Ezekiel 36:10 (ASV)

Passage

and I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be builded;

Nearby Context

Ezekiel 36:8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come.

Ezekiel 36:9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn into you, and ye shall be tilled and sown;

Ezekiel 36:10 and I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be builded;

Ezekiel 36:11 and I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited after your former estate, and will do better [unto you] than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

Ezekiel 36:12 Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of children.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "multiply", "upon", "house", "israel", "even", "cities", "shall", and "inhabited". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "multiply" and "upon", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "For behold I am for you and..." into verse 11's "and I will multiply upon you man...", so "multiply" and "upon" belong inside that flow. In Ezekiel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "multiply" and "upon" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.