Punishment for Profane Worship and Promise of Restoration
Ezekiel 20:30-44
30Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: In the conduct of your fathers you are defiled, and after their abominations you commit fornication.31And by lifting your gifts, by causing your sons to pass through the fire, you are defiled before all your idols until this day. Yet I will let myself be sought by you, O house of Israel. As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not let myself be sought by you.32And what rises upon your spirit shall not be, namely what you are saying: We will become like the nations, like the families of the lands, by ministering to wood and stone.33As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I will reign over you.34I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you were scattered, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out.35I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.36As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD.37I will make you pass under the staff and bring you into the bond of the covenant.38I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against me. From the land of their sojourning I will bring them out, but they will not enter the land of Israel; then you will know that I am the LORD.39As for you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD: Each of you go serve his idols, and afterward, if you are not listening to me, you shall no longer profane my holy name with your gifts and your idols.40For on my holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, there all the house of Israel, everyone in the land, will serve me. There I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the first of your offerings with all your holy things.41I will accept you with a pleasing aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you were scattered, and I will show myself holy among you before the eyes of the nations.42You will know that I am the LORD when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land concerning which I swore by lifting my hand to give it to your fathers.43There you will remember your ways and all your wanton acts by which you defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evils you have committed.44You will know that I am the LORD when I deal with you for the sake of my name, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt wanton acts, O house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.