The Vision of Dry Bones

37 I felt the power of the Lord was on me. He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord. And he put me down in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. ² The Lord led me around among the bones. There were many bones on the bottom of the valley. I saw the bones were very dry. ³ Then he asked me, “Human being, can these bones live?”

I answered, “Lord God, only you know.”

⁴ The Lord said to me, “Prophesy to these bones. Say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ This is what the Lord God says to the bones: I will cause breath to enter you. Then you will live. ⁶ I will put muscles on you. I will put flesh on you. I will cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. While I prophesied, there was a noise and a rattling. The bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked and saw muscles come on the bones. Flesh grew, and skin covered the bones. But there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Prophesy to the wind.^[a] Prophesy, human being, and say to the wind: ‘This is what the Lord God says: Wind, come from the four winds. Breathe on these people who were killed so they can live again.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And the breath came into them, and they came to life. They stood on their feet. They were a very large army.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me: “Human being, these bones are like all the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has gone. We are destroyed.’ ¹² So, prophesy, and say to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: My people, I will open your graves. And I will cause you to come up out of your graves. Then I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ This is how you, my people, will know that I am the Lord. I will open your graves and cause you to come up from them. ¹⁴ And I will put my Spirit inside you. You will come to life. Then I will put you in your own land. And you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, says the Lord.’”

Judah and Israel Back Together

¹⁵ The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ¹⁶ “Human being, take a stick of wood. Write on it, ‘For Judah and all the Israelites with him.’ Then take another stick of wood. Write on it, ‘The stick of Ephraim, for Joseph and all the Israelites with him.’ ¹⁷ Then join them together into one stick. Then they will be one in your hand.

¹⁸ “Your people will say to you, ‘Explain to us what you mean by this.’ ¹⁹ Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will take the stick which is for Joseph and the tribes of Israel with him. This stick is in the hand of Ephraim. Then I will put it with the stick of Judah. And I will make them into one stick. And they will be one in my hand.’ ²⁰ Hold the sticks of wood on which you wrote these names. Hold them in your hands so the people can see them. ²¹ Say to the people: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around. I will bring them into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule all of them. They will never again be two nations. They will not be divided into two kingdoms anymore. ²³ They will not continue to make themselves unclean by their idols, their statues of gods which I hate or their sins. But I will save them from all the ways they sin and turn against me. And I will make them clean. Then they will be my people. And I will be their God.

²⁴ “‘And my servant David will be their king. They will all have one shepherd. They will live by my rules and obey my laws. ²⁵ They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob. It is the land in which your ancestors lived. They will all live on the land forever: they, their children and their grandchildren. David my servant will be their king forever. ²⁶ And I will make an agreement of peace with them. It will be an agreement that continues forever. I will put them in their land. I will make them grow in number. Then I will put my Temple among them forever. ²⁷ The place where I live will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ When my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy.’”