² And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of ^(A)Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves?^[a] Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?”

²⁷ But ^(A)God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; ^(B)God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

⁹ Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the ^(A)judges, the ^(B)governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the ^(C)Elamites, ¹⁰ and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble ^(D)Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River.

^8 (A)On that day ^(B)the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that ^(C)the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, ^(D)like the angel of the Lord, going before them.

³ And he said to me, ^(A)“Son of man, ^(B)can these bones live?” And ^(C)I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴ Then he said to me, ^(D)“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ^(E)O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause ^(F)breath^[a] to enter you, and you shall live. ^6 (G)And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and ^(H)cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, ^(I)and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ So I prophesied ^(J)as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, ^(K)a rattling,^[b] 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 ^(L)there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then he said to me, ^(M)“Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, ^(N)son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from ^(O)the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰ So I prophesied ^(P)as he commanded me, and ^(Q)the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹ Then he said to me, ^(R)“Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and ^(S)our hope is lost; ^(T)we are indeed cut off.’ ¹² Therefore ^(U)prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(V)I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And ^(W)I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ And ^(X)you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.

⁴³ And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

¹⁰ In Judah it was said,^[a] “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.”

⁴³ And the Philistine said to David, “Am I ^(A)a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh ^(B)to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”