The Valley of Dry Bones

37 The hand of the Lord was on me,^(A) and he brought me out by the Spirit^(B) of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley;^(C) it was full of bones.^{(D) 2} He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.^(E)”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!^{(F) 5} This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath^[a] enter you, and you will come to life.^{(G) 6} I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.^(H)’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath;^(I) prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds^(J) and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded^(K) me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.^(L)

¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’^{(M) 12} Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.^{(N) 13} Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord,^(O) when I open your graves and bring you up from them.^{(P) 14} I will put my Spirit^(Q) in you and you will live, and I will settle^(R) you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.^(S)’”

One Nation Under One King

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶ “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites^(T) associated with him.^(U)’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him.’ ¹⁷ Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.^(V)

¹⁸ “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’^{(W) 19} say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’^{(X) 20} Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on ²¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land.^{(Y) 22} I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.^(Z) There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.^{(AA) 23} They will no longer defile^(AB) themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding,^[b](AC) and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.^(AD)

²⁴ “‘My servant David^(AE) will be king^(AF) over them, and they will all have one shepherd.^(AG) They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees.^{(AH) 25} They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived.^(AI) They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever,^(AJ) and David my servant will be their prince forever.^{(AK) 26} I will make a covenant of peace^(AL) with them; it will be an everlasting covenant.^(AM) I will establish them and increase their numbers,^(AN) and I will put my sanctuary among them^(AO) forever.^{(AP) 27} My dwelling place^(AQ) will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.^{(AR) 28} Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy,^(AS) when my sanctuary is among them forever.^(AT)’”

The River From the Temple

47 The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water^(A) coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar.^{(B) 2} He then brought me out through the north gate^(C) and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.

³ As the man went eastward with a measuring line^(D) in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits^[a] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. ⁴ He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. ⁵ He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river^(E) that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross.^{(F) 6} He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. ⁷ When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river.^{(G) 8} He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah,^[b](H) where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh.^{(I) 9} Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.^{(J) 10} Fishermen^(K) will stand along the shore; from En Gedi^(L) to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets.^(M) The fish will be of many kinds^(N)—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea.^{(O) 11} But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.^{(P) 12} Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.^(Q) Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit^(R) fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary^(S) flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.^(T)”

The Boundaries of the Land

¹³ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “These are the boundaries^(U) of the land that you will divide among the twelve tribes of Israel as their inheritance, with two portions for Joseph.^{(V) 14} You are to divide it equally among them. Because I swore with uplifted hand to give it to your ancestors, this land will become your inheritance.^(W)

¹⁵ “This is to be the boundary of the land:^(X)

²¹ “You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. ²² You are to allot it as an inheritance^(AJ) for yourselves and for the foreigners^(AK) residing among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.^{(AL) 23} In whatever tribe a foreigner resides, there you are to give them their inheritance,” declares the Sovereign Lord.^(AM)

The Nations Judged

⁴ “Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon^(I) and all you regions of Philistia?^(J) Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done.^{(K) 5} For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples.^{[c](L) 6} You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,^(M) that you might send them far from their homeland.

⁷ “See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them,^(N) and I will return^(O) on your own heads what you have done. ⁸ I will sell your sons^(P) and daughters to the people of Judah,^(Q) and they will sell them to the Sabeans,^(R) a nation far away.” The Lord has spoken.^(S)

Blessings for God’s People