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15 The Lord’s message came to me: 16 “As for you, son of man, take one branch and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another branch and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the branch of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 Join[a] them as one stick;[b] they will be as one in your hand. 18 When your people[c] say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what these things mean?’ 19 tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the branch of Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place them on the stick of Judah[d] and make them into one stick—they will be one in my hand.’[e] 20 The sticks you write on will be in your hand in front of them. 21 Then tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the Israelites from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from round about and bring them to their land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over them all. They will never again be two nations and never again be divided into two kingdoms.[f] 23 They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness[g] by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people, and I will become their God.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 37:17 tn Heb “bring near.”
  2. Ezekiel 37:17 tn Heb “one to one for you for one stick.”
  3. Ezekiel 37:18 tn Heb “the sons of your people.”
  4. Ezekiel 37:19 tn Heb “I will place them on it, that is, on the stick of Judah.”
  5. Ezekiel 37:19 sn The reunification of Israel and Judah is envisioned as well in Ezek 33:23, 29; Jer 3:18; 23:5-6; Hos 1:11; Amos 9:11.
  6. Ezekiel 37:22 sn Jeremiah also attested to the reuniting of the northern and southern kingdoms (Jer 3:12, 14; 31:2-6).
  7. Ezekiel 37:23 tc Heb “their dwellings.” The text as it stands does not make sense. Based on the LXX, a slight emendation of two vowels, including a mater lectionis, yields the reading “from their turning,” a reference here to their turning from God and deviating from his commandments. See BDB 1000 s.v. מְשׁוּבָה, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:407.

Israel Will No Longer Be Divided

15 The word of Yahweh came again to me saying, 16 “Now as for 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)draw them together for yourself one to another into one stick, 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 you mean by these?’ 19 say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “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 And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. 21 And speak to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will (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 also will (I)no longer defile themselves with their idols or with their detestable things or with any of their transgressions; but (J)I will save them from all their [a]places of habitation in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 37:23 Or backslidings