Ezekiel 36:3
“therefore prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;””
What does Ezekiel 36:3 mean?
God is speaking to the land of Israel through the prophet Ezekiel, acknowledging the deep wound of being surrounded by enemies who have consumed and mocked the nation. The repeated "because, even because" shows God's intense awareness of how thoroughly the people have been devastated—not just physically conquered, but stripped of dignity, made the subject of whispered gossip and slander among neighboring peoples. What makes this moment significant is that God is paying attention to the shame itself, the way suffering people are talked about and diminished when they're already broken. This verse is God saying: I see not only your ruin, but the cruelty of how you're being treated and spoken of in the aftermath. It's the beginning of a promise that God will act to restore both the land and the people's standing.