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The Revelation of Jesus Christ
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| ...of Jesus Christ, Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges 1 Samuel 2 Samuel Psalms Song of Songs Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Micah Nahum Haggai Zechariah Malachi Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Revelation Notes Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, there has been no direct communication between God the Father and man. As we follow the threads of truth that run through the Scriptures, this becomes boldly evident. The voice of God in Ezekiel, the 'I am the Lord', is Jesus carrying out the will of God. Ezekiel was among the Jewish people taken to Babylon with King Jehoiachin in 597 B.C. He lived there throughout the events of his book. The emphasis in Ezekiel is on the destruction of the wicked. God will not allow sin, transgression and suffering to run for eternity but will put an end to it. But not all of Ezekiel is about God’s judgement and wrath. His faithful people will be comforted and restored. We are urged, implored, to turn to God and be saved. Witnessing destruction in the news and around us, we may wonder where God is as we see the pain and distress it causes. But as humans we are not able to pass faithful judgments on these issues. Knowing that God is not the author of suffering, we can be sure that He only permits disaster and tragedy to happen to further His purposes. It is from this perspective that we should read these passages from the book of Ezekiel. More than fifty times the phrase “Then you will know that I am the Lord,” is repeated. It’s clearly important that we search for the Lord under life’s clouds as well as in the sunshine. Jesus declared through His prophet Ezekiel that His coming acts of judgement on those of His people that do evil would help them appreciate that He is indeed the Lord. They were without excuse as they already knew He was the Lord. He had given them His Sabbaths to honour, as a sign between Him and them. The people will know that He is the Lord when He does not spare those who worship idols and do abominations, when He makes their land desolate. They will get what they deserve, whether they be king or peasant. Idol worshippers may adore a statue made of gold or wood, an image of a person or animal, or their idol may be their car or their job, a celebrity, music or drugs. If what they admire, whatever it may be, gives them their purpose in life and directs their decisions and activities, then it is an idol and it deeply pains God that they have chosen another god. He loves us as His lovely bride and idol worshippers are practicing unfaithfulness and prostitution. They will not be spared. When the Israelites who do not follow the Lord’s statutes are killed by the sword, when they are scattered among the nations, they will know that He is Lord. But He would leave a remnant to declare their abominations to the rest of the world. They will know that He is the Lord when the false prophets are excluded from His house and the shaky foundations of their false doctrines are exposed, when He delivers His people from their deceits, to be deceived no more. What a warning! There are many falsehoods taught in our churches and many innocent people are misguided by our church leaders. God will not let them go unpunished. But more importantly He will deliver His people out of their hands. Anyone who rejects God by sinning through idols they have set up in their hearts, and then come to a prophet asking for His advice, will be cut off from His people, to set an example. The people will know that Jesus is Lord when He destroys those useless and unfaithful Israelites. He had chosen Israel as His people. He was their God. They needed to get rid of all their abominations and idols of Egypt. They already knew that He was the Lord because He had given them His Sabbaths to honour, as a sign between Him and them. So they had no excuse for ignorance. They will know that He is the Lord when He destroys those that sacrificed their firstborn children by fire. They were rebels and traitors. He would lead them out of their exile, but He wouldn't bring them back to Israel. But when He returned His faithful people to the land of Israel, as promised to their forefathers, they would realize He was God. In spite of their wickedness He would honour His name by treating them mercifully. Jesus then turns to the other nations around Israel. Because the Ammonites cheered when God’s Temple was defiled, mocking Israel in her desolation, and laughing at Judah as she went away into exile, they were going to be destroyed and their land laid waste. And because the people of Moab said that Judah is just like all the other nations, He will do the same for Moab. And so they would all know that He is the LORD. He would also avenge Himself against the people of Philistia who acted against Judah out of bitter revenge and long-standing contempt. Then they will know that He is the Lord. In chapter 26 Jesus likens the proud prince of the port of Tyre to Satan, who said he was beautiful, a god on a godly throne. But his efforts to become like God will be thwarted. Tyre had rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, exulting because the gateway to the rich trade routes to the east had been broken, thinking it would become more wealthy as a result. But the Lord would bring many nations against it. Its villages would be destroyed by the sword. Then they would know that He is Lord. Sidon had also mocked Israel and would pay the price. It had become the Lord’s enemy and He would reveal His glory by bringing judgment against it and revealing His holiness among its people. With plagues and bloodshed they would be punished. Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, would come against Israel with all his allies. But God would protect His people with fire against their attackers. Then they would know that He is Lord, with earthquakes and hail stones. He will show His greatness and His holiness, and make Himself known in the sight of many nations. And they will know that He is the Lord. When He brings His people home from the lands of their enemies, He will display His holiness among them for all the nations to see. He sent them away to exile and brought them home again. He will leave none of His people behind. We are promised that kingdom too, where we shall dwell in safety. For we are His people who choose Him as our Lord and Saviour. The Lord will make known His holy name among His people and among the other nations too. He will not let anyone bring shame on His name. Even if our shepherds are unfaithful, the faithful Branch of David shall feed the flock and He shall be our inheritance. Jesus makes it very clear in Ezekiel that He will destroy those of His people who worship idols. He will scatter those of His people who are disobedient and commit abominations, leaving them in exile. He will exclude false prophets and those that sin and seek their advice. He will punish the other nations who ridicule His people, His bride, and destroy Satan who wanted to set himself up as a god. The Lord’s people will live safely in their land and build homes and plant vineyards. But He will punish the neighboring nations that treat His people with contempt. Then it will be beyond doubt that He is the Lord, the God of His people!
JRB
April 2008 |
| Ezekiel | Notes | | ||
Transgressors shall not be spared |
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Eze.6.7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
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Eze.6.13 Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. |
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The land desolate, yea |
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Eze.6.14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD. |
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Neither will I have pity |
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Eze.7.4 And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. |
Eze.7.9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth. |
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The wicked in Israel shall be judged |
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Eze.11.10 Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
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Eze.11.12 And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you. |
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From the famine, and from the pestilence |
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Eze.12.15 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries. |
Eze.12.16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD. |
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Eze.12.20 And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. |
Eze.12.25 For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD. |
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God's people to be delivered out of the false churches |
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Eze.13.9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. |
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Ye shall see no more vanity |
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Eze.13.21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. |
Eze.13.23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. |
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A sign and a proverb |
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Eze.14.8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. |
Eze.15.7 And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them |
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I will establish my covenant |
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Eze.16.62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: |
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God's church will be purged |
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Eze.20.5 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God; |
Eze.20.7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. |
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I gave them my sabbaths |
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Eze.20.12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. |
Eze.20.19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; |
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I will purge out from among you the rebels |
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Eze.20.26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD. |
Eze.20.42 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers. |
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Take thine inheritance |
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Eze.21.3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. |
Eze.22.16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. |
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More Warnings for the disobediant |
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Eze.22.26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. |
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Rabbah a stable for camels |
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Eze.24.27 In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD. |
Eze.25.5 And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. |
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I will cut thee off from the people |
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Eze.25.7 Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. |
Eze.25.17 And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. |
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O Tyrus |
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Eze.26.3 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
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Eze.27.3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
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I will be glorified in the midst of thee |
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Eze.28.22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. |
Eze.28.23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD. |
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And plant vineyards; yea |
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Eze.28.24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. |
Eze.28.26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God. |
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The great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers |
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Eze.29.3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. |
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Egypt shall be desolate and waste |
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Eze.29.6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. |
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No more the confidence of the house of Israel |
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Eze.29.16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. |
Eze.29.21 In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD. |
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Judgments in Egypt |
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Eze.30.8 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
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Eze.30.22 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. |
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I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon |
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Eze.30.25 But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt. |
Eze.30.26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD. |
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Egypt shall be destitute |
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Eze.32.15 When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the LORD. |
Eze.33.29 Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed. |
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He shall be their shepherd |
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Eze.34.10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. |
Eze.34.23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. |
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The tree of the field shall yield her fruit |
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Eze.34.27 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. |
Eze.34.30 Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. |
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Thy cities shall not return |
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Eze.35.3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. |
Eze.35.4 I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. |
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I have heard all thy blasphemies |
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Eze.35.12 And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. |
Eze.35.15 As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD. |
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Ye shall be tilled and sown |
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Eze.36.9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: |
Eze.36.23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. |
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David shall be their prince for ever |
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Eze.36.38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD. |
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I have opened your graves |
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Eze.37.13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, |
Eze.37.24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. |
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I am against thee |
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Eze.38.3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: |
Eze.39.1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: |
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I make my holy name known |
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Eze.39.7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. |
Eze.39.22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward. |
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I am their inheritance |
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Eze.39.28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. |
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