Ezekiel 36:17
Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
Cross-reference
Ezekiel 36:25 promises cleansing from all uncleanness—the direct reversal of the defilement described in verse 17.
Ezekiel 33:29 says the land became desolate because of abominations—the same reason for defilement in 36:17.
Leviticus 18:24 warns against defiling the land like the nations — in Ezekiel 36:17, Israel is guilty of that same defilement.
In Numbers 35:33, bloodshed is specified as polluting the land, giving a concrete example of the defilement described here.
Numbers 35:34 adds that because God dwells in the land, defiling it is an offense against His presence, deepening the reason for impurity.
Jeremiah 16:18 says Israel polluted God's land with the carcasses of detestable idols, providing another specific example of defilement.
Psalm 106:38 explicitly states that the land was polluted with the blood of sacrificed children, directly echoing the defilement theme.
Jeremiah 3:9 states Israel polluted the land by committing adultery with stone and tree, linking idolatry to land defilement.
Jeremiah 3:2 explicitly says Israel polluted the land with whoredom and wickedness, a close parallel to the defilement by ways and deeds.
Jeremiah 2:7 directly says Israel defiled God's land and made it an abomination, nearly identical to the charge in Ezekiel.
Jeremiah 3:1 uses adultery as a metaphor for polluting the land, reinforcing the idea that covenant unfaithfulness defiles.
Leviticus 18:25 states the land is defiled by sin and vomits out its inhabitants—the same dynamic Ezekiel applies to Israel.
In Zechariah 13:1, a fountain for cleansing from sin and uncleanness is promised, directly opposing the defilement described here.
Leviticus 18:28 warns that defiling the land causes it to vomit out the people—exactly what Ezekiel says happened to Israel.
Isaiah 64:6 compares human righteousness to 'filthy rags' (menstrual cloths), echoing Ezekiel's uncleanliness image for sin.
Psalm 106:37 recounts child sacrifice to demons, a specific heinous deed that illustrates the kind of defiling behavior Israel committed.
Isaiah 24:5 describes the whole earth as defiled by law-breaking, paralleling the idea that sin pollutes the land Israel inhabited.
2 Chronicles 7:22 also attributes disaster to forsaking God—the same underlying cause of Israel's defilement.
1 Kings 9:9 cites forsaking God as the reason for exile—the root cause behind the land's defilement in Ezekiel.
Micah 2:10 also speaks of uncleanness making the land no place to rest—the same theme of defilement leading to exile.