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The Valley of Dry Bones
37 The hand[a] of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and placed[b] me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. 2 He made me walk all around among them.[c] I realized[d] there were a great many bones in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said to him, “Sovereign Lord, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them: ‘Dry bones, listen to the Lord’s message. 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: Look, I am about to infuse breath[e] into you and you will live. 6 I will put tendons[f] on you and muscles over you and will cover you with skin; I will put breath[g] in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. There was a sound when I prophesied— I heard[h] a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I watched, I saw[i] tendons on them, then muscles appeared,[j] and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath[k] in them.
9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath,[l]—prophesy, son of man—and say to the breath: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as I was commanded, and the breath came into them; they lived and stood on their feet, an extremely great army.
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. 14 I will place my breath[m] in you and you will live; I will give you rest in your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord—I have spoken and I will act, declares the Lord.’”
15 The Lord’s message came to me: 16 “As for you, son of man, take one branch and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another branch and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the branch of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 Join[n] them as one stick;[o] they will be as one in your hand. 18 When your people[p] say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what these things mean?’ 19 tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the branch of Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place them on the stick of Judah[q] and make them into one stick—they will be one in my hand.’[r] 20 The sticks you write on will be in your hand in front of them. 21 Then tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the Israelites from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from round about and bring them to their land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over them all. They will never again be two nations and never again be divided into two kingdoms.[s] 23 They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness[t] by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people, and I will become their God.
24 “‘My servant David will be king over them; there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow[u] my regulations and carefully observe my statutes.[v] 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; they will live in it—they and their children and their grandchildren forever. David my servant will be prince over them forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be a perpetual covenant with them.[w] I will establish them,[x] increase their numbers, and place my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then, when my sanctuary is among them forever, the nations will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel.’”[y]
A Prophecy Against Gog
38 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn toward[z] Gog,[aa] of the land of Magog,[ab] the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.[ac] Prophesy against him 3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against you,[ad] Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of them fully armed, a great company with shields of different types,[ae] all of them armed with swords. 5 Persia,[af] Ethiopia, and Put[ag] are with them, all of them with shields and helmets. 6 They are joined by[ah] Gomer with all its troops, and by Beth Togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples are with you.[ai]
7 “‘Be ready and stay ready, you and all your companies assembled around you, and be a guard for them.[aj] 8 After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war,[ak] from many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people[al] were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely. 9 You will advance;[am] you will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the earth, you, all your troops, and the many other peoples with you.
10 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind,[an] and you will devise an evil plan. 11 You will say, “I will invade[ao] a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against[ap] those living quietly in security—all of them living without walls and barred gates— 12 to loot and plunder, to attack[aq] the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center[ar] of the earth.” 13 Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish with all its young warriors[as] will say to you, “Have you come to loot? Have you assembled your armies to plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to haul away a great amount of spoils?”’
14 “Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice[at] 15 and come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a vast army. 16 You will advance[au] against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In future days I will bring you against my land so that the nations may acknowledge me, when before their eyes I magnify myself[av] through you, O Gog.
17 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants[aw] the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days[ax] that I would bring you against them? 18 On that day, when Gog invades[ay] the land of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger. 19 In my zeal, in the fire of my fury,[az] I declare that on that day there will be a great earthquake[ba] in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake[bb] at my presence. The mountains will topple, the cliffs[bc] will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 I will call for a sword to attack[bd] Gog[be] on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord; every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops, and the many peoples who are with him a torrential downpour, hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23 I will exalt and magnify myself; I will reveal myself before many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’
Living Out the Message
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters![a] Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. 20 For human[b] anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.[c] 21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly[d] welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone[e] who gazes at his own face[f] in a mirror. 24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets[g] what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there,[h] and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he[i] will be blessed in what he does.[j] 26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before[k] God the Father[l] is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity[m] and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Prejudice and the Law of Love
2 My brothers and sisters,[n] do not show prejudice[o] if you possess faith[p] in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.[q] 2 For if someone[r] comes into your assembly[s] wearing a gold ring and fine clothing, and a poor person enters in filthy clothes, 3 do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say,[t] “You sit here in a good place,”[u] and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”?[v] 4 If so, have you not made distinctions[w] among yourselves and become judges with evil motives?[x] 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters![y] Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor![z] Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to?[aa] 8 But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture,[ab] “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”[ac] you are doing well. 9 But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators.[ad] 10 For the one who obeys the whole law but fails[ae] in one point has become guilty of all of it.[af] 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,”[ag] also said, “Do not murder.”[ah] Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law. 12 Speak and act as those who will be judged by a law that gives freedom.[ai] 13 For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over[aj] judgment.
Faith and Works Together
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters,[ak] if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith[al] save him?[am] 15 If a brother or sister[an] is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs,[ao] what good is it? 17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.
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