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.”

I Will Be Their God; They Shall Be My People

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ^16 (AC)“Son of man, ^(AD)take a stick^[d] and write on it, ‘For ^(AE)Judah, and ^(AF)the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^(AG)Joseph (the stick of ^(AH)Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ ¹⁷ And ^(AI)join them one to another into one stick, that ^(AJ)they may become ^(AK)one in your hand. ¹⁸ And when ^(AL)your people say to you, ^(AM)‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take ^(AN)the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the ^(AO)stick of Judah,^[e] and ^(AP)make them one stick, ^(AQ)that they may be one in my hand. ²⁰ When the sticks on which you write are in your hand ^(AR)before their eyes, ²¹ then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(AS)I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and ^(AT)bring them to their own land. ²² And ^(AU)I will make them one nation in the land, on ^(AV)the mountains of Israel. And ^(AW)one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer ^(AX)two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. ^23 (AY)They shall not ^(AZ)defile themselves anymore ^(BA)with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But ^(BB)I will save them from all the backslidings^[f] in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and ^(BC)they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ “My servant ^(BD)David ^(BE)shall be king over them, and they shall all have ^(BF)one shepherd. ^(BG)They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. ^25 (BH)They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there ^(BI)forever, and David my servant shall be their prince ^(BJ)forever. ^26 (BK)I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be ^(BL)an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land^[g] and ^(BM)multiply them, and will ^(BN)set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. ^27 (BO)My dwelling place shall be with them, ^(BP)and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸ Then ^(BQ)the nations will know that ^(BR)I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when ^(BS)my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

Jesus Compared to Melchizedek

^11 (A)Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? ¹² For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. ¹³ For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is evident that our Lord was descended ^(B)from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

¹⁵ This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, ¹⁶ who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is witnessed of him,

¹⁸ For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside ^(D)because of its weakness and uselessness ¹⁹ (for ^(E)the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, ^(F)a better hope is introduced, through which ^(G)we draw near to God.

²⁰ And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, ²¹ but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:

²² This makes Jesus the guarantor of ^(I)a better covenant.

²³ The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, ²⁴ but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues ^(J)forever. ²⁵ Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost^{[a] (K)}those who draw near to God ^(L)through him, since he always lives ^(M)to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, ^(N)holy, innocent, unstained, ^(O)separated from sinners, and ^(P)exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, ^(Q)first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this ^(R)once for all when he offered up himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints men ^(S)in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made ^(T)perfect forever.

Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant

8 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, ^(U)one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² a minister in the holy places, in ^(V)the true tent^[b] that the Lord ^(W)set up, not man. ³ For ^(X)every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus ^(Y)it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. ⁴ Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. ⁵ They serve ^(Z)a copy and ^(AA)shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ^(AB)“See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” ⁶ But as it is, Christ^[c] has obtained a ministry that is ^(AC)as much more excellent than the old as ^(AD)the covenant ^(AE)he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. ^7 (AF)For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

⁸ For he finds fault with them when he says:^[d]

¹³ In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And ^(AL)what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Let Us Go to the House of the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents. Of David.