¹⁵ And the word of Yahweh came^[a] to me, saying,^{[b] 16} “And you, son of man,^[c] take for yourself a piece of wood,^[d] and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the Israelites^[e] his associates,’ and take another piece of wood, and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the piece of wood of^[f] Ephraim and all of the house of Israel his associates.’ ¹⁷ And join them one to the other with respect to you as one piece of wood, so that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ When^[g] your people^[h] say to you, saying,^[i] ‘Will you not inform us as to what these actions mean for you?’ ¹⁹ Then speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am taking the piece of wood for Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel its associates, and I will put them on it, the piece of wood of Judah, and I will make them into one piece of wood, so that they be one in my hand.’” ²⁰ And the pieces of wood on which you wrote will be in your hand before their eyes. ²¹ And speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am taking the Israelites^[j] from among the nations to which they went,^[k] and I will gather them from everywhere,^[l] and I will bring them to their own soil. ²² And I will make them into one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and they will all have one king as their king,^[m] and they^[n] will not again be two nations and will not again divide into two kingdoms again. ²³ And they will not defile themselves again with their idols and with vile idols and with all of their transgressions, and I will save them from all of their apostasy by which they sinned,^[o] and I will cleanse them and they will be for me as a people and I, I will be for them as God.