from Zion** who banishes ungodliness from Jacob (Romans
  11:26). The *ESV Study Bible* says the phrase "probably refers to Christ" (note on 11:26).

### Memory verses

> ✝️ Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV)
>
> 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the
> heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

> ✝️ Zechariah 13:9 (ESV)
>
> 9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as
> gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my
> people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'

### Be Transformed

- **Think.** God saves for the sake of His own name: "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel,
  that I am about to act" (Ezekiel 36:22, ESV). Your salvation rests on the same grace, and it holds
  for the same reason.
- **Attitude.** Hold the promises firmly and the dates loosely. Jesus left the promise to Israel
  standing and kept the calendar with the Father (Acts 1:6-7).
- **Do.** Name one Jewish friend, neighbour or colleague, and pray this week that God will pour out
  on them "a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy" (Zechariah 12:10, ESV).

### Prayer

Father, You keep Your word when Your people cannot keep theirs. Thank You that You acted for the sake
of Your holy name, and that You gave Your Son Jesus, the shepherd who was struck and the one who was
pierced. Pour out Your Spirit of grace on Israel, as You promised, and bring her to look on Him and
mourn and be cleansed. Refine me too, as silver is refined, until I call on Your name and hear You
say that I am Yours.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

## Study outline

- [Where these promises were spoken](#where-these-promises-were-spoken). Ezekiel among the exiles
  after Jerusalem fell; Zechariah after the first return.
- [The prophets, and the order they give](#the-prophets-and-the-order-they-give). Ezekiel 36-37,
  Hosea and Acts 15: gathered first, cleansed after, one nation.
- [The tribulation, and what it is for](#the-tribulation-and-what-it-is-for). Moses to Zechariah:
  distress that brings Israel to her Messiah, the pierced one.
- [About 1948](#about-1948). What the prophets require, what no text supplies, and how to hold the
  modern state.
- [All Israel will be saved](#all-israel-will-be-saved). Romans 11:26-27, and who "all Israel" is.
- [Discussion questions](#discussion-questions). Six, for a group or on your own.
- [Annex: Paul's quotation in Romans 11:26](#annex-pauls-quotation-in-romans-1126). Why Paul's
  "from Zion" matches neither Isaiah 59:20 text, and where it comes from.

## Where these promises were spoken

### Ezekiel, after the fall

Ezekiel was a priest living among the Judean exiles in Babylon. His oracles are dated from the summer
of 593 BC to April 571 BC, and the book turns on the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC: chapters
1-25 come before the fall, chapters 33-48 after it (*ESV Study Bible*, introduction to Ezekiel). The
news reaches him in 33:21, and the promises of restoration follow.

So Ezekiel 36 was spoken to people with no city, no temple and no reason in themselves to expect
either back. God says so plainly: "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to
act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came"
(Ezekiel 36:22, ESV). He repeats it at the far end of the passage (36:32). The purpose is stated
between them: "the nations will know that I am the LORD ... when through you I vindicate my holiness
before their eyes" (36:23, ESV).

**This shows that God restores Israel by grace.** He acts for His own name, and so the restoration
rests on His character.

### Zechariah, after the first return

Zechariah was also a priest. He came back from Babylon with Zerubbabel in about 538 BC, and his
dated ministry opens "in the second year of Darius" (Zechariah 1:1, ESV), 520 BC (*ESV Study Bible*,
introduction to Zechariah). Chapters 9-14 may come from later in his life, perhaps the fifth century
BC.

Zechariah prophesies after a return has already happened, and he still promises a gathering: "I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from
Assyria" (10:10, ESV; see 10:8). He names "the house of Joseph" and Ephraim (10:6-7, ESV), the
northern tribes, whom the return from Babylon did not bring home; Ezra's later journey was also from
Babylonia (Ezra 7:6). The return from Babylon did not exhaust the promise, and the *ESV Study Bible*
says the same of Ezekiel 36 (note on 36:22-32).

## The prophets, and the order they give

### Gathered first, cleansed after

The regathering promises are specific, and one of them states a sequence.

> ✝️ Ezekiel 36:24-28 (ESV)
>
> 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your
> own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your
> uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and
> a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give
> you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes
> and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and
> you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Gathering comes first (v. 24). Cleansing, the new heart and the Spirit come after (vv. 25-27). So a
return to the land before national cleansing fits this prophecy's order. The new heart of verse 26 is
regeneration, and God names Himself as the one who does it.

Amos promises a final planting from which Israel is "never again" uprooted (Amos 9:15, ESV), and
Isaiah a recovery "a second time" (Isaiah 11:11, ESV).

### One nation, in the land

Ezekiel says what the regathering is *for*, and it is national.

> ✝️ Ezekiel 37:21-22 (ESV)
>
> 21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the
> nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their
> own land. 22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king
> shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into
> two kingdoms.

One nation, in the land, under one king. The two sticks of 37:15-20 become one in God's hand, and
the wound healed is the division between Ephraim and Judah, the northern and southern kingdoms. The
passage keeps Israel as Israel, a people with a land and a king.

### Not My People, reversed

God names Hosea's son *Lo-Ammi*, "Not My People" (Hosea 1:9), and reverses it in the next breath:
"in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them,
'Children of the living God'" (Hosea 1:10, ESV). Paul quotes that reversal at Romans 9:25-26 and
applies it to those God has called "not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles" (Romans 9:24,
ESV). He applies Hosea's pattern to Gentiles and leaves Hosea's promise with Israel, as [The Wife of
the Lamb](https://the-way.lewy.au/israel-and-church/wife-of-the-lamb/#the-name-she-calls-him-hosea-216) sets out.

### "After this": James at the Jerusalem council

James read the sequence the same way at the Jerusalem council:

> ✝️ Acts 15:14-16 (ESV)
>
> 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.
> 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 "'After this I will
> return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will
> restore it,

On one reading, Gentiles are gathered first for God's name and **after this** the fallen tent of David
is rebuilt. That reading is contested, among premillennial writers too. "After this" is James's
wording for Amos's "In that day" (Amos 9:11, ESV), and Stanley Toussaint says a third view "may be more
plausible": James is saying Gentiles will be saved in the kingdom, when Christ returns and restores
Israel, after the tribulation of Amos 9:8-10 (*Bible Knowledge Commentary*, on Acts 15:16-18). On
either reading the council that settled Gentile inclusion left David's house standing in the
prophets' future.

**This shows that God keeps covenant with the nation He chose.** He gathers the people He scattered,
makes them one, and gives them a new heart by His Spirit. [Israel and the
Church](https://the-way.lewy.au/israel-and-church/israel-and-the-church/) sets out how Romans 9-11 holds Israel and the church together
without merging them.

## The tribulation, and what it is for

### Distress that brings Israel home

For Israel, God uses the coming distress to bring the nation to her Messiah.

Moses said so before the nation had entered the land: "When you are in tribulation, and all these
things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God … He will not … forget
the covenant with your fathers" (Deuteronomy 4:30-31, ESV). Hosea gives God's side of the same arrangement: "I
will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their
distress earnestly seek me" (Hosea 5:15, ESV). Distress is the instrument; seeking His face is the
object.

### A time of distress for Jacob

Jeremiah names the period from Israel's side: "it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be
saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:7, ESV). Jacob goes through it and is saved out of it, and Daniel 12:1
promises the same deliverance. Ezekiel supplies the mechanism, a second Exodus: God brings the nation
"into the wilderness of the peoples," judges it there and brings it "into the bond of the covenant"
(Ezekiel 20:34-37, ESV). Then: "I will purge out the rebels from among you ... they shall not enter the land of Israel"
(Ezekiel 20:38, ESV). The purge comes before the final entry.

### The shepherd struck, the remnant refined

Zechariah gives the proportions and the outcome, and he sets them straight after the striking of the
shepherd: "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" (Zechariah 13:7, ESV).

> ✝️ Zechariah 13:8-9 (ESV)
>
> 8 In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall
> be left alive. 9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver,
> and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say,
> 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'

"Refine" is <span dir="rtl">צָרַף</span> (*tsaraph*, H6884; "tsah-RAF"), which the *Theological
Wordbook of the Old Testament* glosses "smelt" (TWOT 1972). A smelter heats ore to draw the metal out
of it, and he does it to metal he intends to keep. The covenant formula closes the verse, *they are
my people*, *the LORD is my God*, spoken over the refined remnant of Israel itself.

**When the refining happens is contested.** Jesus applied 13:7 to His own arrest (Matthew 26:31), so
some readers place the scattering and refining of 13:8-9 in the first century, in the years leading
to AD 70. Others, this study among them, read 13:8-9 with Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1 as the time of
distress for Jacob still ahead, in Daniel's seventieth week. Two things favour the second reading:
the covenant formula spoken over a whole refined remnant, and chapter 14's setting in "the day of the
Lord" (*ESV Study Bible*, note on 12:1-14:21). F. Duane Lindsey holds both, near and far: the passage
"probably will see its final and complete fulfillment in Israel's dispersion in the Tribulation"
(*Bible Knowledge Commentary*, on Zechariah 13:8-9). All the readings agree on what the refining is
for.

### The one they pierced

Zechariah 12:10 supplies what finally turns Israel to the LORD:

> ✝️ Zechariah 12:10 (ESV)
>
> 10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and
> pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for
> him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

"Pierced" is <span dir="rtl">דָּקַר</span> (*daqar*, H1856; "dah-KAR"), a thrust with sword or
spear (Numbers 25:8; 1 Samuel 31:4; Zechariah 13:3).

### Who the pierced one is

The speaker is the LORD, and the Hebrew reads "they will look to me" (<span dir="rtl">אֵלַי</span>,
*elay*), then "they will mourn over him." The identity of the pierced one is
"difficult to discern"; if "on me" is defined by "whom they have pierced," the reference is to God
Himself, perhaps as the shepherd struck in 13:7 (*ESV Study Bible*, note on 12:10-14). John settles it
for the reader of the New Testament. He records the spear going into Jesus' side and an eyewitness to
it (John 19:34-35), and writes, "They will look on him whom they have pierced" (John 19:37, ESV). Revelation places the
looking at Jesus' return: "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him" (Revelation 1:7, ESV).

The mourning leads to cleansing: "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness" (Zechariah 13:1, ESV).
That is Ezekiel's order again. Gathered to Jerusalem, then cleansed.

**This shows that God refines the people He keeps, and turns them by His Spirit to His Son Jesus.**
The tribulation is how He finishes His dealings with Israel.

## About 1948

The modern State of Israel sits in this framework as a candidate stage. What follows separates what
Scripture promises from the judgement of fitting a modern event to it.

### What the prophets require

Ezekiel's order puts a regathering to the land before national cleansing (Ezekiel 36:24-27), and
Zechariah and Isaiah promise a gathering beyond the return from Babylon (Zechariah 10:8-10; Isaiah
11:11). On the dispensational reading those promises reach their full form after the seventieth
week: the *Bible Knowledge Commentary*'s "Outline of End-Time Events," printed with its Ezekiel
commentary, places Ezekiel 36:24, 37:1-14, Isaiah 11:11 and Amos 9:14-15, the "Final regathering
of Israel," among the events after the seven-year period. The text that puts Israel in the
land *while* that week runs is Ezekiel 38:8: "in the latter years" a land "whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel … and now dwell
securely" (ESV), which the same outline places in the first half of the seven years. Jesus' warning
on the Mount of Olives, read of its far fulfilment, requires the same: people in Judea, a holy
place, a Sabbath to flee on (Matthew 24:15-20). So Scripture expects a people back in the land
while the seven years run, and the final planting (Amos 9:15) after them.

### What no text supplies

A year. Scripture gives no date for this and no marker by which to identify a particular political
event as its fulfilment. Jesus was asked a version of exactly this question: "Lord, will you at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He answered the timing and left the premise standing: "It is not
for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority" (Acts 1:6-7, ESV).
He corrected *when*, and let *whether* stand.

### How the views divide

**Many dispensational interpreters** see 1948 as the opening of the regathering in unbelief that
Ezekiel 36 and 37 describe, with cleansing still to come. Rome emptied Jerusalem of its Jews and rebuilt it as
the colony Aelia Capitolina in AD 135 (*NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible*, note on Luke 21:24); a
Jewish nation living in that land again fits that shape. [The Fig Tree and This
Generation](https://the-way.lewy.au/last-things/fig-tree-and-this-generation/#what-the-fig-tree-does-not-supply-a-clock)
and [Immediately After](https://the-way.lewy.au/last-things/immediately-after/#the-times-of-the-gentiles) reach the same
place from the Gospels.

**Other interpreters** hold that the regathering promises were fulfilled in the return under Cyrus,
or that they are fulfilled in the church. The first view has to account for Zechariah promising a
gathering after that return had happened. The second reads Israel as the church, which the author of
this site does not hold; [Israel and the Church](https://the-way.lewy.au/israel-and-church/israel-and-the-church/) gives the reasons from
Romans 9-11.

**The judgement this site makes:** 1948 fits the shape the prophets describe, and calling it a stage
toward their fulfilment is defensible. Calling it a dated fulfilment claims more than the text
gives. [A Day Is a Thousand
Years](https://the-way.lewy.au/last-things/day-is-a-thousand-years/#why-nobody-has-got-the-date-right) shows that every
year-6000 date to arrive so far has passed without the end.

**This shows that God keeps the times in His own authority** and gives you the promise to live by.

## All Israel will be saved

### Romans 11:26-27

Paul gathers the prophets into two verses:

> ✝️ Romans 11:26-27 (ESV)
>
> 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion,
> he will banish ungodliness from Jacob"; 27 "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away
> their sins."

That is Zechariah 12:10 and 13:1 seen from the far side: the Deliverer coming from Zion, Jacob's
ungodliness banished, sins taken away under a covenant God calls His own. It is the new covenant
Ezekiel 36:26-27 describes, the new heart and the Spirit within.

### Three readings of "all Israel"

**Who "all Israel" is, is contested.** The *ESV Study Bible* sets out three readings: the church of
Jews and Gentiles through history; a remnant of Jews through history; or the Jewish people at the
end of history. It judges the first unlikely, because Israel in 11:25 is ethnic Israel and "they"
in 11:28 still stands apart from the Gentiles, judges the third most likely, and takes "all Israel" to mean a very large number
of Jews, not every individual (note on 11:26). The *NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible* adds that a
significant line of Jewish tradition expected the future salvation of all Israel, meaning Israel as a
whole (note on 11:26, citing Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1). This study reads it the same way, with the prophets
above supplying how: a refined remnant, turned by the Spirit to the one they pierced.

**This shows that God finishes what He starts with Israel.** "The gifts and the calling of God are
irrevocable" (Romans 11:29, ESV). The same faithfulness holds your salvation, so you may rest on it.

## Discussion questions

1. **The language.** "Refine" in Zechariah 13:9 is <span dir="rtl">צָרַף</span> (*tsaraph*), a
   smelter's word. What does it say about why God puts "this third into the fire"?
2. **The text in its context.** Zechariah 10:8-10 promises a gathering after the return from
   Babylon. How far do the prophets' promises reach?
3. **Christ.** Zechariah 12:10 reads "when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced." How do
   John 19:37 and Revelation 1:7 help you read it?
4. **The hard part.** Jesus applied Zechariah 13:7 to His own arrest (Matthew 26:31). When does the
   refining of Zechariah 13:8-9 happen, read beside Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1?
5. **The modern state.** Ezekiel 36:24-27 gathers before it cleanses. What should that order lead a
   Christian to expect of a largely unbelieving Jewish state?
6. **Be transformed.** Jesus declined to give the date and left the promise standing (Acts 1:6-7). Where are you
   tempted to demand the date before you trust the promise?

## Annex: Paul's quotation in Romans 11:26

A reader who looks up Paul's quotation will find a discrepancy. Paul writes ἥξει **ἐκ Σιὼν** ὁ
ῥυόμενος, "the Deliverer will come **from** Zion." Isaiah 59:20 reads "**to** Zion" in the Hebrew,
and ἥξει **ἕνεκεν Σιὼν**, "for the sake of Zion," in the Septuagint. Neither gives Paul his
preposition. Psalm 14:7 does, in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint, where it is numbered 13:7: Τίς δώσει **ἐκ Σιὼν** τὸ
σωτήριον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, a verse that also names Jacob and Israel. The *NIV* and *NKJV Cultural Backgrounds
Study Bibles* suggest Paul "might blend" Isaiah 59:20-21 with Psalm 14:7 ("from Zion") and Isaiah 27:9
("take away their sins"; only in the Greek version), which is what the wording suggests: the rest of
his line follows Isaiah's Greek closely.

## References & Recommended Reading

- **ESV Study Bible** (Crossway) — introductions to Ezekiel and Zechariah; notes on Ezekiel 36:22-32,
  Zechariah 12:1-14:21, 12:10-14 and 13:7-9, and Romans 11:26. ESV verse text throughout. Quoted
  briefly with attribution.
- **NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible** (Zondervan) — notes on Ezekiel 36:24-27 and Zechariah
  12:10-14, 13:8-9.
- **NKJV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible** and **NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible** (Zondervan) —
  notes on Romans 11:26 and Paul's blending of Isaiah 59:20 with Psalm 14:7.
- **Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament** — roots 1972 (*tsaraph*) and 449 (*daqar*), from this
  project's TWOT root map.
- Original-language data from this project's `bible-text.db` — MACULA Hebrew (WLC) for
  <span dir="rtl">צָרַף</span> (*tsaraph*, H6884) and <span dir="rtl">דָּקַר</span> (*daqar*,
  H1856); unfoldingWord interlinear for Zechariah 12:10 and 13:9; SBLGNT and Brenton's Septuagint for
  Romans 11:26, Isaiah 59:20 and Psalm 13:7 LXX.

### On this site

- [Israel and the Church](https://the-way.lewy.au/israel-and-church/israel-and-the-church/) — what Romans 9-11 says is still ahead for Israel,
  and how Israel and the church stand together today.
- [The Rapture of the Church](https://the-way.lewy.au/last-things/rapture/) — where the church stands in relation to the
  time of distress for Jacob.
- [The Day Is Near](https://the-way.lewy.au/last-things/day-is-near/) — why the timing of Christ's return is hidden.
- [Those Who Sigh and Groan](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/those-who-sigh-and-groan/) — Ezekiel's new heart
  and Spirit, and the grief over sin that follows the gift (Ezekiel 36:26-31).