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.”

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? ^(A)Are we to sin ^(B)because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves ^(C)to anyone as obedient slaves,^[a] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But ^(D)thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the ^(E)standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, ^(F)having been set free from sin, ^(G)have become slaves of righteousness. ^19 (H)I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For ^(I)just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members ^(J)as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

^20 (K)For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ^21 (L)But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things ^(M)of which you are now ashamed? ^(N)For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you ^(O)have been set free from sin and ^(P)have become slaves of God, ^(Q)the fruit you get leads to sanctification and ^(R)its end, eternal life. ^23 (S)For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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

Jesus Weeps

²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, ^(P)“The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews ^(Q)who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, ^(R)“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he ^(S)was deeply moved^[c] in his spirit and ^(T)greatly troubled. ³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ^35 (U)Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews said, “See ^(V)how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he ^(W)who opened the eyes of the blind man ^(X)also have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus

³⁸ Then Jesus, ^(Y)deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was ^(Z)a cave, and ^(AA)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 ^(AB)he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, ^(AC)“Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see ^(AD)the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus ^(AE)lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ^42 (AF)I knew that you always hear me, but I said this ^(AG)on account of the people standing around, ^(AH)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 (AI)The man who had died came out, ^(AJ)his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and ^(AK)his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”