Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

37 The ^(A)hand of the Lord was upon me, and He ^(B)brought me out ^[a]by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the ^(C)valley; and it was full of bones. ² He had me pass among them all around, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and behold, they were very dry. ³ Then He said to me, “Son of man, ^(D)can these bones live?” And I answered, “Lord ^[b]God, ^(E)You Yourself know.” ⁴ Again He said to me, “^(F)Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘You dry bones, ^(G)hear the word of the Lord.’ ⁵ This is what the Lord God says to these bones: ‘Behold, I am going to make ^[c](H)breath enter you so that you may come to life. ⁶ And I will ^[d]attach tendons to you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you so that you may come to life; and you will ^(I)know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied ^(J)as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a loud noise, and behold, a ^[e]rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ And I looked, and behold, tendons were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘The Lord God says this: “Come from the four winds, breath, and ^(K)breathe on these slain, so that they ^(L)come to life.”’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the ^(M)breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an ^(N)exceedingly great army.

The Vision Explained

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the ^(O)entire house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our ^(P)bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are ^[f]completely ^(Q)cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to open your graves and ^(R)cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. ¹⁴ And I will ^(S)put My ^[g]Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’”

Christian Conduct

¹² But we ask you, brothers and sisters, to ^(A)recognize those ^(B)who diligently labor among you and ^[a](C)are in leadership over you in the Lord, and give you ^[b]instruction, ¹³ and that you regard them very highly in love because of their work. ^(D)Live in peace with one another. ¹⁴ We urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish ^(E)the ^[c]unruly, encourage ^(F)the fainthearted, help ^(G)the weak, be ^(H)patient with everyone. ¹⁵ See that ^(I)no one repays another with evil for evil, but always ^(J)seek what is good for one another and for all people. ^16 (K)Rejoice always, ^17 (L)pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything ^(M)give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. ^19 (N)Do not quench the Spirit, ²⁰ do not utterly reject ^[d](O)prophecies, ²¹ but ^(P)examine everything; ^(Q)hold firmly to that which is good, ²² abstain from every ^[e]form of evil.

²³ Now ^(R)may the God of peace ^(S)Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your ^(T)spirit and soul and body be kept complete, ^(U)without blame at ^(V)the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ^24 (W)Faithful is He who ^(X)calls you, and He also will do it.

²⁵ Brothers and sisters, ^(Y)pray for us^[f].

^26 (Z)Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. ²⁷ I put you under oath by the Lord to ^(AA)have this letter read to all the ^(AB)brothers and sisters.

^28 (AC)May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Reunion of Judah and Israel

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, ¹⁶ “Now you, son of man, take for yourself ^(A)one stick and write on it, ‘For ^(B)Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^(C)Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ ¹⁷ Then ^(D)put them together for yourself one to another into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ And when the sons of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not declare to us ^(E)what ^[a]you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ ²⁰ The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. ²¹ And say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to ^(F)take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; ²² and I will make them ^(G)one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and ^(H)one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations, and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will ^(I)no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their offenses; but ^(J)I will rescue them from all their ^[b]dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

The Davidic Kingdom

²⁴ “And My servant ^(K)David will be king over them, and they will all have ^(L)one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances, and keep My statutes and ^[c]follow them. ²⁵ And they will live on the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and My servant ^(M)David will be their leader forever. ²⁶ And I will make a ^(N)covenant of peace with them; it will be an ^(O)everlasting covenant with them. And I will ^[d]place them and ^(P)multiply them, and set My ^(Q)sanctuary in their midst forever. ²⁷ My ^(R)dwelling place also will be among them; and ^(S)I will be their God, and they will be My people. ²⁸ And the nations will know that I am the Lord ^(T)who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”

Pay Attention

2 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to ^[a]what we have heard, so that ^(A)we do not drift away from it. ² For if the word ^(B)spoken through ^(C)angels proved ^[b]unalterable, and ^(D)every violation and act of disobedience received a just ^[c](E)punishment, ^3 (F)how will we escape if we neglect so great a ^(G)salvation? ^[d]After it was at first ^(H)spoken through the Lord, it was ^(I)confirmed to us by those who heard, ⁴ God also testifying with them, both by ^(J)signs and wonders, and by ^(K)various ^[e]miracles and by ^[f](L)gifts of the Holy Spirit ^(M)according to His own will.

Earth Subject to Man

⁵ For He did not subject to angels ^[g](N)the world to come, about which we are speaking. ⁶ But someone has testified ^(O)somewhere, saying,

For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now ^(S)we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

Jesus Briefly Humbled

⁹ But we do see Him who was ^(T)made ^[j]for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, ^(U)because of His suffering death ^(V)crowned with glory and honor, so that ^(W)by the grace of God He might ^(X)taste death ^(Y)for everyone.

¹⁰ For ^(Z)it was fitting for Him, ^(AA)for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to ^(AB)perfect the ^[k](AC)originator of their salvation through sufferings. ¹¹ For both He who ^(AD)sanctifies and those who ^(AE)are ^[l]sanctified are all ^(AF)from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them ^(AG)brothers and sisters, ¹² saying,

¹³ And again,

And again,

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share in ^[m](AK)flesh and blood, ^(AL)He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that ^(AM)through death He might destroy ^(AN)the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and free those who through ^(AO)fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. ¹⁶ For clearly He does not ^[n]give help to angels, but He gives help to the ^[o]descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore, in all things He ^[p]had ^(AP)to be made like His brothers so that He might ^(AQ)become a merciful and faithful ^(AR)high priest in ^(AS)things pertaining to God, to ^(AT)make ^[q]propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For since He Himself was ^[r](AU)tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are ^[s]tempted.