Rewards for Obedience to God

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.’”

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 ^(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)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 ^(X)what ^[h]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 ^(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 offenses; but ^(AC)I will rescue them from all their ^[i]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 ^(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 ^[j]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 ^(AF)David will be their leader forever. ²⁶ And I will make a ^(AG)covenant of peace with them; it will be an ^(AH)everlasting covenant with them. And I will ^[k]place them and ^(AI)multiply them, and set My ^(AJ)sanctuary in their midst forever. ²⁷ My ^(AK)dwelling place also will be among 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.”’”

^11 (A)I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? ^[a](B)Far from it! But by their wrongdoing ^(C)salvation has come to the Gentiles, to ^(D)make them jealous. ¹² Now if their wrongdoing proves to be riches for the world, and their failure, riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their ^[b](E)fulfillment be! ¹³ But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Therefore insofar as ^(F)I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry ¹⁴ if somehow I may ^(G)move ^(H)my ^[c]own people to jealousy and ^(I)save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection proves to be the ^(J)reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but ^(K)life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the ^(L)first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are as well.

¹⁷ But if some of the ^(M)branches were broken off, and ^(N)you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the ^[d]rich root of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that ^(O)it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. ^19 (P)You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you ^(Q)stand by your faith. ^(R)Do not be conceited, but fear; ²¹ for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. ²² See then the kindness and severity of God: to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s ^(S)kindness, ^(T)if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too ^(U)will be cut off. ²³ And they also, ^(V)if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵ For ^(W)I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this ^(X)mystery—so that you will not be ^(Y)wise in your own estimation—that a partial ^(Z)hardening has happened to Israel until the ^(AA)fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written:

²⁸ In relation to the gospel they are ^(AE)enemies on your account, but in relation to God’s choice they are beloved ^(AF)on account of the fathers; ²⁹ for the gifts and the ^(AG)calling of God ^(AH)are irrevocable. ³⁰ For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹ so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. ³² For ^(AI)God has shut up all in disobedience, so that He may show mercy to all.

¹¹ Therefore remember that ^(A)previously ^(B)you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “^(C)Uncircumcision” by the so-called “^(D)Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, ^[a](E)excluded from ^[b]the people of Israel, and strangers to ^(F)the covenants of the promise, having ^(G)no hope and ^(H)without God in the world. ¹³ But now in ^(I)Christ Jesus you who ^(J)previously were ^(K)far away ^[c]have ^(L)been brought near ^[d](M)by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For He Himself is ^(N)our peace, ^(O)who made both groups into one and broke down the ^[e]barrier of the dividing wall, ^15 [f]by ^(P)abolishing ^[g]in His flesh the hostility, which is ^(Q)the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might ^[h](R)make the two ^(S)one new person, in this way establishing ^(T)peace; ¹⁶ and that He might ^(U)reconcile them both in ^(V)one body to God through the cross, ^[i]by it having ^(W)put to death the hostility. ¹⁷ And ^(X)He came and preached ^(Y)peace to you who were ^(Z)far away, and peace to those who were ^(AA)near; ¹⁸ for through Him we both have ^(AB)our access in ^(AC)one Spirit to ^(AD)the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer ^(AE)strangers and foreigners, but you are ^(AF)fellow citizens with the ^[j]saints, and are of ^(AG)God’s household, ²⁰ having been ^(AH)built on ^(AI)the foundation of ^(AJ)the apostles and prophets, ^(AK)Christ Jesus Himself being the ^(AL)cornerstone, ^21 (AM)in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into ^(AN)a holy ^[k]temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being ^(AO)built together into a ^(AP)dwelling of God in the Spirit.