In the previous verses, it says "and I will multiply people upon you," and afterwards "and I will lead people upon you" - through this, the prophet hinted that the redemption of Cyrus would not be an eternal redemption; rather, the Jewish people would return during the Second Temple era and subsequently be exiled once again. From here on, the prophet explains why this must be so: why the Holy One, blessed be He, does not redeem us immediately with a permanent redemption, but instead redeems us and then disperses us once more. This is the subject of the section before us.
(16) וַיְהִי דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר׃ - And the word of Hashem came to me, saying:
(17) בֶּן־אָדָם בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל יֹשְׁבִים עַל־אַדְמָתָם וַיְטַמְּאוּ אוֹתָהּ בְּדַרְכָּם וּבַעֲלִילוֹתָם כְּטֻמְאַת הַנִּדָּה הָיְתָה דַרְכָּם לְפָנָי׃ - Son of man, when the House of Israel dwelt upon their land, they defiled it by their way and by their deeds; like the impurity of a niddah was their way before Me.
"The House of Israel dwelt upon their land" - this refers to the days of the Second Temple. They committed corrupt deeds and defiled the land, and yet the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I did not banish them completely from My presence, for absolute expulsion means forever. Rather, My distance from them was "like the impurity of a niddah" - just as with a niddah, whose husband separates from her but waits for her to become purified and then returns to her. So too, the Holy One, blessed be He, waited for them to return to Him, in the spirit of "Return to Me, and I will return to you."
"By their way and by their deeds" - this reflects a principle the Malbim reiterates in several places: "way" (derech) refers to an inner character trait, while "deeds" (alilot) refer to outward actions. Pride is an inner trait, anger is an inner trait; but when a person becomes angry and ultimately strikes someone, the anger is "their way" and the striking is "their deeds," for alilot are always the concrete actions that stem from those character traits. Here, He faults them on two counts: both for their corrupt internal traits and for the evil actions that resulted from them.
(18) וָאֶשְׁפֹּךְ חֲמָתִי עֲלֵיהֶם עַל־הַדָּם אֲשֶׁר־שָׁפְכוּ עַל־הָאָרֶץ וּבְגִלּוּלֵיהֶם טִמְּאוּהָ׃ - And I poured out My wrath upon them for the blood that they shed upon the land, and for their idols with which they defiled it.
The Malbim consistently distinguishes between cheimah (wrath) and af (anger): cheimah is the internal anger burning within a person, whereas af is outwardly visible anger - as in "for a fire is kindled in My nostril." The far more difficult state is precisely this internal wrath that cannot be vented outward. Thus the Malbim explains regarding Ahasuerus, "and his wrath burned within him": Ahasuerus could not openly display his anger, because revealing it would expose that he had been slighted by what occurred; therefore, the wrath remained burning inside.
"For the blood that they shed" - this refers to bloodshed; "and for their idols with which they defiled it" - this refers to forbidden sexual relations or idolatry. Regarding both of these, the Torah states that the land vomits out its inhabitants: "for blood pollutes the land," and in the passage of forbidden relations, "that the land vomit you not out also, when you defile it."
(19) וָאָפִיץ אֹתָם בַּגּוֹיִם וַיִּזָּרוּ בָּאֲרָצוֹת כְּדַרְכָּם וְכַעֲלִילוֹתָם שְׁפַטְתִּים׃ - "And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their ways and according to their deeds I judged them."
Note the precision of the language: "I scattered" (va'afitz) refers to the Holy One, blessed be He, but "they were dispersed" (vayizaru) is not phrased as "and I dispersed them." Initially, the Holy One, blessed be He, scattered them among the nations, and from those nations they themselves scattered and dispersed to distant lands. As we have seen several times regarding the phrase "scattering and dispersing," dispersing (zeriyah) is harsher than scattering (hafatzah), as it involves an even wider dispersion.
Even so - "according to their ways and according to their deeds I judged them": this was neither a punishment of destruction nor one of complete concealment of the Divine Face, as if the Holy One, blessed be He, had abandoned them and paid no attention to what befell them. On the contrary, the punishment was administered under close Divine Providence. There is a fundamental difference between a punishment administered through Divine Providence and one left to natural chance: an unprovidential punishment has a seeming advantage, in that the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, leaves us to nature, and if according to natural circumstances nothing bad is supposed to happen, nothing bad will happen; everything depends on the laws of nature. But in a punishment guided by Divine Providence, there is both a disadvantage and an advantage. The disadvantage is that the suffering inevitably arrives, for the Holy One, blessed be He, directly oversees the affliction. The great advantage is that Someone is always measuring the exact dosage, ensuring that it is never too harsh and will not lead to total destruction. The Holy One, blessed be He, did not cast us away from His presence into the harsh vagaries of nature, but rather administered the punishment precisely as required. This is the meaning of the verse: "And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them; for I am Hashem their God."
Where do we see this here? In the words, "according to their ways and according to their deeds I judged them." First, this uses the language of judgment (mishpat), and judgment is always deliberate, calibrated, and exact. Second, it is measure for measure: "according to their ways" corresponds to the evil of the heart and its thoughts, while "according to their deeds" corresponds to their actual actions. From this one understands that the punishment was not excessive, but administered in precise doses, which is proof that Divine Providence never departed from them.
(20) וַיָּבוֹא אֶל־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר־בָּאוּ שָׁם וַיְחַלְּלוּ אֶת־שֵׁם קׇדְשִׁי בֶּאֱמֹר לָהֶם עַם־יְהֹוָה אֵלֶּה וּמֵאַרְצוֹ יָצָאוּ׃ - "And he came to the nations where they came, and they profaned My holy Name, when it was said of them: 'These are the people of Hashem, and they have gone out of His land.'"
Seemingly, the text should have said, "And they came (vayavo'u) to the nations where they came," since the end of the verse uses the plural. Rashi offers a straightforward contextual explanation: earlier, the verse spoke of "the House of Israel," which is a singular term - not "Israelites," but "the House of Israel" - and therefore the narrative continues with that same singular phrasing, "and he came" (vayavo).
Rashi also brings a Midrash Aggadah: "And He came" means that the Holy One, blessed be He, came to the nations where His children had arrived. The Holy One, blessed be He, went down with them into exile, in the spirit of "I am with him in distress," and inclined His ear to hear what their captors were saying. And what were they saying? "These are the people of Hashem, and they have gone out of His land" - these are supposedly the people of Hashem, yet He lacked the power to save them! This gave rise to a terrible desecration of God's Name: if the people of Hashem are exiled, it implies, Heaven forbid, that their God is weak.
The Malbim likewise explains that "and He came" refers to the Holy One, blessed be He, proving this from the continuation of the verse: "and they profaned My holy Name" - it was My holy Name that came to the nations. Why did He come? As explained earlier: "according to their ways and according to their deeds" - the punishment was carried out under full Divine Providence. The Holy One, blessed be He, came to ensure that the punishment would not exceed the proper measure, that it would be measure for measure exactly as they deserved, and so that they would realize that the punishment was providential. When a person realizes that his punishment is directed by Divine Providence, it is much easier for him to repent. When Israel failed to observe the Sabbatical years for seventy cycles, and then "the land enjoyed its sabbaths" through seventy years of exile, the connection became immediately apparent; one recognizes that he is paying the price for a specific fault, and he mends his ways.
Yet precisely from this, a desecration of God's Name arose among the nations. They saw that even though Israel was in exile, Hashem remained with them, His providence accompanied them, and He had not abandoned them. They therefore asked: "These are the people of Hashem" - His providence is still attached to them; if so, why have "they gone out of His land"? Why does He not return them to His land, which is the designated place of providence, "a land upon which the eyes of Hashem your God are always, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year"? Their inevitable conclusion was that it was due to Hashem's inability, as if, Heaven forbid, He were limited and forced to wander into exile with them to watch over them there, unable to restore them to their own land. Hence the great desecration of Hashem's Name.
(21) וָאֶחְמֹל עַל־שֵׁם קׇדְשִׁי אֲשֶׁר חִלְּלֻהוּ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר־בָּאוּ שָׁמָּה׃ - "And I had pity on My holy Name, which the House of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they had come."
Until now, the discussion concerned the desecration perpetrated by the nations through their harsh words. Now the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I had pity for My holy Name, which the House of Israel profaned - not the nations, but the people of Israel themselves. How? Through their evil deeds there among the nations. And then the Holy One, blessed be He, was compelled to punish them with persecutions, murders, pogroms, and everything that has befallen us, which in turn reinforces among the nations the conviction that He is unable to redeem and save them - "Look, they are being persecuted here." They do not understand that this very dynamic proves Divine Providence, showing that the Holy One, blessed be He, is present and active within reality, and that Israel pays the price for their actions even in exile. Thus, time and again, His holy Name is profaned through His conduct with the people.
(22) לָכֵן אֱמֹר לְבֵית־יִשְׂרָאֵל כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה לֹא לְמַעַנְכֶם אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי אִם־לְשֵׁם־קׇדְשִׁי אֲשֶׁר חִלַּלְתֶּם בַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר־בָּאתֶם שָׁם׃ - Therefore say to the House of Israel, Thus said the Lord God: Not for your sake do I act, O House of Israel, but for My holy Name, which you have profaned among the nations where you came.
The future salvation will not be "for your sake." For had it been for your sake, it would depend on merits and liabilities - whether you are worthy, whether you are upright, whether it is worthwhile to act. And then what would happen if Israel sinned again? The Holy One, blessed be He, would be compelled to exile them once more. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: This is not for your sake, nor does it depend on merit or guilt; rather, I am acting for the sake of My Name and My honor that has been profaned among the nations. And since this is so, I will necessarily ensure that you will never again be exiled and that My Name will not be profaned among the nations a second time. And how this will occur will be explained in the coming verses.
(23) וְקִדַּשְׁתִּי אֶת־שְׁמִי הַגָּדוֹל הַמְחֻלָּל בַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר חִלַּלְתֶּם בְּתוֹכָם וְיָדְעוּ הַגּוֹיִם כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה בְּהִקָּדְשִׁי בָכֶם לְעֵינֵיהֶם׃ - And I will sanctify My great Name, which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am sanctified through you before their eyes.
Both forms of profanation are mentioned here: "which was profaned among the nations" - what the nations profaned by saying, "These are the people of the Lord, yet they have gone out of His land"; and "which you have profaned in their midst" - what we ourselves profaned through our corrupt deeds there, as stated in verse 21. Corresponding to both, rectification will come. "When I am sanctified through you before their eyes" - the Holy One, blessed be He, will sanctify His Name through Israel by bringing us to repentance, as it is written: "With a strong hand... will I reign over you," "and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples," "and I will purge out from among you the rebels" - He will rule over us with a strong hand and compel us to repent, and His Name, blessed be He, will be sanctified through us.
(24) וְלָקַחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן־הַגּוֹיִם וְקִבַּצְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִכׇּל־הָאֲרָצוֹת וְהֵבֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם אֶל־אַדְמַתְכֶם׃ - For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you into your own land.
This addresses the second profanation: even if our deeds were good, the very fact of our being exiled is a chillul Hashem, for the nations say, "These are the people of the Lord, yet they have gone out of His land." Countering this: "For I will take you from among the nations" - I will remove you from the peoples under whom you are subjugated; "and gather you out of all the countries" - from the places to which you were scattered among the nations, for "gathering" is always used in reference to something dispersed, as in "I will gather the outcasts"; "and I will bring you into your own land" - and it will never again be said, "and they have gone out of His land." Rather, it will be clear to all that Israel is bound to the Holy One, blessed be He, and is not in exile.
(25) וְזָרַקְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם מַיִם טְהוֹרִים וּטְהַרְתֶּם מִכֹּל טֻמְאוֹתֵיכֶם וּמִכׇּל־גִּלּוּלֵיכֶם אֲטַהֵר אֶתְכֶם׃ - And I will sprinkle pure water upon you, and you shall be clean; from all your impurities and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
To rectify the sins of the past and to ensure that you do not sin in the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, performs two actions. Regarding the past: "And I will sprinkle pure water upon you, and you shall be clean." Earlier it was said, "Their way before Me was like the impurity of a niddah," and the impurity of a niddah requires immersion in a mikveh; whereas one who is defiled by a corpse requires only sprinkling (hazayah), except that the waters of sprinkling are not "pure water." The Malbim explains: Mei niddah, from the root of "vayadu even bi" (they cast stones at me), refers to the water that is cast and sprinkled - the waters of the ashes of the Red Heifer - and they defile both the one who sprinkles and the one who carries them, "he shall wash his clothes," so that they are not called pure water, but defiling water. If so, seemingly sprinkling pure water would not be effective here.
Rather, in the future there will be two unique advantages here: first, you will be purified with pure water even without immersion, and mere sprinkling will suffice without having to enter a mikveh; and second, you will not require the defiling waters of sprinkling (mei niddah), but only a small amount of water, and that water will be completely pure.
And what is the nimshal (the underlying meaning)? The Malbim explains: when we speak of purity, the reference is to purity of understanding (da'at) - the purity of the intellect, of thoughts, and of deeds. And when the verse speaks of knowledge filling the earth "as the waters cover the sea," it refers to an abundance of understanding, the knowledge of Hashem and His service. In the future to come, they will be purified through a mere sprinkling of pure water cast upon them - through a gentle illumination and through the waters of understanding and repentance, you shall become pure. Today, in order to repent, one requires immense effort, toil, and sustained action. But in those days, through just a little pure water, the mind and heart will be purified, bringing you close to Hashem.
Furthermore, in our present era, ritual purification is effective only for purifying the physical body - someone who immerses in a mikveh purifies his body, but his soul is not thereby purified. Moreover, it is effective only for ritual defilement (tumah), not for the stain of idolatry and abominable practices. But in the purification of the future to come - "from all your impurities," whether defilement of the physical body or defilement of the soul, "and from all your idols" - even from idolatry itself.
An important textual note: in many printings of the Malbim, the text reads: "purification is effective only for the defilement of the Gentiles (tum'at hagoyim) and not for defilement of the soul." This is a demonstrable error. The original manuscript had an abbreviation, "hagevi'" with a mark, meaning "hageviyah" (the physical body). Later editors attempted to expand the abbreviation and mistakenly printed "hagoyim" (the Gentiles). The proof is right in his next words: "meaning to say, whether defilement of the physical body (hageviyah) or defilement of the soul." This is where so many errors begin - when people expand acronyms and abbreviations without understanding the underlying subject matter. A striking example was once found in a published book recounting how a couple came to a rabbi seeking a blessing for "zera Shabbat kodesh" (holy Sabbath offspring). One might wonder at length what that could possibly mean, until realizing that the editor saw the common acronym "z.sh.k." (zera shel kayama - viable offspring) and erroneously expanded it as "zera Shabbat kodesh"! In seeking to be helpful and provide explanations, one can end up doing more harm than good.
(26) וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב חָדָשׁ וְרוּחַ חֲדָשָׁה אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וַהֲסִרֹתִי אֶת־לֵב הָאֶבֶן מִבְּשַׂרְכֶם וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב בָּשָׂר׃ - And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
What brought about sin in the first place, explains the Malbim, was the heart and the spirit. The heart represents the seat of dominion within man - it is the center, the king and ruler, and man is drawn after the desires of his heart, acting out whatever the heart craves and pursues. The spirit refers to the faculty of imagination - the images and mental pictures a person envisions for himself.
And how does every transgression begin? The spirit depicts negative images and presents them to the heart. It all begins in the imagination: a person envisions the sin as something wondrous, whereupon his heart begins to desire it. Once the heart desires it - holding as it does the power of action and issuing directives to all the limbs - it brings the evil deed to completion. The Holy One, blessed be He, declares: I will give you a new heart whose every inclination is toward the good, and the images that arise in the spirit - the imaginations - will likewise be purely good, yielding wholesome thoughts.
Consider how potent the power of imagination is: modern advertisers understand this thoroughly. When they want to sell a pizza, they do not merely photograph a pizza; they present an image of it being pulled apart and sliced, with molten cheese stretching across the frame. It hardly matters how much cheese is actually there or what it tastes like - the salivary glands are already stimulated. Through vivid imagination and vibrant depiction, they capture the heart.
Until now, the heart was unready to accept ethical rebuke (mussar) - a heart of stone, which is difficult to engrave upon and difficult to influence. Therefore: "and I will remove the heart of stone... and I will give you a heart of flesh" - a heart receptive to guidance and to the moral lessons it hears, so that these influences will leave their imprint upon it, leading a person to mend his ways.
(27) וְאֶת־רוּחִי אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וְעָשִׂיתִי אֵת אֲשֶׁר־בְּחֻקַּי תֵּלֵכוּ וּמִשְׁפָּטַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם׃ - And I will put My spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.
"And I will put My spirit" - this refers to the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh). Through the miracles and wonders whereby the Holy One, blessed be He, will make His presence continually manifest among us, the spirit of Hashem will rest within us, just as it is stated in other prophecies: "And I will raise up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites" (Amos 2:11), and "I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh" (Yoel 3:1). Through the resting of the Shechinah and Ruach HaKodesh, our very nature will be transformed into one naturally inclined toward holiness and purity. This is the meaning of "and I will cause you to walk in My statutes" - human nature itself will become refined, so that you will walk in His statutes naturally; "and you shall keep My judgments and do them" - you will no longer do evil, nor corrupt your ways.
(28) וִישַׁבְתֶּם בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם וִהְיִיתֶם לִי לְעָם וְאָנֹכִי אֶהְיֶה לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים׃ - "And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be your God."
You will dwell in the Land and there will be no further exile - and the reason is self-evident: if our deeds are good, and the spirit of Hashem is within us, and we walk in His statutes and observe His ordinances, and we do not anger Him - why should there be exile? It turns out that this reality itself guarantees that the exile will cease.
The Malbim notes precision in the order: At first, everything occurs through an arousal from Above - "I will sprinkle clean water upon you," "And I will put My spirit within you," "And I will cause you to walk in My statutes" - it all originates from Him, blessed is He. But afterward, "and you shall be My people" - from this point onward, it is an arousal from below: you of your own accord will prepare yourselves for holiness, acquire mitzvot and good deeds, and strive for closeness to Hashem; through that, "and I will be your God."
And this parallels the Exodus from Egypt. It is normally Hashem's way to require that Israel open the door and take the first step - "Return to Me, and I will return to you." But at the Exodus from Egypt, it was not so: everything occurred through an arousal from Above, and Israel did almost nothing. They possessed only two mitzvot, and even those were seemingly very weak: the blood of the Pesach offering and the blood of circumcision. The blood of the Pesach - slaughtering an offering and eating it; and even regarding this they did not go with joy, for they refused to circumcise themselves until the Holy One, blessed be He, emitted the scent of Gan Eden from the Pesach offering, whereupon they went and circumcised themselves so they would be worthy to eat from the Korban Pesach. By virtue of what, then, were they redeemed? Everything was through an arousal from Above. This is hinted at in "I passed over (*pasachti*) the entrance": Hashem always says, "Open for Me an opening," expecting the initiative to come from your side, whereas at the Exodus from Egypt Hashem skipped over the opening and did not wait for us to open it, for had He waited, we would not have been redeemed at all and would have reached the fifty gates of impurity. So too in the future to come: the opening will come from Him, blessed be He, as He sprinkles pure water upon us, and afterward "and you shall be My people" - the arousal from below will emerge from within us. This is along the lines of what Chazal expounded on "As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt I will show him marvelous things," that the future redemption will resemble the ancient redemption.
(29) וְהוֹשַׁעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִכֹּל טֻמְאוֹתֵיכֶם וְקָרָאתִי אֶל־הַדָּגָן וְהִרְבֵּיתִי אֹתוֹ וְלֹא־אֶתֵּן עֲלֵיכֶם רָעָב׃ - "And I will save you from all your impurities, and I will summon the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring famine upon you."
"And I will save you from all your impurities" - even though the evil inclination will still exist, I will save you from its defilement. Our Sages said that from the day purity ceased, the fragrance of fruits was lost, and some say the flavor of fruits was lost; and when you are saved from your impurity, the cessation of purity will no longer exist, but rather purity will increase - "And I will sprinkle pure water upon you and you shall be clean" - and therefore, "and I will summon the grain and multiply it," an abundance of grain by Providence from Him, blessed be He, and there will be no famine.
(30) וְהִרְבֵּיתִי אֶת־פְּרִי הָעֵץ וּתְנוּבַת הַשָּׂדֶה לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר לֹא תִקְחוּ עוֹד חֶרְפַּת רָעָב בַּגּוֹיִם׃ - "And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will no longer suffer the reproach of famine among the nations."
Even though famine is already gone due to the abundance of grain, the Holy One, blessed be He, goes further to multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, which are considered luxuries, since a person's primary sustenance is grain and bread. The reason: "so that you will no longer suffer the reproach of famine among the nations." Radak explains that the nations used to mock Israel, saying: Look where you live, in a land that depends on rain more than any other land, which is why famine is common there. Indeed, we find this with Avraham, who went down from the Land because of famine, and with Yitzchak, and with Elimelech and Naomi who left because of famine; and when a person is exiled from his homeland to another land due to famine, it is a disgrace and a humiliation for him.
And why did Hashem actually make the Land this way? Why didn't He give us the Switzerland of the Middle East? The answer is: that is the very point. "A land that drinks water of the rain of heaven." To Egypt, like the primordial serpent, the Holy One, blessed be He, cast the Nile and said to them: Here is a river and irrigation for you, leave Me alone and do not turn to Me. But with Israel, Hashem wants a constant bond, which is why we pray for rain and plead before Him to bestow abundance upon us. It is like the manna: the Holy One, blessed be He, could have provided it once a year, but where would the connection be? He wanted the connection preserved, so every single day they went out to gather the manna, remembering who provides it, praying to Him, and connecting to Him, blessed be He. However, when there is drought and famine, there is reproach among the nations: "Look what kind of land you have!" But when produce is abundant, their reproach will cease.
And the Malbim adds: What does the fruit of the tree have to do with the reproach of the nations? Even though they already have grain, if they lack fruit of the tree they will be forced to buy it from the surrounding nations, who would then say: Look, they are coming to buy here, a sign that they suffer the disgrace of hunger. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, will multiply both the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not depend on the nations at all.
(31) וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת־דַּרְכֵיכֶם הָרָעִים וּמַעַלְלֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־טוֹבִים וּנְקֹטֹתֶם בִּפְנֵיכֶם עַל עֲוֺנֹתֵיכֶם וְעַל תּוֹעֲבוֹתֵיכֶם׃ - Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and for your abominations.
You will still remember the evil ways you had, and why? "And you will loathe yourselves" (u-nekototem bifneichem) - they will be set before you, and you will constantly regret them. Rashi explains u-nekototem as related to decay and wasting away (nemek) - you will waste away within yourselves in your shame, like a person who withers and shrinks in distress over the bad return you repaid, as it were, to the Holy One, blessed be He, and over the good He bestows upon you in return. Radak explains it as related to "I was disgusted with that generation" (akut be-dor; where some also interpret it as an expression of a curse), meaning to cut off, sever, and lop off, related to the word kat which means cutting - though not pure Hebrew, it is closely related. That is, you will view yourselves as cut off, and when you recall your sins you will say: The Holy One, blessed be He, was entirely just in exiling us from our land.
The Malbim notes precisely: "Your evil ways" refers to character traits and innate dispositions, such as pride, vengeance, and cruelty, all of which were bad. Yet there is a novel insight here: even if one's character traits are negative, good deeds can still emerge from them. How so? An arrogant person might establish a free-loan fund (gemach) just to show off what a generous benefactor he is, how much he gives and helps - thus, from a negative trait, something positive emerges, for he helps others. Likewise, someone possessing vengefulness and cruelty who directs them against desecrators of God's Name and the enemies of Hashem - the trait itself is not good, but he channels it where it serves a beneficial purpose. Therefore, the verse adds: "and your deeds that were not good" - not only were your innate ways evil, but the actions stemming from them were not good either; you did not utilize those traits for anything positive, but only for the negative.
And what is the reason for the double phrasing, "for your iniquities (avonoteichem) and for your abominations (to'avoteichem)"? An "iniquity" (avon) always denotes a distortion of the intellect (ivut ha-sechel), which is the most severe of all - when a person acts out of a corrupted intellect and provides logic and justification for his evil deed. As long as you did something wrong because you were swept along by your heart's desires, you can say, "My lust overpowered me"; but when you also justify it with intellectual arguments, you have twisted your intellect to rationalize your evil. Therefore, iniquity corresponds to "ways" - the character traits and conduct arising from an intellect distorted into believing that it is right to be proud and behave this way; while abominations correspond to the negative actions themselves, paralleling "deeds."
(32) לֹא לְמַעַנְכֶם אֲנִי־עֹשֶׂה נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה יִוָּדַע לָכֶם בּוֹשׁוּ וְהִכָּלְמוּ מִדַּרְכֵיכֶם בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - Not for your sake do I act, says the Lord God, let it be known to you; be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
There are two reasons for remembering these evil ways: the first is "and you will loathe yourselves," so that you will regret them; and the second is "let it be known to you" that I have not acted for your sake. And what is gained by this realization? "Be ashamed and confounded" - through it, you will feel shame and disgrace. Shame (boshu), explains the Malbim, is an internal shame, which is among the essential elements of repentance and the atonement for sin, as Chazal taught: whoever commits a transgression and feels ashamed of it is forgiven for all his sins. The difference between "be ashamed" (boshu) and "be confounded" (hikalmu) is that shame is what a person feels within himself, while disgrace is when others put him to shame. Here, both will occur - we will be ashamed within ourselves and disgraced before others for our evil deeds, and this very reaction will constitute an awakening of repentance on our part to draw near to Him, may He be blessed.
(33) כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה בְּיוֹם טַהֲרִי אֶתְכֶם מִכֹּל עֲוֺנוֹתֵיכֶם וְהוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת־הֶעָרִים וְנִבְנוּ הֶחֳרָבוֹת׃ - Thus said the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruins shall be rebuilt.
The Holy One, blessed be He, announces that after complete repentance and the purification from sin, no trace of them will remain at all; likewise, no trace will remain of the land's destruction, for the two are inextricably linked: when Israel has sins, the land is laid waste, and when they are free of sin, the land is rebuilt. Therefore, "On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities" - immediately, "I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruins shall be rebuilt," and the abandoned cities will once again be rebuilt.
(34) וְהָאָרֶץ הַנְּשַׁמָּה תֵּעָבֵד תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר הָיְתָה שְׁמָמָה לְעֵינֵי כׇּל־עוֹבֵר׃ - And the desolate land shall be tilled, instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by.
(35) וְאָמְרוּ הָאָרֶץ הַלֵּזוּ הַנְּשַׁמָּה הָיְתָה כְּגַן־עֵדֶן וְהֶעָרִים הֶחֳרֵבוֹת וְהַנְשַׁמּוֹת וְהַנֶּהֱרָסוֹת בְּצוּרוֹת יָשָׁבוּ׃ - And they shall say: This land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden, and the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are fortified and inhabited.
Neshamah means a desolate place. Until now the land was a wasteland, but from now on "it shall be tilled" and sown. Anyone who passed through it until now would say: What a land that devours its inhabitants! What a desolate wasteland, a land utterly unfit for its King! But now everyone will marvel and say: How did this land that was desolate become like the Garden of Eden? And the cities that were ruined, desolate, and destroyed - how do they now stand fortified?
The Malbim is precise regarding the threefold description - "the ruined, the desolate, and the destroyed": it is possible for a place to be in ruins without being desolate, such as when people still dwell within those ruins; yet here the land was both ruined and desolate. Furthermore, there is a distinction between "ruined" and "destroyed", as seen in the phrase "your ruins, your desolate places, and your destroyed land" - these are distinct expressions. Desolation can also apply to the land as a whole, as in "I have built the destroyed places, I have planted the desolate", where the entire land is categorized as desolate; whereas "destruction" refers to a place that is far more shattered and ruined than a mere ruin.
(36) וְיָדְעוּ הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר יִשָּׁאֲרוּ סְבִיבוֹתֵיכֶם כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה בָּנִיתִי הַנֶּהֱרָסוֹת נָטַעְתִּי הַנְּשַׁמָּה אֲנִי יְהֹוָה דִּבַּרְתִּי וְעָשִׂיתִי׃ - And the nations that remain round about you shall know that I, Hashem, have rebuilt the destroyed places and planted that which was desolate; I, Hashem, have spoken and I have done it.
The Holy One, blessed be He, will ensure that the nations know everything that has occurred with Israel, and they will realize that this did not happen through the natural course of events, but through the Divine Spirit. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world through speech - "He commanded, and it stood" - so too here: "I, Hashem, have spoken and I have done it." The word that Hashem spoke to His prophets is what brought everything into actualization in a miraculous manner, for the speech of the Holy One, blessed be He, itself enacts reality within nature.
The prophet explains why the first redemption was not permanent: Israel defiled the land through their ways and deeds, through bloodshed and idolatry, and were punished with dispersion and scattering - yet a punishment guided by Divine Providence, measured measure-for-measure, without total annihilation. From this arose a chillul Hashem (desecration of the Name): the nations saw that Providence remained with us in exile, and from this they wrongly inferred an apparent lack of ability, while Israel themselves desecrated His Name through their deeds. Therefore, the future redemption will not depend on our merits, but will be "for My holy Name", and consequently it will necessarily be a redemption followed by no further exile: an ingathering from among the nations, the sprinkling of purifying water that will cleanse the intellect with a gentle illumination, a new heart in place of the heart of stone, a new spirit to cleanse the imagination, and the spirit of Hashem within us to incline our nature toward holiness. At first, everything will come through an awakening from Above (isarusa de'le'eila), like "I passed over the door" at the Exodus from Egypt, and only afterward will come "and you shall be My people" from our side. Then the grain and the fruit of the tree will abound and the disgrace of famine will cease, we will remember our evil ways, feel ashamed, and repent, the desolate land will become like the Garden of Eden, and the nations will know that "I, Hashem, have spoken and I have done it."