The Valley of Dry Bones

37 ^(A)The hand of the Lord was upon me, and ^(B)he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;^[a] it was full of bones. ² And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³ And he said to me, ^(C)“Son of man, ^(D)can these bones live?” And ^(E)I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴ Then he said to me, ^(F)“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ^(G)O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause ^(H)breath^[b] to enter you, and you shall live. ^6 (I)And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and ^(J)cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, ^(K)and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ So I prophesied ^(L)as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, ^(M)a rattling,^[c] and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But ^(N)there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then he said to me, ^(O)“Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, ^(P)son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from ^(Q)the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰ So I prophesied ^(R)as he commanded me, and ^(S)the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹ Then he said to me, ^(T)“Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and ^(U)our hope is lost; ^(V)we are indeed cut off.’ ¹² Therefore ^(W)prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(X)I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And ^(Y)I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ And ^(Z)you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴ And ^(AA)I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; ^(AB)I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

Life in the Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^{[a] 2} For the law of ^(A)the Spirit of life ^(B)has set you^[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For ^(C)God has done what the law, ^(D)weakened by the flesh, ^(E)could not do. ^(F)By sending his own Son ^(G)in the likeness of sinful flesh and ^(H)for sin,^[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that ^(I)the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, ^(J)who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For ^(K)those who live according to the flesh set their minds on ^(L)the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on ^(M)the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set ^(N)the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is ^(O)hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; ^(P)indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact ^(Q)the Spirit of God dwells in you. ^(R)Anyone who does not have ^(S)the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of ^(T)him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus^[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ^(U)through his Spirit who dwells in you.

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷ Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb ^(A)four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles^[a] off, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary ^(B)to console them concerning their brother. ^20 (C)So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹ Martha said to ^(D)Jesus, “Lord, ^(E)if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, ^(F)God will give you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ^24 (G)Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in ^(H)the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, ^(I)“I am the resurrection and ^(J)the life.^[b] Whoever believes in me, ^(K)though he die, ^(L)yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me ^(M)shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; ^(N)I believe that ^(O)you are the Christ, the Son of God, ^(P)who is coming into the world.”

Jesus Raises Lazarus

³⁸ Then Jesus, ^(A)deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was ^(B)a cave, and ^(C)a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for ^(D)he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, ^(E)“Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see ^(F)the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus ^(G)lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ^42 (H)I knew that you always hear me, but I said this ^(I)on account of the people standing around, ^(J)that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” ^44 (K)The man who had died came out, ^(L)his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and ^(M)his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

^45 (N)Many of the Jews therefore, ^(O)who had come with Mary and ^(P)had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees ^(Q)gathered ^(R)the council and said, ^(S)“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and ^(T)the Romans will come and take away both our ^(U)place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, ^(V)Caiaphas, ^(W)who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that ^(X)it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but ^(Y)being high priest that year ^(Z)he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and ^(AA)not for the nation only, but also ^(AB)to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they ^(AC)made plans to put him to death.