Psalm 148

Psalm 149

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 The hand of the Lord was on me,^(A) and he brought me out by the Spirit^(B) of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley;^(C) it was full of bones.^{(D) 2} He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

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

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!^{(F) 5} This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath^[a] enter you, and you will come to life.^{(G) 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.^(H)’”

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

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.’^{(M) 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.^{(N) 13} Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord,^(O) when I open your graves and bring you up from them.^{(P) 14} I will put my Spirit^(Q) in you and you will live, and I will settle^(R) you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.^(S)’”

Peter Speaks to the Onlookers

¹¹ While the man held on to Peter and John,^(A) all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.^{(B) 12} When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,^(C) the God of our fathers,^(D) has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over^(E) to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate,^(F) though he had decided to let him go.^{(G) 14} You disowned the Holy^(H) and Righteous One^(I) and asked that a murderer be released to you.^{(J) 15} You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.^(K) We are witnesses^(L) of this. ¹⁶ By faith in the name of Jesus,^(M) this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

¹⁷ “Now, fellow Israelites,^(N) I know that you acted in ignorance,^(O) as did your leaders.^{(P) 18} But this is how God fulfilled^(Q) what he had foretold^(R) through all the prophets,^(S) saying that his Messiah would suffer.^{(T) 19} Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out,^(U) that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, ²⁰ and that he may send the Messiah,^(V) who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. ²¹ Heaven must receive him^(W) until the time comes for God to restore everything,^(X) as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.^{(Y) 22} For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.^{(Z) 23} Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’^[a](AA)

²⁴ “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets^(AB) who have spoken have foretold these days. ²⁵ And you are heirs^(AC) of the prophets and of the covenant^(AD) God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’^{[b](AE) 26} When God raised up^(AF) his servant, he sent him first^(AG) to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

⁴¹ The sun has one kind of splendor,^(A) the moon another and the stars another;^(B) and star differs from star in splendor.

⁴² So will it be^(C) with the resurrection of the dead.^(D) The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;^{(E) 43} it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;^(F) it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.^(G)

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”^[a];^(H) the last Adam,^(I) a life-giving spirit.^{(J) 46} The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.^{(K) 47} The first man was of the dust of the earth;^(L) the second man is of heaven.^{(M) 48} As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.^{(N) 49} And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man,^(O) so shall we^[b] bear the image of the heavenly man.^(P)

⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood^(Q) cannot inherit the kingdom of God,^(R) nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.^(S)

¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.^{(A) 13} Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.^{(B) 14} You are my friends^(C) if you do what I command.^{(D) 15} I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.^{(E) 16} You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you^(F) so that you might go and bear fruit^(G)—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.^{(H) 17} This is my command: Love each other.^(I)

The World Hates the Disciples

¹⁸ “If the world hates you,^(J) keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you^(K) out of the world. That is why the world hates you.^{(L) 20} Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’^[a](M) If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.^(N) If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name,^(O) for they do not know the one who sent me.^{(P) 22} If I had not come and spoken to them,^(Q) they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.^{(R) 23} Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works no one else did,^(S) they would not be guilty of sin.^(T) As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law:^(U) ‘They hated me without reason.’^[b](V)

The Work of the Holy Spirit

²⁶ “When the Advocate^(W) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father^(X)—the Spirit of truth^(Y) who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.^{(Z) 27} And you also must testify,^(AA) for you have been with me from the beginning.^(AB)