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.”

Ezekiel's Call

2 And he said to me, ^(A)“Son of man,^{[a] (B)}stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” ² And as he spoke to me, ^(C)the Spirit entered into me and ^(D)set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. ³ And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to ^(E)nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. ^(F)They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. ⁴ The descendants also are ^(G)impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ ⁵ And ^(H)whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are ^(I)a rebellious house) ^(J)they will know that a prophet has been among them. ⁶ And you, son of man, ^(K)be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, ^(L)though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on ^(M)scorpions.^[b] Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. ⁷ And you shall speak my words to them, ^(N)whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

⁸ “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. ^(O)Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and ^(P)eat what I give you.” ⁹ And when I looked, behold, ^(Q)a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, ^(R)a scroll of a book was in it. ¹⁰ And he spread it before me. And it had writing ^(S)on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

²⁶ “But ^(A)when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, ^(B)he will bear witness about me. ²⁷ And ^(C)you also will bear witness, ^(D)because you have been with me ^(E)from the beginning.

⁴ But ^(A)I have said these things to you, that when ^(B)their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, ^(C)because I was with you. ⁵ But now ^(D)I am going to him who sent me, and ^(E)none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, ^(F)sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for ^(G)if I do not go away, ^(H)the Helper will not come to you. But ^(I)if ^(J)I go, ^(K)I will send him to you. ^8 (L)And when he comes, he will ^(M)convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ concerning sin, ^(N)because they do not believe in me; ^10 (O)concerning righteousness, ^(P)because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; ^11 (Q)concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world ^(R)is judged.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When ^(S)the Spirit of truth comes, ^(T)he will ^(U)guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but ^(V)whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will ^(W)glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ^15 (X)All that the Father has is mine; ^(Y)therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.