² and in the presence of his associates^(A) and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble^(B)—burned as they are?”

²⁷ But God chose^(A) the foolish^(B) things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

⁸ On that day the Lord will shield^(A) those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest^(B) among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,^(C) like the angel of the Lord going before^(D) them.

³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.^(A)”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!^{(B) 5} This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath^[a] enter you, and you will come to life.^{(C) 6} I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.^(D)’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath;^(E) prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds^(F) and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded^(G) me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.^(H)

¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’^{(I) 12} Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.^{(J) 13} Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord,^(K) when I open your graves and bring you up from them.^(L)

⁴³ And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem

²⁷ At the dedication^(A) of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals,^(B) harps and lyres.^(C)

¹⁰ Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers^(A) is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”