What is the meaning of Ezekiel 36:13?

For this is what the Lord GOD says

• The declaration originates with the sovereign LORD; therefore it is certain (Numbers 23:19; Isaiah 55:11).

• In the flow of Ezekiel 36 He is answering the pain of exile and announcing restoration (Ezekiel 36:12, 22-24).

• Whenever God speaks, human opinion bows (Isaiah 45:23).

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Because people say to you

• “You” is the land—the mountains of Israel addressed since v.1.

• Onlookers, both Israelites and surrounding nations, have drawn hopeless conclusions after centuries of bloodshed (2 Chronicles 36:17-21; Psalm 79:4).

• God hears every word spoken over His people and His land (Malachi 3:16) and will answer it.

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‘You devour men’

• The charge recalls the spies’ fearful report: “The land … devours its inhabitants” (Numbers 13:32).

• Israel’s soil had seen

– invading armies (2 Kings 25:1-21; Ezekiel 5:12),

– famine and plague (Leviticus 26:25-26; Ezekiel 14:21),

– internal violence and idolatry (Ezekiel 22:2-4).

• God acknowledges the accusation but promises, “You will no longer devour men” (Ezekiel 36:14).

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‘and deprive your nation of its children’

• The land seemed to bereave its own—through war, exile, and sorrow (Jeremiah 31:15; Lamentations 1:16).

• Yet the covenant still stands: He will repopulate and multiply His people (Ezekiel 36:10-11; Isaiah 49:20; Ezekiel 37:12-14).

• The coming reversal will silence every taunt (Micah 4:11; Ezekiel 36:15).

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summary

Ezekiel 36:13 sets up God’s rebuttal to a dark reputation: that Israel’s land “devours” its people and robs the nation of future generations. By introducing His word with divine authority, He notes the accusation, exposes the grim history behind it, and prepares to overturn it in the very next verse. The message is clear: what sin and judgment have marred, the LORD will redeem, filling the land with life and ending its days of bereavement forever.