Put Not Your Trust in Princes

He Heals the Brokenhearted

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 ^(A)The hand of the Lord was upon me, and ^(B)he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;^[a] it was full of bones. ² And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³ And he said to me, ^(C)“Son of man, ^(D)can these bones live?” And ^(E)I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴ Then he said to me, ^(F)“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ^(G)O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause ^(H)breath^[b] to enter you, and you shall live. ^6 (I)And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and ^(J)cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, ^(K)and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

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

¹¹ Then he said to me, ^(T)“Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and ^(U)our hope is lost; ^(V)we are indeed cut off.’ ¹² Therefore ^(W)prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(X)I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And ^(Y)I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ And ^(Z)you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴ And ^(AA)I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; ^(AB)I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

⁴¹ There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

^42 (A)So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. ⁴³ It is sown in dishonor; ^(B)it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. ⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ Thus it is written, ^(C)“The first man Adam became a living being”;^{[a] (D)}the last Adam became a ^(E)life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. ^47 (F)The first man was from the earth, ^(G)a man of dust; ^(H)the second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, ^(I)so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ Just ^(J)as we have borne the image of the man of dust, ^(K)we shall^[b] also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory

⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: ^(L)flesh and blood ^(M)cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

^12 (A)“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ^13 (B)Greater love has no one than this, ^(C)that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are ^(D)my friends ^(E)if you do what I command you. ^15 (F)No longer do I call you servants,^[a] for the servant ^(G)does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for ^(H)all that I have heard from my Father ^(I)I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but ^(J)I chose you and appointed you that you should go and ^(K)bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that ^(L)whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, ^(M)so that you will love one another.

The Hatred of the World

^18 (N)“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ^19 (O)If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because ^(P)you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ^(Q)‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, ^(R)they will also persecute you. ^(S)If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹ But ^(T)all these things they will do to you ^(U)on account of my name, ^(V)because they do not know him who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, ^(W)they would not have been guilty of sin,^[b] but now they have no excuse for their sin. ^23 (X)Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ^24 (Y)If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, ^(Z)they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have ^(AA)seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But ^(AB)the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ^(AC)‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁶ “But ^(AD)when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, ^(AE)he will bear witness about me. ²⁷ And ^(AF)you also will bear witness, ^(AG)because you have been with me ^(AH)from the beginning.