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 caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. ³ He said to me, “Son of man, ^(D)can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord ^[b]God, ^(E)You know.” ⁴ Again He said to me, “^(F)Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, ^(G)hear the word of the Lord.’ ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause ^[c](H)breath to enter you that you may come to life. ⁶ I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; 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 ^[d]noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ And I looked, and behold, sinews 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, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and ^(K)breathe on these slain, that they ^(L)come to life.”’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the ^(M)breath came into 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)whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our ^(P)bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are ^[e]completely ^(Q)cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will 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 I will ^(S)put My ^[f]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.’”

Reunion of Judah and Israel

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came again to me saying, ¹⁶ “And you, son of man, take for yourself ^(T)one stick and write on it, ‘For ^(U)Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For ^(V)Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ ¹⁷ Then ^(W)join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ When the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us ^(X)what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will 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 Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will ^(Y)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 ^(Z)one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and ^(AA)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 ^(AB)no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but ^(AC)I will deliver them from all their ^[g]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 “My servant ^(AD)David will be king over them, and they will all have ^(AE)one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. ²⁵ They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and ^(AF)David My servant will be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a ^(AG)covenant of peace with them; it will be an ^(AH)everlasting covenant with them. And I will ^[h]place them and ^(AI)multiply them, and will set My ^(AJ)sanctuary in their midst forever. ²⁷ My ^(AK)dwelling place also will be with them; and ^(AL)I will be their God, and they will be My people. ²⁸ And the nations will know that I am the Lord ^(AM)who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”

Deliverance from Bondage

8 Therefore there is now no ^(A)condemnation for those who are ^(B)in ^(C)Christ Jesus. ² For ^(D)the law of the Spirit of life ^[a]in ^(E)Christ Jesus ^(F)has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For ^(G)what the Law could not do, ^[b](H)weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in ^(I)the likeness of ^[c]sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the ^(J)requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who ^(K)do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on ^(L)the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, ^(M)the things of the Spirit. ^6 (N)For the mind set on the flesh is ^(O)death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is ^(P)hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are ^(Q)in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ However, you are not ^(R)in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God ^(S)dwells in you. But ^(T)if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ^10 (U)If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is ^[d]alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who ^(V)raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, ^(W)He who raised ^(X)Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ^[e]through His Spirit who dwells in you.

¹² So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for ^(Y)if you are living according to the flesh, you ^[f]must die; but if by the Spirit you are ^(Z)putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are ^(AA)being led by the Spirit of God, these are ^(AB)sons of God. ¹⁵ For you ^(AC)have not received a spirit of slavery ^[g]leading to fear again, but you ^(AD)have received ^[h]a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “^(AE)Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself ^(AF)testifies with our spirit that we are ^(AG)children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, ^(AH)heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, ^(AI)if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time ^(AJ)are not worthy to be compared with the ^(AK)glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the ^(AL)anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for ^(AM)the revealing of the ^(AN)sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation ^(AO)was subjected to ^(AP)futility, not willingly, but ^(AQ)because of Him who subjected it, ^[i]in hope ²¹ that ^(AR)the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation ^(AS)groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ^23 (AT)And not only this, but also we ourselves, having ^(AU)the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves ^(AV)groan within ourselves, ^(AW)waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, ^(AX)the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For ^(AY)in hope we have been saved, but ^(AZ)hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵ But ^(BA)if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Our Victory in Christ

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for ^(BB)we do not know how to pray as we should, but ^(BC)the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and ^(BD)He who searches the hearts knows what ^(BE)the mind of the Spirit is, because He ^(BF)intercedes for the ^[j]saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that ^[k]God causes ^(BG)all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are ^(BH)called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He ^(BI)foreknew, He also ^(BJ)predestined to become ^(BK)conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the ^(BL)firstborn among many brethren; ³⁰ and these whom He ^(BM)predestined, He also ^(BN)called; and these whom He called, He also ^(BO)justified; and these whom He justified, He also ^(BP)glorified.

^31 (BQ)What then shall we say to these things? ^(BR)If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who ^(BS)did not spare His own Son, but ^(BT)delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring a charge against ^(BU)God’s elect? ^(BV)God is the one who justifies; ³⁴ who is the one who ^(BW)condemns? Christ Jesus is He who ^(BX)died, yes, rather who was ^[l](BY)raised, who is ^(BZ)at the right hand of God, who also ^(CA)intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from ^(CB)the love of ^[m]Christ? Will ^(CC)tribulation, or distress, or ^(CD)persecution, or ^(CE)famine, or ^(CF)nakedness, or ^(CG)peril, or sword? ³⁶ Just as it is written,

³⁷ But in all these things we overwhelmingly ^(CI)conquer through ^(CJ)Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither ^(CK)death, nor life, nor ^(CL)angels, nor principalities, nor ^(CM)things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from ^(CN)the love of God, which is ^(CO)in Christ Jesus our Lord.