36:24 gather you out of all countries. Anticipating Israel’s future worldwide dispersion, as well as their current Babylonian exile, God promises to remember the ancient covenant and bring them finally back to the promised land.

36:25 sprinkle clean water. This is not a reference to New Testament baptism, of course, as some have taken it. It is a symbolic cleansing applied by God Himself to the nation of Israel in that future day when “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26). The figure is probably taken either from the cleansing ritual of Numbers 8:5-7, or that of Numbers 19:9,13,21, which are the only other Old Testament references to sprinkling with water.

36:26 A new heart. This is probably the clearest Old Testament reference to the new birth. Note also Jeremiah 31:33 and 33:8.

36:27 my spirit within you. This regeneration of Israel is to be accomplished by God sometime after their return to Israel in unbelief. This has not yet been fulfilled, but God will do it in such a striking way that “the heathen shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 36:23), and even “the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward” (Ezekiel 39:22). Chapters 37, 38 and 39 tell how all this will be accomplished.