The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch

23 “^(A)Woe to the shepherds who are causing the ^(B)sheep of My pasture to ^(C)perish and are scattering them!” declares the Lord. ² Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says concerning the shepherds who are ^[a]tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not been concerned about them; behold, I am going to ^(D)call you to account for the ^(E)evil of your deeds,” declares the Lord. ³ “Then I Myself will ^(F)gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. ⁴ I will also raise up ^(G)shepherds over them and they will ^[b]tend them; and they will ^(H)not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, ^(I)nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

⁷ “^(Q)Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt,’ ^8 (R)but, ‘As the Lord lives, who ^(S)brought up and led the descendants of the household of Israel back from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

³¹ “^(A)Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a ^(B)new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³² not like the ^(C)covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I ^(D)took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My ^(E)covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. ³³ “For ^(F)this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “^(G)I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and ^(H)I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ They will ^(I)not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all ^(J)know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will ^(K)forgive their wrongdoing, and their ^(L)sin I will no longer remember.”

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.”’”